Jesuit History: A Timeline of Milestones
1491 - Ignatius Loyola is born in the Basque region of northeastern Spain
1521 - While Ignatius is defending Pamplona, cannon fire shatters his right knee
1522 - Ignatius stays in the town of Manresa while struggling with his relationship with himself and God; this experience forms the basis of his Spiritual Exercises.
1528 - Ignatius begins schooling at the University of Paris where he meets Francis Xavier, Pierre Favre and other early companions.
1537 - Ignatius and companions are ordained
1540 - Pope Paul III gives Ignatius and companions official approval to found the Society of Jesus
1541 - Ignatius is elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus
1548 - The first lay Jesuit college opens in Messina, Sicily
1556 - Ignatius dies in Rome; 34 Jesuit schools have been founded
1773 - The Society is suppressed by order of Pope Clement XIV
1789 - Georgetown University is founded, the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in the United States.
1814 - The suppression is ended by Pope Pius VII with the Papal bull "Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum."
1954 - Wheeling Jesuit University is founded, the youngest of the Jesuit universities in the United States
1965 - Pedro Arrupe is elected the 28th Superior General of the Society
1975 - General Congregation 32 declares that the hallmark of any work deserving the name Jesuit is its "service of faith" of which the "promotion of justice" is an absolute requirement.
1983 - Peter-Hans Kolvenbach is elected the 29th Superior General of the Society, which now returns to its own governance.
1996 - The Cristo Rey model of college-preparatory education for inner-city youth is inaugurated with the founding of Cristo Rey High School in Chicago
2006 - This Jesuit Jubilee year marks the 450th anniversary of the death of Ignatius and the 500th anniversary of the births of his companions Francis Xavier and Pierre Favre.
2008 - Adolfo Nicolás is elected the 30th Superior General of the Society
2013 - Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected the 266th pope, the first from the Society of Jesus, and takes the name "Francis."

Jesuits, Famous and Not-so-famous.
In his excellent book Ignatian Humanism, historical theologian Ron Modras devotes five chapters to the lives of five Jesuits who, he believes, exemplify the Ignatian humanism he has described in earlier chapters. No claim is made that the biographical mini-essays scattered through this A-Z section of our jesuitresource.org website are illustrative of Jesuit spirituality to the same degree. But taken as a group, these 70-some bios surely add up to more than just a bunch of individual pieces. See what you think. Look for the mini-biographies of the following men and woman under their individual names:
Acosta, Jose
Amaladoss, Michael
Anchieta, Jose de
Aquaviva, Claude
Arrupe, Pedro
Barry, William A.
Bea, Augustin
Bellarmine, Robert
Bergoglio, Jorge
Berrigan, Daniel
Bolland, John
Boscovitch, Roger
Brackley, Dean
Brebeuf, John
Buckley, Michael J.
Campion, Edmund
Canisius, Peter
Carroll, John
Claver, Peter
Clavius, Christopher
Delp, Alfred
De Mello, Anthony
De Smet, Peter
Dulles, Avery

Dupuis, Jacques
Ellacuria, Ignacio
Espinal, Luis
Faber, Peter
Farrell, Walter L.
Gonzaga, Aloysius
Gonzalez, Tirso
Grande, Rutilio
Gray, Howard
Hopkins, Gerard Manley
Hurtado, Alberto
Ignatius of Loyola
Juana
Kino, Eusebio
Kolvenbach, Peter-Hans
LaFarge, John
Lainez, James
LeMoyne, Simon
Locatelli, Paul
Lonergan, Bernard
Marquette, Jacques
Martini, Carlo Maria
Murray, John Courtney
Mveng, Engelbert

Nadal, Jerome
Nicolas, Adolfo
O'Collins, Gerald
O'Keefe, Vincent
O'Malley, John W.
Owen, Nicholas
Padberg, John W.
Pieris, Aloysius
Polanco, Juan
Pozzo, Andrea
Rahner, Karl
Regis, John-Francis
Reinert, Paul
Rhodes, Alexander
Ricci, Matteo
Rodriguez, Alphonsus
Segundo, Juan Luis
Spee von Langenfeld, Frederick
Starkloff, Carl
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre
Valignano, Alessandro
Xavier, Francis
Zipoli, Domenico
Zucchi, Nicolas