During the Protestant Reformation that occupied the nations of the East and West, the peoples of southern Europe remained true to the old Catholic order. Yet, even here, there was a desire among many for reform in the Church. For example, Cardinal Ximenes of Spain sympathized with the desire of Queen Isabella for certain reforms. As head of the Church in Spain, he was able to provide better training for the clergy. The most efficient agency in the Catholic recovery was the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. The Jesuits owed their inspiration to Loyola who, like Luther, had passed through a conflict of religious emotions, nearly losing his sanity in his efforts to get near to God. Unlike Luther, though, Loyola’s experience made him inwardly more intense, and he resolved to conquer the mysteries of religion. He disciplined himself by a set of “spiritual exercises” and resolved to found a new Catholic order which should serve as a standing army for the defense of the Roman Catholic Church. Selecting a few of his fellow students he formed the Society of Jesus, which in 1540 received the sanction of the pope. Almost from the time of the formation of the society missionaries went out to Asia and French Canada. Instead of withdrawing from the world, their task was to mold the world for Catholicism. Members were graded according to their length of service and proficiency, with an inner circle that chose the officers and administered the detailed affairs of the order. It was a marvelously efficient machine.
Impact: Almost at once the Jesuits leaped to a position of leadership in the councils of the Church. As missionaries and as heresy hunters they were absolutely devoted to their purpose. They did much to save southern Europe for the Catholic Church. Yet the Jesuits were also charged with encouraging superstition and the order became so distrusted and disliked that it was suppressed in one country after another until Pope Clement XIV abolished the order in 1773 – a decision later reversed by Pope Pius VII.