Few collective adventures have marked our culture as strongly as the adventure of the Jesuits, who over a period of five centuries unfolded their activities throughout the world.
Reformers who immediately drew the fire of the Inquisition, courageous preachers of the Gospel in Japan, China, or Vietnam, architects of the Paraguayan utopia, global ambassadors of the Vatican, confessors to rulers, adversaries of the Jansenists, educators of the elite—over the centuries, the Jesuits embodied a form of Christianity capable of adapting to the demands of the times, open to science, and boldly engaged in political conflict, for better or worse.
From the founding of the Order by Ignacio de Loyola in 1540 to its suppression in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV, Jean Lacouture retraces this astonishing history and presents the protagonists of an eternal crusade “Ad maiorem Dei gloriam”.