Abstract:
The Jesuits or 'The Society of Jesus' holds a significant place in the wide area of
church history. In histories of Europe to the reformation of the sixteenth century,
the Jesuits appear with notable frequency. Jesuits were the finest expression of
the Catholic Reformation shortly after the Protestant reform began. The Society is
attributed to its founder, Ignatius of Loyola. As a layman, Ignatius viewed Christendom
in his context as a society under siege. It was Christian duty to therefore defend it.
The Society was formed at a time that nationalism was growing and papal prestige
was falling. The Jesuits, as a missionary movement at a critical period in the Roman
Catholic Church, used creative strategies that later symbolised the strength of what
would become the traditional Roman Catholic Church for a long time in history. The
strategies involved included, but were not limited to: reviving and nurturing faith
among Catholics, winning back those who had become Protestants, converting
those who had not been baptised, training of the members for social service and
missionary work, and establishing educational institutions. Their mission expansion
to other parts of the world, Africa included, was an attempt to compensate the lost
grounds in Europe in view of this paper’s thesis.
