Editing Jesuits (section)

===Expansion of the order===
{{confusing|section|date=December 2019}}
[[File:Jesuitpainting.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A jesuit [[missionary]], painting from 1779]]
After much training and experience in theology, Jesuits went across the globe in search of converts to Christianity. Despite their dedication, they had little success in Asia, except in the [[Philippines]]. For instance, early missions in Japan resulted in the government granting the Jesuits the feudal fiefdom of [[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|Nagasaki]] in 1580. This was removed in 1587 due to fears over their growing influence.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Handbook of Christianity in Japan |editor-last=Mullins |editor-first=Mark R. |date=2003 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004131566 |location=Leiden |pages=9–10 |oclc=191931641 }}</ref> Jesuits did, however, have much success in Latin America. Their ascendancy in societies in the Americas accelerated during the seventeenth century, wherein Jesuits created new missions in [[Peru]], [[Colombia]], and [[Bolivia]]. As early as 1603, there were 345 Jesuit priests in [[Mexico]] alone.<ref name="Dussel-1981">{{Cite book |title=The History of the Church in Latin America |last=Dussel |first=Enrique |publisher=NYU Press |year=1981 |location=New York |pages=60 }}</ref>

[[File:Franciscus de Xabier.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Francis Xavier]] led the first Christian mission to Japan]]
In 1541, [[Francis Xavier]], one of the original companions of [[Ignatius of Loyola|Loyola]], arrived in [[Goa]], [[Portuguese India]], to carry out evangelical service in the Indies. In a 1545 letter to John III of Portugal, he requested an [[Goa Inquisition|Inquisition to be installed in Goa]] to combat heresies like crypto-Judaism and crypto-Islam. Under [[Portuguese royal patronage]], Jesuits thrived in Goa and until 1759 successfully expanded their activities to education and healthcare.<ref name="Philadelphia : Hardy and Mahony">{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/americancatholic33philuoft#page/244/mode/2up/search/Jesuit |title=The American Catholic quarterly review |website=archive.org |page=244 |access-date=31 May 2017 |publisher=Philadelphia : Hardy and Mahony }}</ref>

In 1594, they founded the first Roman-style academic institution in the East, [[St. Paul Jesuit College (Macau)|St. Paul Jesuit College]] in [[Macau]], China. Founded by [[Alessandro Valignano]], it had a great influence on the learning of Eastern languages (Chinese and Japanese) and culture by missionary Jesuits, becoming home to the first western [[sinologist]]s such as [[Matteo Ricci]]. Jesuit efforts in Goa were interrupted by the [[Suppression of the Society of Jesus|expulsion of the Jesuits]] from Portuguese territories in 1759 by the powerful [[Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal|Marquis of Pombal]], the Secretary of State in Portugal.<ref name="Philadelphia : Hardy and Mahony"/>

In 1624, the Portuguese Jesuit [[António de Andrade]] founded [[Catholic Church in Tibet|a mission in Western Tibet]]. In 1661, two Jesuit missionaries, [[Johann Grueber]] and [[Albert Dorville]], reached [[Lhasa (prefecture-level city)|Lhasa]], in Tibet. The Italian Jesuit [[Ippolito Desideri]] established a new Jesuit mission in [[Lhasa]] and [[Ü-Tsang|Central Tibet]] (1716–21) and gained an exceptional mastery of [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]] language and culture, writing a long and very detailed account of the country and its religion as well as treatises in Tibetan that attempted to refute key [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] ideas and establish the truth of Catholic Christianity.

[[File:Oscar Pereira da Silva - Retrato de Anchieta, Acervo do Museu Paulista da USP.jpg|thumb|The [[Spaniards|Spanish]] missionary [[José de Anchieta]] was, together with [[Manuel da Nóbrega]], the first Jesuit that [[Ignatius of Loyola|Ignacio de Loyola]] sent to America.]]
Jesuit [[Mission (Christian)|missions]] in the Americas became controversial in Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal, where they were seen as interfering with the proper colonial enterprises of the royal governments. The Jesuits were often the only force standing between the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]] and [[slavery]]. Together throughout South America but especially in present-day [[Brazil]] and [[Paraguay]], they formed Indigenous Christian city-states, called "[[Jesuit reduction|reductions]]". These were societies set up according to an idealized [[theocracy|theocratic]] model.<ref name="Dussel-1981" />

The efforts of Jesuits like [[Antonio Ruiz de Montoya]] to protect the natives from enslavement by Spanish and Portuguese colonizers contributed to the call for the society's suppression. Jesuit priests such as [[Manuel da Nóbrega]] and [[José de Anchieta]] founded several towns in Brazil in the 16th century, including [[São Paulo]] and [[Rio de Janeiro]], and were very influential in the pacification, [[religious conversion]], and education of indigenous nations. They built schools, organized people into villages, and created a writing system for the local languages of Brazil.<ref name="Dussel-1981" /> José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega were the first Jesuits that Ignacio de Loyola sent to the Americas.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/es/homilies/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20140424_omelia-san-jose-de-anchieta.html |title=24 de abril de 2014: Santa Misa de acción de gracias por la canonización de San José de Anchieta &#124; Francisco |website=www.vatican.va |access-date=29 June 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629045957/https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/es/homilies/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20140424_omelia-san-jose-de-anchieta.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jesuit scholars working in foreign missions were very dedicated in studying the local languages and strove to produce Latinized [[grammar]]s and [[dictionary|dictionaries]]. This included: Japanese (see {{transliteration|ja|[[Nippo jisho]]}}, also known as {{lang|es|Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam}}, "Vocabulary of the Japanese Language", a Japanese–Portuguese dictionary written 1603); [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (Portuguese missionaries created the [[Vietnamese alphabet]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacques |first1=Roland |title=Portuguese Pioneers of Vietnamese Linguistics Prior to 1650 – Pionniers Portugais de la Linguistique Vietnamienne Jusqu'en 1650 |date=2002 |publisher=Orchid Press |location=Bangkok, Thailand |isbn=974-8304-77-9 |language=en, fr }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bồ Đào Nha và công trình sáng chế chữ quốc ngữ: Phải chăng cần viết lại lịch sử? |language=vi |archive-date=26 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026091348/http://ttntt.free.fr/archive/Roland4.html |url=http://ttntt.free.fr/archive/Roland4.html |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=Centre Culturel Nguyen-Truong-To |last=Jacques |first=Roland |year=2004 |url-status=dead}}{{pb}}Translated by Nguyễn Đăng Trúc. In ''Các nhà truyền giáo Bồ Đào Nha và thời kỳ đầu của Giáo hội Công giáo Việt Nam (Quyển 1)'' – ''Les missionnaires portugais et les débuts de l'Eglise catholique au Viêt-nam (Tome 1)'' 2004 (in Vietnamese & French). Reichstett, France: Định Hướng Tùng Thư. {{ISBN|2-912554-26-8}}.</ref> which was later formalized by Avignon missionary [[Alexandre de Rhodes]] with his 1651 [[Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum|trilingual dictionary]]); [[Tupi language|Tupi]], the main language of Brazil, and the pioneering study of [[Sanskrit]] in the West by [[Jean François Pons]] in the 1740s.

Jesuit missionaries were active among indigenous peoples in [[New France]] in North America, many of them compiling dictionaries or glossaries of the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] languages they had learned. For instance, before his death in 1708, [[Jacques Gravier]], vicar general of the [[Illinois]] [[Mission (Christian)|Mission]] in the [[Mississippi River]] valley, compiled a [[Miami-Illinois language|Miami–Illinois]]–French [[dictionary]], considered the most extensive among works of the missionaries.{{sfn|Adelaar|2004}} Extensive documentation was left in the form of ''[[The Jesuit Relations]]'', published annually from 1632 until 1673.

<gallery>
File:Bell of Nanban-ji.JPG|A [[Shunkō-in|shunkō-in bell]] made in Portugal for the [[Nanban trade#Other Nanban influences|Nanbanji Church]], run by Jesuits in Japan, 1576–1587
</gallery>

====Britain====
Whereas Jesuits were active in [[Great Britain|Britain]] in the 1500s, due to the [[Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom|persecution of Catholics]] in the Elizabethan times, an English province was only established in 1623.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jesuit.org.uk/history/timeline |title=Jesuits in Britain Timeline – Our history |website=jesuit.org.uk |access-date=22 August 2022 |archive-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528013351/https://www.jesuit.org.uk/history/timeline |url-status=live }}</ref> The first pressing issue for early Jesuits in what today is the [[United Kingdom]], was to establish places for training priests. In 1579, an [[English College, Rome|English College was opened in Rome]]. In 1589, a [[English College, Valladolid|Jesuit seminary was opened at Valladolid]].

In 1592, an [[English College of St Gregory|English College was opened in Seville]]. In 1614, an English college opened in Louvain. This was the earliest foundation of what was later [[Heythrop College, University of London|Heythrop College]]. [[Campion Hall, Oxford|Campion Hall]], founded in 1896, has been a presence within [[Oxford University]] since then.

16th and 17th-century Jesuit institutions intended to train priests were hotbeds for the persecution of Catholics in Britain, where men suspected of being Catholic priests were routinely imprisoned, tortured, and executed. Jesuits were among those killed, including [[Edmund Campion|the namesake of Campion Hall]], as well as Brian Cansfield, [[Ralph Corbie|Ralph Corbington]], and many others. A number of them were canonized among the [[Forty Martyrs of England and Wales]].

In 2022, four Jesuit churches existed in [[London]], with three other places of worship in [[England]] and two in [[Scotland]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jesuit.org.uk/our-work/parishes-outreach |title=Parishes & Outreach – Our work |website=jesuit.org.uk |access-date=22 August 2022 |archive-date=22 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822141452/https://www.jesuit.org.uk/our-work/parishes-outreach |url-status=live }}</ref>

====China====
{{Main|Jesuit missions in China}}
[[File:Ricci Guangqi 2.jpg|thumb|[[Matteo Ricci]] (left) and [[Xu Guangqi]] in the 1607 Chinese publication of [[Euclid]]'s ''[[Euclid's Elements|Elements]]'']]
[[File:LifeAndWorksOfConfucius1687.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|''Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese, or, Chinese Knowledge Explained in Latin'', published by [[Philippe Couplet]], [[Prospero Intorcetta]], [[Christian Herdtrich]], and François de Rougemont at Paris in 1687]]
[[File:Paradigma XV Provinciarum et CLV Urbium Capitalium Sinensis Imperij.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A map of the 200-odd Jesuit churches and missions established across China {{c.|1687}}]]

The Jesuits first entered China through the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] settlement on [[Portuguese Macau|Macau]], where they settled on [[Ilha Verde|Green Island]] and founded [[St. Paul's College, Macau|St. Paul's College]].

The [[Jesuit missions in China|Jesuit China missions]] of the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Western science and astronomy,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elman |first=Benjamin |date=2007 |title=Global Science and Comparative History: Jesuits, Science, and Philology in China and Europe, 1550–1850 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43150703 |journal=East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine |volume=26 |issue=26 |pages=9–16 |doi=10.1163/26669323-02601003 |jstor=43150703 |issn=1562-918X |access-date=10 September 2023 |archive-date=8 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108065520/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43150703 |url-status=live }}</ref> then undergoing [[Scientific Revolution|its own revolution]], to China. The [[Scientific Revolution|scientific revolution]] brought by the Jesuits coincided with a time when scientific innovation had declined in China:

<blockquote>[The Jesuits] made efforts to translate western mathematical and astronomical works into Chinese and aroused the interest of Chinese scholars in these sciences. They made very extensive astronomical observation and carried out the first modern cartographic work in China. They also learned to appreciate the scientific achievements of this ancient culture and made them known in Europe. Through their correspondence, European scientists first learned about the Chinese science and culture.{{sfn|Udías|2003}}</blockquote>

For over a century, Jesuits such as [[Michele Ruggieri]], [[Matteo Ricci]],{{sfn|Parker|1978|p=26}} [[Diego de Pantoja]], [[Philippe Couplet]], [[Michal Boym]], and [[François Noël (missionary)|François Noël]] refined translations and disseminated [[history of Chinese science|Chinese knowledge]], [[Chinese culture|culture]], [[history of China|history]], and [[Chinese philosophy|philosophy]] to Europe. Their [[Latin]] works popularized the name "[[Confucius]]" and had considerable influence on the [[Deists]] and other [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] thinkers, some of whom were intrigued by the Jesuits' attempts to reconcile [[Confucianism|Confucian morality]] with [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]].{{sfnm |1a1=Hobson |1y=2004 |1pp=194–195 |2a1=Parker |2y=1978 |2p=26}}

Upon the arrival of the [[Franciscan Order|Franciscans]] and other monastic orders, Jesuit accommodation of Chinese culture and rituals led to the long-running [[Chinese Rites controversy]]. Despite the personal testimony of the [[Kangxi Emperor]] and many Jesuit converts that [[Chinese veneration of ancestors]] and [[Confucianism|Confucius]] was a nonreligious token of respect, {{nowrap|[[Pope Clement XI]]}}'s [[papal decree]] {{lang|la|[[Cum Deus Optimus]]}} ruled that such behavior constituted impermissible forms of [[idolatry]] and superstition in 1704.<ref>{{citation |last=Rule |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw9gYo4Pk0MC |series=''Leuven Chinese Studies'', Vol. XIV |title=The History of the Relations between the Low Countries and China in the Qing Era |editor-last=Vande Walle |editor-first=Willy F. |editor-link=Willy Vande Walle |editor-first2=Noël |editor-last2=Golvers |display-editors=0 |publisher=Leuven University Press |location=Leuven |date=2003 |contribution=François Noël, SJ, and the Chinese Rites Controversy |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw9gYo4Pk0MC&pg=PA152 152] |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dw9gYo4Pk0MC&pg=PA137 |isbn=9789058673152}}.</ref>

His [[Papal legate|legate]] [[Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon|Tournon]] and Bishop Charles Maigrot of Fujian, tasked with presenting this finding to the [[Kangxi Emperor]], displayed such extreme ignorance that the emperor mandated the expulsion of Christian missionaries unable to abide by the terms of Ricci's Chinese catechism.<ref>{{citation |last=Ricci |first=Matteo |author-link=Matteo Ricci |title=''《天主實義》 [''Tiānzhŭ Shíyì, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven'']'' |url=http://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&res=324860 |date=1603 |access-date=1 January 2018 |archive-date=26 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226130613/http://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&res=324860 |url-status=live}}. {{in lang|zh }}</ref><ref name="heycharby">{{citation |last=Charbonnier |first=Jean-Pierre |title=Christians in China: AD 600 to 2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yUzntxTZioC |publisher=Ignatius Press |location=San Francisco |editor-last=Couve de Murville |editor-first=Maurice Noël Léon |editor-link=Maurice Noël Léon Couve de Murville |date=2007 |pages=256–262 |isbn=9780898709162}}.</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Von Collani |first=Claudia |contribution=Biography of Charles Maigrot MEP |editor=Elart von Collani |display-editors=0 |location=Würzburg |publisher=Stochastikon |title=Stochastikon Encyclopedia |url=http://encyclopedia.stochastikon.com |date=2009 |access-date=19 April 2021 |archive-date=7 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207051527/http://encyclopedia.stochastikon.com/}}.</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Seah |first=Audrey |editor-last=Clark |editor-first=Anthony E. |display-editors=0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOEzDwAAQBAJ |title=China's Christianity: From Missionary to Indigenous Church |publisher=Koninklijke Brill |location=Leiden |date=2017 |contribution=The 1670 Chinese Missal: A Struggle for Indigenization amidst the Chinese Rites Controversy |page=115 |series=Studies in Christian Mission |isbn=9789004345607}}.</ref> Tournon's [[Latae sententiae|summary and automatic]] [[excommunication]] for any violators of Clement's decree<ref>{{citation |last=Ott |first=Michael |title=Catholic Encyclopedia |contribution=[[:s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon|Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon]] |volume=[[:s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Volume 15|Vol. XV]] |date=1913 |location=New York |publisher=Encyclopedia Press |editor-first=Charles G. |editor-last=Herbermann |editor-first2=Edward A. |editor-last2=Pace |editor-first3=Condé B. |editor-last3=Fallen |editor-first4=John J. |editor-last4=Wynne |editor-first5=Thomas J. |editor-last5=Shahan |display-editors=0 |title-link=:s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)}}.</ref>{{snd}}upheld by the 1715 [[papal bull|bull]] {{lang|la|[[Ex Illa Die]]}}{{snd}}led to the swift collapse of all the missions in China.<ref name="heycharby" /> The last Jesuits were expelled after 1721.{{sfn|Mungello|1994}}

==== Ireland ====
{{see also|List of Jesuit schools in Ireland}}
The first Jesuit school in [[Ireland]] was established at [[Limerick]] by the [[apostolic visitor]] of the [[Holy See]], [[David Wolfe (Jesuit)|David Wolfe]]. Wolfe was sent to Ireland by [[Pope Pius IV]] with the concurrence of the third Jesuit superior general, [[Diego Laynez]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Media,4303,en.pdf |title=From Limerick City.ie |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=20 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220052938/http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Media,4303,en.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was charged with setting up grammar schools "as a remedy against the profound ignorance of the people".<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Entry for David Wolfe SJ by Thomas Morrissey SJ |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29832 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/29832 |last1=Morrissey |first1=Thomas J. }}</ref>

Wolfe's mission in Ireland initially concentrated on setting the sclerotic Irish Church on a sound footing, introducing the [[Council of Trent|Tridentine]] Reforms and finding suitable men to fill vacant sees. He established a house of religious women in Limerick known as the Menabochta ("poor women" ) and in 1565 preparations began for establishing a school at Limerick.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Entry for David Wolfe SJ by Judy Barry |url=https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a9107&searchClicked=clicked&quickadvsearch=yes |url-access=subscription |publisher=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728113859/https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a9107&searchClicked=clicked&quickadvsearch=yes |url-status=live }}</ref>

At his instigation, [[Richard Creagh]], a priest of the Diocese of Limerick, was persuaded to accept the vacant [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh|Archdiocese of Armagh]], and was consecrated in Rome in 1564.

This early Limerick school, [[Crescent College]], operated in difficult circumstances. In April 1566, [[William Good (Jesuit)|William Good]] sent a detailed report to Rome of his activities via the Portuguese Jesuits. He informed the Jesuit superior general that he and Edmund Daniel had arrived at Limerick city two years beforehand and their situation there had been perilous. Both had arrived in the city in very bad health, but had recovered due to the kindness of the people.

They established contact with Wolfe, but were only able to meet with him at night, as the English authorities were attempting to arrest the legate. Wolfe charged them initially with teaching to the boys of Limerick, with an emphasis on religious instruction, and Good translated the catechism from Latin into English for this purpose. They remained in Limerick for eight months.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36"/>

In December 1565, they moved to [[Kilmallock]] under the protection of the Earl of Desmond, where they lived in more comfort than the primitive conditions they experienced in Limerick. They were unable to support themselves at Kilmallock and three months later they returned to Limerick in Easter 1566, and strangely set up their house in accommodation owned by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, which was conveyed to them by certain influential friends.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36">"Life in Tudor Limerick: William Good's 'Annual Letter' of 1566". By Thomas M. McCoog SJ & Victor Houliston. From ''Archivium Hibernicum'', 2016, Vol. 69 (2016), pp. 7–36</ref>

They recommenced teaching at Castle Lane, and imparting the sacraments, though their activities were restricted by the arrival of Royal Commissioners. Good reported that as he was an Englishman, English officials in the city cultivated him and he was invited to dine with them on a number of occasions, though he was warned to exercise prudence and avoid promoting the [[Primacy of Peter|Petrine primacy]] and the priority of the [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]] amongst the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]] with his students and congregation, and that his sermons should emphasize obedience to secular princes if he wished to avoid arrest.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36" />

The number of scholars in their care was very small. An early example of a school play in Ireland is sent in one of Good's reports, which was performed on the Feast of St. John in 1566. The school was conducted in one large aula, with the students were divided into distinct classes. Good gives a highly detailed report of the curriculum taught. The top class studied the first and second parts of [[Johannes Despauterius]]'s Commentarli grammatici, and read a few letters of Cicero or the dialogues of Frusius (André des Freux, SJ). The second class committed Donatus' texts in Latin to memory and read dialogues and works by Ēvaldus Gallus. Students in the third class learned Donatus by heart, translated into English rather than Latin. Young boys in the fourth class were taught to read. Progress was slow because there were too few teachers to conduct classes simultaneously.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36" />

In the spirit of Ignatius' [[Roman College]] founded 14 years before, no fee was requested from pupils. As a result, the two Jesuits lived in very poor conditions and were very overworked with teaching and administering the sacraments to the public. In late 1568, the Castle Lane School, in the presence of Daniel and Good, was attacked and looted by government agents sent by Sir [[Thomas Cusack (Irish judge)|Thomas Cusack]] during the pacification of Munster.<ref name="catholicE">
''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1913), Vol. 11 Edmund O'Donnell by Charles McNeill</ref>

The political and religious climate had become more uncertain in the lead up to [[Pope Pius V]]'s formal excommunication of Queen [[Elizabeth I]], which resulted in a new wave of repression of Catholicism in England and Ireland. At the end of 1568, the Anglican Bishop of Meath, [[Hugh Brady (bishop)|Hugh Brady]], was sent to Limerick charged with a Royal Commission to seek out and expel the Jesuits. Daniel was immediately ordered to quit the city and went to Lisbon, where he resumed his studies with the Portuguese Jesuits.<ref name="catholicE" /> Good moved on to [[Clonmel]], before establishing himself at [[Youghal]] until 1577.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Entry for William Good SJ by Thomas McCoog SJ |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10946?docPos=1 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10946 }}</ref>

In 1571, after Wolfe had been captured and imprisoned at [[Dublin Castle]], Daniel persuaded the Portuguese Province to agree a surety for the ransom of Wolfe, who was quickly banished on release. In 1572, Daniel returned to Ireland, but was immediately captured. Incriminating documents were found on his person, which were taken as proof of his involvement with the rebellious cousin of the [[Earl of Desmond]], [[James FitzMaurice FitzGerald|James Fitzmaurice]] and a Spanish plot.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Entry for Edmund Daniel SJ by Stephen Redmond |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/69033?docPos=1 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/69033 }}</ref> He was removed from Limerick, and taken to Cork, "just as if he were a thief or noted evildoer". After being court-martialled by the Lord President of Munster, Sir [[John Perrot]], he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason, and refused pardon in return for swearing the [[Act of Supremacy]]. His execution was carried out on 25 October 1572. A report of it was sent by Fitzmaurice to the Jesuit Superior General in 1576, where he said that Daniel was "cruelly killed because of me".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Entry from Irish Jesuit Archives website by Vera Orschel (archivist & editor) entitled 4 / 2015 Irish Jesuit Documents in Rome: Part 17 (1 April 2015) 'Not giving the Jesuit martyr Edmund Daniel (O'Donnell) a bad name'. This document contains some scanned copies of Good's original correspondence |url=http://sjarchives.tumblr.com/ |publisher=SJArchives |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033033/https://sjarchives.tumblr.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

With Daniel dead and Wolfe dismissed, the Irish Jesuit foundation suffered a severe setback. Good is recorded as resident at Rome in 1577. In 1586, the seizure of Earl of Desmond's estates resulted in a new permanent Protestant plantation in Munster, making the continuation of the Limerick school impossible for a time. It was not until the early 1600s that the Jesuit mission could again re-establish itself in the city, though the Jesuits kept a low profile existence in lodgings here and there. For instance, a mission led by Fr. Nicholas Leinagh re-established itself at Limerick in 1601,<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–1674'' Vol. II, p. 551</ref> though the Jesuit presence in the city numbered no more than 1 or 2 at a time in the years immediately following.

In 1604, the Lord President of Munster, Sir [[Henry Brouncker (died 1607)|Henry Brouncker]] - at Limerick, ordered all Jesuits from the city and Province, and offered £7 to anyone willing to betray a Jesuit priest to the authorities, and £5 for a seminarian.<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–1674'' Vol. I, p. 32.</ref> Jesuit houses and schools throughout the province, in the years after, were subject to periodic crackdown and the occasional destruction of schools, imprisonment of teachers and the levying of heavy money penalties on parents are recorded in publications of the time. In 1615–17, the Royal Visitation Books, written up by [[Thomas Jones (bishop)|Thomas Jones]], the [[Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)|Anglican Archbishop of Dublin]], records the suppression of Jesuit schools at [[Waterford]], Limerick and [[Galway]].<ref>T. Corcoron, "Early Jesuit Educators", in ''Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review'', Vol. 29, No. 116 (Dec. 1940), pp. 545–560</ref>

In spite of this occasional persecution, the Jesuits were able to exert a degree of discreet influence within the province and in Limerick. For instance in 1606, largely through their efforts, a Catholic named Christopher Holywood was elected Mayor of the city.<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–167''4 Vol. I, p. 88</ref> In 1602, the resident Jesuit had raised a sum of "200 cruzados" for the purpose of founding a hospital in Limerick, though the project was disrupted by a severe outbreak of plague and repression by the Lord President.<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–1674'' Vol. I, p. 40</ref>

The principal activities of the order within Limerick at this time were devoted to preaching, administration of the sacraments and teaching. The school opened and closed intermittently in or around the area of Castle Lane, near Lahiffy's lane. During demolition work stones marked I.H.S., 1642 and 1609 were, in the 19th century, found inserted in a wall behind a tan yard near St Mary's Chapel which, according to Lenihan, were thought to mark the site of an early Jesuit school and oratory. This building, at other times, had also functioned as a dance house and candle factory.<ref>Maurice Lenihan ''Limerick; Its History and Antiquities'' p. 671 {{ISBN? }}</ref>

For much of the 1600s, the Limerick Jesuit foundation established a more permanent and stable presence and the Jesuit Annals record a 'flourishing' school at Limerick in the 1640s.<ref>John Canon Begley, ''The Diocese of Limerick in the 16th and 17th Centuries'' p. 440 {{ISBN? }}</ref> During the Confederacy the Jesuits had been able to go about their business unhindered and were invited to preach publicly from the pulpit of St. Mary's Cathedral on 4 occasions. Cardinal [[Giovanni Battista Rinuccini|Giovanni Rinuccini]] wrote to the Jesuit general in Rome, praising the work of the Rector of the Limerick College, Fr. William O'Hurley, who was aided by Fr. Thomas Burke.<ref>Lenihan p. 666</ref>

A few years later, during the Protectorate era, only 18 of the Jesuits resident in Ireland managed to avoid capture by the authorities. Lenihan records that the Limerick Crescent College in 1656 moved to a hut in the middle of a bog, which was difficult for the authorities to find. This foundation was headed up by Fr. Nicholas Punch, who was aided by Frs. Maurice Patrick, Piers Creagh and James Forde. The school attracted a large number of students from around the locality.<ref>Lenihan p. 667</ref>

At the Restoration of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], the school moved back to Castle Lane, and remained largely undisturbed for the next 40 years, until the surrender of the city to Williamite forces in 1692. In 1671, Dr. James Douley was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Limerick. During his visitation to the diocese, he reported to the Holy See that the Jesuits had a house and "taught schools with great fruit, instructing the youth in the articles of faith and good morals."<ref>Begley p. 479</ref> Douley also noted that this and other Catholic schools operating in the Diocese were also attended by local Protestants.<ref>Begley p. 480</ref>

The Jesuit presence in Ireland, in the so-called Penal era after the Battle of the Boyne, ebbed and flowed. In 1700 they were only 6 or 7, recovering to 25 in 1750. Small Jesuit houses and schools existed at Athlone, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Waterford, New Ross, Wexford, and Drogheda, as well as Dublin and Galway. At Limerick there appears to have been a long hiatus following the defeat of the Jacobite forces. Fr. Thomas O'Gorman was the first Jesuit to return to Limerick after the siege, arriving in 1728. He took up residence in Jail Lane, near the Castle in the Englishtown. There he opened a school to "impart the rudiments of the classics to the better class youth of the city."<ref>Begley ''The Diocese of Limerick from 1691 to the Present Time'' p. 307 {{ISBN? }}</ref>

O'Gorman left in 1737 and was succeeded by Fr. John McGrath.<ref>Begley p. 307</ref> Next came Fr. James McMahon, who was a nephew of the Primate of Armagh, [[Hugh MacMahon]]. McMahon lived at Limerick for thirteen years until his death in 1751. In 1746, Fr Joseph Morony was sent from Bordeaux to join McMahon and the others.<ref>Lenihan p. 671</ref> Morony remained at the Jail Lane site teaching at  a "high class school" until 1773, when he was ordered to close the school and oratory following the [[Suppression of the Society of Jesus|papal suppression of the Society of Jesus]],<ref>Begley p. 308</ref> 208 years after its foundation by Wolfe. Morony then went to live in Dublin and worked as a secular priest.

Despite the efforts of the Castle authorities and English government, the Limerick school managed to survive the [[Reformation|Protestant Reformation]], the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|Cromwellian invasion]] and [[Williamite War in Ireland|Williamite Wars]], and subsequent [[Penal laws (Ireland)|Penal Laws]]. It was forced to close, not for religious or confessional reasons, but due to the political difficulties of the Jesuit Order elsewhere.

Following the restoration of the Society of Jesus in 1814, the Jesuits gradually re-established a number of their schools throughout the country, starting with foundations at Kildare and Dublin. In 1859, they returned to Limerick at the invitation of the Bishop of Limerick, [[John Ryan (bishop)|John Ryan]], and re-established a school in Galway the same year.

====Canada====
{{see also|Jesuit missions in North America}}
[[File:Jesuit map NF.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|The Bressani map of 1657 depicting the martyrdom of [[Jean de Brébeuf]]]]

During the French colonisation of [[New France]] in the 17th century, Jesuits played an active role in North America. [[Samuel de Champlain]] established the foundations of the French colony at Québec in 1608. The native tribes that inhabited modern day Ontario, Québec, and the areas around Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay were the Montagnais, the Algonquins, and the [[Wyandot people|Huron]].{{sfn|Devine|1925|p=1}} Champlain believed that these had souls to be saved, so in 1614 he obtained the [[Recollects]], a reform branch of the Franciscans in France, to convert the native inhabitants.{{sfn|Devine|1925|p=3}}

In 1624, the French Recollects realized the magnitude of their task{{sfn|Paquin|1932|p=29}} and sent a delegate to France to invite the Society of Jesus to help with this mission. The invitation was accepted, and Jesuits [[Jean de Brébeuf]], [[Énemond Massé]], and [[Charles Lalemant]] arrived in Quebec in 1625.{{sfn|Devine|1925|p=5}} Lalemant is considered to have been the first author of one of the [[The Jesuit Relations|''Jesuit Relations of New France'']], which chronicled their evangelization during the 17th century.

The Jesuits became involved in the [[Jesuit Missions amongst the Huron|Huron mission]] in 1626 and lived among the Huron peoples. Brébeuf learned the native language and created the first Huron language dictionary. Outside conflict forced the Jesuits to leave New France in 1629 when [[Quebec]] was [[Surrender of Quebec|surrendered]] to the [[Kingdom of England|English]]. In 1632, Quebec was returned to the French under the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)|Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye]] and the Jesuits returned to the [[Huronia (region)|Huron territory]].{{sfn|Delaney|Nicholls|1989|p=1}} After a series of epidemics of European-introduced diseases beginning in 1634, some Huron began to mistrust the Jesuits and accused them of being sorcerers casting spells from their books.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=61}}

In 1639, Jesuit [[Jerome Lalemant]] decided that the missionaries among the Hurons needed a local residence and established [[Sainte-Marie among the Hurons|Sainte-Marie]] near present-day [[Midland, Ontario]], which was meant to be a replica of European society.{{sfn|Delaney|Nicholls|1989|p=2}} It became the Jesuit headquarters and an important part of Canadian history. Throughout most of the 1640s the Jesuits had modest success, establishing five chapels in Huronia and baptising more than one thousand Huron out of a population, which may have exceeded 20,000 before the epidemics of the 1630s.{{sfn|Kennedy|1950|p=42}} However, the [[Iroquois]] of [[New York (state)|New York]], rivals of the Hurons, grew jealous of the Hurons' wealth and control of the fur trade system and attacked Huron villages in 1648. They killed missionaries and burned villages, and the Hurons scattered. Both de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were tortured and killed in the Iroquois raids. For this, they have been canonized as martyrs in the Catholic Church.{{sfn|Delaney|Nicholls|1989|p=3}}

The Jesuit [[Paul Ragueneau]] burned down [[Sainte Marie among the Iroquois|Sainte-Marie]], instead of allowing the Iroquois the satisfaction of destroying it. By late June 1649, the French and some Christian Hurons built Sainte-Marie II on [[Christian Island]] (Isle de Saint-Joseph). Facing starvation, lack of supplies, and constant threats of Iroquois attack, the small Sainte-Marie II was abandoned in June 1650. The remaining Christian Hurons and Jesuits departed for Quebec and [[Ottawa]].{{sfn|Delaney|Nicholls|1989|p=3}} As a result of the Iroquois raids and outbreak of disease, many missionaries, traders, and soldiers died.{{sfn|Kennedy|1950|p=43}} Today, the Huron tribe, also known as the [[Wyandot people|Wyandot]], have a First Nations reserve in Quebec, Canada, and three major settlements in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/etb0170e.shtml |title=First Nations Culture Areas Index |work=the Canadian Museum of Civilization |access-date=10 June 2016 |archive-date=11 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811033229/http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/ethno/etb0170e.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the collapse of the [[Wyandot people|Huron nation]], the Jesuits undertook the task of converting the Iroquois, something they had attempted in 1642 with little success. In 1653, the Iroquois nation had a fallout with the Dutch. They then signed a peace treaty with the French and a mission was established. The Iroquois soon turned on the French again. In 1658, the Jesuits were having little success and were under constant threat of being tortured or killed.{{sfn|Kennedy|1950|p=43}} They continued their effort until 1687, when they abandoned their permanent posts in the Iroquois homeland.{{sfn|Kennedy|1950|p=46}}

In 1700, Jesuits turned to maintaining Quebec, [[Montreal]], and Ottawa without establishing new posts.{{sfn|Kennedy|1950|p=49}} During the [[Seven Years' War]], Quebec was [[Conquest of New France (1758–1760)|captured by the British]] in 1759 and New France came under British control. The British barred the immigration of more Jesuits to New France. In 1763, only 21 Jesuits were stationed in New France. In 1773, only 11 Jesuits remained. In 1773, the British crown declared that the Society of Jesus in New France was dissolved.{{sfn|Kennedy|1950|p=53}}

The dissolution of the order left in place substantial estates and investments, amounting to an income of approximately £5,000 a year. The [[Council for the Affairs of the Province of Quebec]], later succeeded by the [[Legislative Assembly of Quebec]], assumed the task of allocating the funds to suitable recipients, chiefly schools.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/provincialstatu01canagoog/page/1483/mode/1up |pages=1483–1484 |chapter=Cap. 44 |title=The provincial statutes of Canada: anno undecimo et duodecimo Victoriae Reginae |date=1847 |place=Montreal |publisher=Stewart Derbishire & George Desbarats }}</ref>

In 1842, the Jesuit mission in Quebec was re-established. A number of Jesuit colleges were founded in the decades following. One of these colleges evolved into present-day [[Université Laval|Laval University]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Jesuits |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jesuits |access-date=16 January 2023 |author1-first=Peter |author2-first=Michel |author3-first=Celine |author1-last=Meehan |author2-last=Thériault |author3-last=Cooper |date=26 April 2019 |archive-date=8 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608221014/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jesuits |url-status=live }}</ref>

====United States====
{{Main|Jesuits in the United States}}

In the United States, the order is best known for its [[Jesuit missions in North America|missions to the Native Americans]] in the early 17th century, its [[Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities|network of colleges and universities]], and in Europe before 1773, its politically conservative role in the Catholic [[Counter Reformation]].

The Society of Jesus, in the United States, is organized into geographic provinces, each of which being headed by a [[provincial superior]]. Today, there are four Jesuit provinces operating in the United States: the USA [[Eastern United States|East]], USA [[Central United States|Central]] and [[Southern United States|Southern]], USA [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], and USA [[Western United States|West]] Provinces. At their height, there were ten provinces. Though there had been mergers in the past, a major reorganization of the provinces began in early 21st century, with the aim of consolidating into four provinces by 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Langlois |first=Ed |date=27 December 2012 |title=West Coast Jesuits forming new province - gradually |url=https://catholicsentinel.org/MobileContent/News/Local/Article/West-Coast-Jesuits-forming-new-province-gradually/2/35/20136 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113043515/https://catholicsentinel.org/MobileContent/News/Local/Article/West-Coast-Jesuits-forming-new-province-gradually/2/35/20136 |archive-date=13 November 2019 |access-date=13 November 2019 |website=[[Catholic Sentinel]] }}</ref>

====Ecuador====
The [[Church of la Compañía de Jesús, Quito|Church of the Society of Jesus]] ({{langx|es|La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús|links=no}}), known colloquially as {{lang|es|la Compañía}}, is a Jesuit church in [[Quito|Quito, Ecuador]]. It is among the best-known churches in Quito because of its large central [[nave]], which is profusely decorated with [[gold leaf]], [[Gilding|gilded]] plaster and wood carvings. Inspired by two [[Rome|Roman]] Jesuit churches – the [[Church of the Gesu|Chiesa del Gesù]] (1580) and the [[Sant'Ignazio|Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola]] (1650) – {{lang|es|la Compañía}} is one of the most significant works of [[Spanish Baroque architecture]] in [[South America]] and Quito's most ornate church.

Over the 160 years of its construction, the architects of {{lang|es|la Compañía}} incorporated elements of four architectural styles. [[Baroque]] is the most prominent. [[Mudéjar]] ([[Moorish architecture|Moorish]]) influence is seen in the geometrical figures on the pillars. [[Churrigueresque]] characterizes much of the ornate decoration, especially in the interior walls. The [[Neoclassical style]] adorns the Chapel of Saint Mariana de Jesús, which was a winery in its early years.

====Mexico====
[[File:Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto. Siglo XVIII.jpg|thumb|The Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó in the 18th century, the first permanent Jesuit mission in Baja California, established by [[Juan María de Salvatierra]] in 1697]]
[[File:Francisco Xavier Clavijero.jpg|thumb|Mexican-born Jesuit [[Francisco Javier Clavijero|Francisco Clavijero]] (1731–1787) wrote an important history of Mexico.]]
The Jesuits in [[New Spain]] distinguished themselves in several ways. They had high standards for acceptance to the order and many years of training. They attracted the patronage of elite families whose sons they educated in rigorous newly founded Jesuit {{lang|es|colegios}} ("colleges"), including [[San Pedro y San Pablo College (Museum of Light)|Colegio de San Pedro y San Pablo]], [[San Ildefonso College|Colegio de San Ildefonso]], and the [[Museo Nacional del Virreinato|Colegio de San Francisco Javier, Tepozotlan]]. Those same elite families hoped that a son with a [[vocation]] to the priesthood would be accepted as a Jesuit. Jesuits were also zealous in evangelization of the indigenous, particularly on the northern frontiers.

To support their {{lang|es|colegios}} and members of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits acquired landed estates that were run with the best-practices for generating income in that era. A number of these haciendas were donated by wealthy elites. The donation of a hacienda to the Jesuits was the spark igniting a conflict between 17th-century Bishop [[Juan de Palafox y Mendoza|Don Juan de Palafox]] of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Puebla de los Ángeles|Puebla]] and the Jesuit ''colegio'' in that city. Since the Jesuits resisted paying the tithe on their estates, this donation effectively took revenue out of the church hierarchy's pockets by removing it from the tithe rolls.{{sfn|Brading|1991|p=242}}

Many of Jesuit haciendas were huge, with Palafox asserting that just two colleges owned 300,000 head of sheep, whose wool was transformed locally in Puebla to cloth; six sugar plantations worth a million pesos and generating an income of 100,000 pesos.{{sfn|Brading|1991|p=242}} The immense Jesuit hacienda of Santa Lucía produced [[pulque]], the alcoholic drink made from fermented [[agave]] sap whose main consumers were the lower classes and Indigenous peoples in Spanish cities. Although most haciendas had a free work force of permanent or seasonal labourers, the Jesuit haciendas in Mexico had a significant number of enslaved people of African descent.{{sfn|Konrad|1980}}

The Jesuits operated their properties as an integrated unit with the larger Jesuit order; thus revenues from haciendas funded their {{lang|es|colegios}}. Jesuits did significantly expand missions to the Indigenous in the northern frontier area and a number were martyred, but the crown supported those missions.{{sfn|Brading|1991|p=242}} [[Mendicant orders]] that had real estate were less economically integrated, so that some individual houses were wealthy while others struggled economically. The [[Franciscans]], who were founded as an order embracing poverty, did not accumulate real estate, unlike the [[Augustinians]] and [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] in Mexico.

The Jesuits engaged in conflict with the episcopal hierarchy over the question of payment of tithes, the ten percent tax on agriculture levied on landed estates for support of the church hierarchy from bishops and cathedral chapters to parish priests. Since the Jesuits were the largest religious order holding real estate, surpassing the Dominicans and Augustinians who had accumulated significant property, this was no small matter.{{sfn|Brading|1991|p=242}} They argued that they were exempt, due to special pontifical privileges.{{sfn|Cline|1997|p=250}} Bishop De Palafox took on the Jesuits over this matter and was so soundly defeated that he was recalled to Spain, where he became the bishop of the minor [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Osma-Soria|Diocese of Osma]].

As elsewhere in the Spanish empire, the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1767. Their haciendas were sold off and their ''colegios'' and [[Spanish missions in Baja California|missions in Baja California]] were taken over by other orders.{{sfn|Van Handel|1991}} Exiled Mexican-born Jesuit [[Francisco Javier Clavijero]] wrote an important history of Mexico while in Italy, a basis for [[Criollo people|creole]] patriotism. [[Andrés Cavo]] also wrote an important text on Mexican history that [[Carlos María de Bustamante]] published in the early 19th century.<ref>Carlos María de Bustamante, ''Los tres siglos de México durante el gobierno español, hasta la entrada del ejército trigarante. Obra escrita en Roma por el P. Andrés Cavo, de la Compañía de Jesús; publicada con notas y suplemento''. 4 vols. Mexico 1836–38.</ref> An earlier Jesuit who wrote about the history of Mexico was Diego Luis de Motezuma (1619–99), a descendant of the [[Aztecs|Aztec]] monarchs of [[Tenochtitlan]]. Motezuma's {{lang|es|Corona mexicana, o Historia de los nueve Motezumas}} was completed in 1696. He "aimed to show that Mexican emperors were a legitimate dynasty in the 17th-century in the European sense".{{sfn|Warren| 1973|p=84}}<ref>Diego Luis de Motezuma, ''Corona mexicana, o historia de los Motezumas, por el Padre Diego Luis de Motezuma de la Compañía de Jesús''. Madrid 1914.</ref>

The Jesuits were allowed to return to Mexico in 1840 when General [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]] was once more president of Mexico. Their re-introduction to Mexico was "to assist in the education of the poorer classes and much of their property was restored to them".{{sfn|Mecham|1966|pp=358–359}}

<gallery>
File:AltarDomChaptlTep.JPG|The main altar of the Jesuit colegio in Tepozotlan, now the [[Museo Nacional del Virreinato]]
</gallery>

====Northern Spanish America====
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2020}}
[[File:Acosta2.jpg|thumb|upright|Acosta's {{lang|es|Historia natural y moral de las Indias}} (1590) text on the Americas]]

In 1571, the Jesuits arrived in the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]]. It was a key area of the [[Spanish Empire]], with a large indigenous populations and huge deposits of silver at [[Potosí]]. A major figure in the first wave of Jesuits was [[José de Acosta]] (1540–1600), whose 1590 book {{lang|es|Historia natural y moral de las Indias}} introduced Europeans to Spain's American empire, via fluid prose and keen observation and explanation, based on 15 years in Peru and some time in [[New Spain]] (Mexico).{{sfn|Brading|1991|p=185}}

The Viceroy of Peru [[Francisco de Toledo|Don Francisco de Toledo]] urged the Jesuits to evangelize the [[Indigenous peoples of Peru]], wanting to put them in charge of parishes, but Acosta adhered to the Jesuit position that they were not subject to the jurisdiction of bishops and to catechize in Indigenous parishes would bring them into conflict with the bishops. For that reason, the Jesuits in Peru focused on education of elite men rather than the indigenous populations.{{sfn|Brading|1991|p=185}}

[[File:StPeterClaver.jpg|thumb|[[Peter Claver]] ministering to African slaves at [[Cartagena de Indias|Cartagena]]]]
To minister to newly arrived African slaves, [[Alonso de Sandoval]] (1576–1651) worked at the port of [[Cartagena de Indias]]. Sandoval wrote about this ministry in {{lang|es|De instauranda Aethiopum salute}} (1627),{{sfn|Sandoval|2008}} describing how he and his assistant [[Peter Claver]], later canonized, met slave transport ships in the harbour, went below decks where 300–600 slaves were chained, and gave physical aid with water, while introducing the Africans to Christianity. In his treatise, he did not condemn slavery or the ill-treatment of slaves, but sought to instruct fellow Jesuits to this ministry and describe how he catechized the slaves.{{sfn|Brading|1991|pp=167–169}}

[[Rafael Ferrer (Jesuit)|Rafael Ferrer]] was the first Jesuit of [[Quito]] to explore and found missions in the upper [[Amazon River|Amazon]] regions of [[South America]] from 1602 to 1610, which belonged to the [[Audiencia Real|Audiencia]] (high court) of Quito that was a part of the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]] until it was transferred to the newly created [[Viceroyalty of New Granada]] in 1717. In 1602, Ferrer began to explore the Aguarico, Napo, and Marañon rivers in the Sucumbios region, in what is today Ecuador and Peru. Between 1604 and 1605, he set up missions among the Cofane natives. In 1610, he was martyred by an apostate native.

In 1639, the Audiencia of Quito organized an expedition to renew its exploration of the Amazon river and the Quito Jesuit (Jesuita Quiteño) [[Cristóbal de Acuña]] was a part of this expedition. In February 1639, the expedition disembarked from the Napo river. In December 1639, they arrived in what is today [[Pará]], Brazil, on the banks of the Amazon river. In 1641, Acuña published in Madrid a memoir of his expedition to the Amazon river entitled {{lang|es|Nuevo Descubrimiento del gran rio de las Amazonas}}, which for academics became a fundamental reference on the Amazon region.

In 1637, the Jesuits Gaspar Cugia and Lucas de la Cueva from Quito began establishing the [[Mainas missions]] in territories on the banks of the [[Marañón River]], around the [[Pongo de Manseriche]] region, close to the Spanish settlement of [[Borja, Peru|Borja]]. Between 1637 and 1652 there were 14 missions established along the [[Marañón River]] and its southern tributaries, the [[Huallaga River|Huallaga]] and the [[Ucayali River|Ucayali]] rivers. Jesuit de la Cueva and Raimundo de Santacruz opened up two new routes of communication with Quito, through the [[Pastaza River|Pastaza]] and [[Napo River|Napo]] rivers.

[[File:The Marañon or Amazon River with the Mission of the Society of Jesus WDL1137.png|thumb|upright=1.05|[[Samuel Fritz]]'s 1707 map showing the Amazon and the [[Orinoco]]]]

Between 1637 and 1715, [[Samuel Fritz]] founded 38 missions along the length of the Amazon river, between the Napo and Negro rivers, that were called the Omagua Missions. Beginning in 1705, these missions were continually attacked by the Brazilian [[Bandeirantes]]. In 1768, the only Omagua mission that was left was San Joaquin de Omaguas, since it had been moved to a new location on the Napo river away from the Bandeirantes.

In the immense territory of Maynas, the Jesuits of Quito made contact with a number of indigenous tribes which spoke 40 different languages, and founded 173 Jesuit missions, encompassing 150,000 inhabitants. Because of the constant epidemics of smallpox and measles and warfare with other tribes and the [[Bandeirantes]], the number of Jesuit Missions were reduced to 40 by 1744. The Jesuit missions offered the Indigenous people Christianity, iron tools, and a small degree of protection from the slavers and the colonists.<ref name="Cambridge University Press">{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Anne Christine |title=The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas |chapter=The Western Margins of Amazonia from the Early Sixteenth to the Early Nineteenth Century |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0521630757 |pages=225–226 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521630764.005 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521630764.005 }}</ref>

In exchange, the Indigenous had to submit to Jesuit discipline and adopt, at least superficially, a lifestyle foreign to their experience. The population of the missions was sustained by frequent expeditions into the jungle by Jesuits, soldiers, and Christian Indians to capture Indigenous people and force them to return or to settle in the missions.<ref name="Cambridge University Press"/> At the time when the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America in 1767, the Jesuits registered 36 missions run by 25 Jesuits in the Audiencia of Quito – 6 in the Napo and Aguarico Missions and 19 in the Pastaza and Iquitos Missions, with a population at 20,000 inhabitants.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cipolletti |first1=Maria Susana |last2=Magnin |first2=Juan |title='Nostalgia del monte'. Indigenas del Oriente peruano segun un manuscripto del jesuita Juan Magnin (Borja 1743) |journal=Anthropos |date=2008 |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=509 |doi=10.5771/0257-9774-2008-2-507 |jstor=40467427 |issn=0257-9774 }}</ref>

====Paraguay====
{{main|Jesuit missions among the Guaraní}}
The Guaraní people of eastern Paraguay and neighboring Brazil and Argentina were in crisis in the early 17th century. Recurrent epidemics of European diseases had reduced their population by up 50 percent and the forced labor of the encomiendas by the Spanish and mestizo colonists had made virtual slaves of many. Franciscan missionaries began establishing missions called [[reductions]] in the 1580s.<ref name="Hebblethwaite 2010 103">{{cite book |last=Hebblethwaite |first=Margaret |title=Paraguay |date=2010 |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides |page=103 }}</ref> The first Jesuits arrived in Asunción in 1588 and founded their first mission (or reduction) of [[San Ignacio, Paraguay|San Ignacio Guazú]] in 1609. The objectives of the Jesuits were to make Christians of the Guaraní, impose European values and customs (which were regarded as essential to a Christian life), and isolate and protect the Guaraní from European colonists and slavers.<ref name="Hebblethwaite 2010 103"/><ref name="Sarreal">{{cite book |last1=Sarreal |first1=Julia J.S. |title=The Guarani and their Missions |date=2014 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804791229 |pages=6–7, 20–28 }}</ref>
[[File:Jesuit ruins at trinidad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Ruins of [[La Santisima Trinidad de Parana]] mission in Paraguay, founded by Jesuits in 1706]]

In addition to recurrent epidemics, the Guaraní were threatened by the slave-raiding [[Bandeirantes]] from Brazil, who captured natives and sold them as slaves to work in sugar [[plantations]] or as concubines and household servants. Having depleted native populations near [[São Paulo]], they discovered the richly populated Jesuit missions. Initially, the missions had few defenses against the slavers and thousands of Guaraní were captured and enslaved.

Beginning in 1631, the Jesuits moved their missions from the [[Guayrá]] province (present day Brazil and Paraguay), about {{cvt|500|km|mile}} southwest to the three borders region of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. About 10,000 of 30,000 Guaraní in the missions chose to accompany the Jesuits. In 1641 and 1642, armed by the Jesuits, Guaraní armies defeated the Bandeirantes and ended the worst of the slave trade in their region. From this point on the Jesuit missions enjoyed growth and prosperity, punctuated by epidemics. At the peak of their importance in 1732, the Jesuits presided over 141,000 Guaraní (including a sprinkling of other peoples) who lived in about 30 missions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ganson |first1=Barbara |title=The Guarani Under Spanish Rule in the Rio de la Plata |date=2003 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=0804736022 |pages=44–53 }}</ref>

The opinions of historians differ with regard to the Jesuit missions. The missions are much-romanticized with the Guaraní portrayed as innocent children of nature and the Jesuits as their wise and benevolent guides to an earthly utopia. "Proponents...highlight that the Jesuits protected the Indians from exploitation and preserved the Guaraní language and other aspects of indigenous culture."{{Sfn|Sarreal|2014|pages=6–7}} "By means of religion," wrote the 18th century philosopher [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert|Jean d'Alembert]], "the Jesuits established a monarchical authority in Paraguay, founded solely on their powers of persuasion and on their lenient methods of government. Masters of the country, they rendered happy the people under their sway." [[Voltaire]] called the Jesuit missions "a triumph of humanity".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Durant |first1=Will |last2=Durant |first2=Ariel |title=The Age of Reason Begins |series=The Story of Civilization |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ageofreasonbegin07dura_0/page/250 250] |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1961 |isbn=978-0671013202 |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofreasonbegin07dura_0 |url-access=registration |quote=Paraguay founded solely on their powers. |access-date=22 April 2006}} the preceding paragraph is based on pp. 249–250</ref>

Detractors say that "the Jesuits took away the Indians' freedom, forced them to radically change their lifestyle, physically abused them, and subjected them to disease." Moreover, the missions were inefficient and their economic success "depended on subsidies from the Jesuit order, special protection and privileges from the Crown, and the lack of competition"{{sfn|Sarreal|2014|pages=6–7}} The Jesuits are portrayed as "exploiters" who "sought to create a kingdom independent of the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilde |first1=Guillermo |title=Imagining Guarinis and Jesuits |journal=ReVista |date=2015 |volume=XIV |issue=3 |pages=4–5 |url=https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/emagining-guaranis-and-jesuits/ |access-date=24 March 2022}} {{dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The [[Revolt of the Comuneros (Paraguay)|Comunero Revolt]] (1721 to 1735) was a serious protest by Spanish and mestizo Paraguayans against the Jesuit missions. The residents of Paraguay violently protested the pro-Jesuit government of Paraguay, Jesuit control of Guaraní labor, and what they regarded as unfair competition for the market for products such as [[yerba mate]]. Although the revolt ultimately failed and the missions remained intact, the Jesuits were expelled from institutions they had created in [[Asunción]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saeger |first1=James Schofield |title=Origins of the Rebellion of Paraguay |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |date=1972 |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=227–229 |doi=10.1215/00182168-52.2.215 |url=http://www.jstor.com/stable/2512428 |access-date=30 March 2022 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1756, the Guaraní protested the relocation of seven missions, fighting (and losing) a brief war with both the Spanish and Portuguese. The Jesuits were accused of inciting the Guaraní to rebel.{{sfn|Ganson|2003|pages=107–111}} In 1767, [[Charles III of Spain]] (1759–88) expelled the Jesuits from the Americas. The expulsion was part of an effort in the [[Bourbon Reforms]] to assert more Spanish control over its American colonies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Guedea |first1=Virginia |title=The Oxford History of Mexico |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=278 |isbn=9780199731985}} Edited by Michael Meyer and William Beezley.</ref> In total, 78 Jesuits departed from the missions leaving behind 89,000 Guaraní in 30 missions.{{sfn|Sarreal|2014|page=115}}

====Philippines====
The Jesuits were among the original five Catholic religious orders, alongside the [[Augustinians]], [[Franciscans]], [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] and [[Augustinian Recollects]], who evangelized the Philippines in support of Spanish colonization.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ooi |first1=Keat Gin |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA524 524] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA524 |access-date=23 April 2022 |language=en }}</ref> The Jesuits worked particularly hard in converting the [[Muslims]] of [[Mindanao]] and [[Luzon]] from [[Islam]] to Christianity, in which case, they were successful among the cities of [[Zamboanga City|Zamboanga]] and [[Manila]].<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jjs/9/2/article-p207_207.xml |title=Missionaries and Commanders: The Jesuits in Mindanao, 1718–68 |first=Eberhard |last=Crailsheim |date=18 January 2022 |journal=Journal of Jesuit Studies |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=207–228 |via=brill.com |doi=10.1163/22141332-09020003 |hdl=10261/273146 |hdl-access=free |access-date=5 January 2024 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105044713/https://brill.com/view/journals/jjs/9/2/article-p207_207.xml |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Zamboanga City|Zamboanga]] in particular was run like the Jesuit reductions in Paraguay and housed a large population of Peruvian and Latin American immigrants whereas [[Manila]] eventually became the capital of the Spanish colony.<ref>Image–Object–Performance: Mediality and Communication in Cultural Contact Zones of Colonial Latin America and the Philippines, ed. Astrid Windus and Eberhard Crailsheim (Munster: Waxmann Verlag, 2013)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Moro Pirates' attacks worsen, 1634 |url=http://www.zamboanga.com/html/history_1634_moro_attacks.htm |access-date=15 April 2024 |website=www.zamboanga.com |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508103044/https://www.zamboanga.com/html/history_1634_moro_attacks.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[File:Brief 'Dominus ac Redemptor'.jpg|thumb|150px|The papal brief, [[Dominus ac Redemptor]], of [[Pope Clement XIV]] suppressing Jesuits and closing the [[Universidad de San Ignacio]] at Manila.]] In addition to missionary work, the Jesuits compiled artifacts and chronicled the precolonial history and culture of the Philippines. Jesuit chronicler [[Pedro Chirino]] chronicled the history of the [[Kedatuan of Madja-as]] in [[Panay]] and its war against Rajah Makatunao of [[Sarawak]] as well as the histories of other [[History of the Philippines (900–1565)|Visayan kingdoms]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kahimyang.info/kauswagan/articles/1619/today-in-philippine-history-september-16-1635-father-pedro-chirino-died-in-manila |title=Today in Philippine history: 16 September 1635, Father Pedro Chirino died in Manila |access-date=30 August 2017 |website=The Kahimyang Project |archive-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831043158/http://kahimyang.info/kauswagan/articles/1619/today-in-philippine-history-september-16-1635-father-pedro-chirino-died-in-manila |url-status=live }}</ref> Meanwhile, another Jesuit, [[Francisco Combés]], chronicled the history of the Venice of the Visayas, the [[Kedatuan of Dapitan]], its temporary conquest by the [[Sultanate of Ternate]], its re-establishment in Mindanao and its alliance against the Sultanates of Ternate and Lanao as vassals under Christian Spain.

The Jesuits also established the first missions in [[Hinduism|Hindu]]-dominated [[Butuan (historical polity)|Butuan]], to convert it to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mission |first=Jesuit Bukidnon |title=Jesuit Bukidnon Mission |url=https://jesuitbukidnonmission.org/jesuit-mission-trails |access-date=5 October 2023 |website=Jesuit Bukidnon Mission |language=en-PH |archive-date=21 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221024434/https://jesuitbukidnonmission.org/jesuit-mission-trails |url-status=live }}</ref> The Jesuits also founded many towns, farms, haciendas, educational institutes, libraries, and an [[Manila Observatory|observatory]] in the Philippines.<ref>2007 Institutional Brochure, Ateneo de Manila University. Published by the Office of International Programs, Ateneo de Manila University.</ref> The Jesuits were instrumental in the sciences of medicine, botany, zoology, astronomy and seismology. They trained the Philippines' second saint, [[Pedro Calungsod]], who was martyred in [[Guam]] alongside the Jesuit priest [[Diego Luis de San Vitores]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pedrocalungsod.org/index.php/life/76 |title=A Catechetical Primer on the Life, Martyrdom and Glorification of Blessed Pedro Calungsod – Part 1 |author=Carlomagno Bacaltos |access-date=31 October 2014 |archive-date=21 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021011528/http://pedrocalungsod.org/index.php/life/76 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The eventual temporary suppression of the Jesuits due their role in anti-colonial and anti-slavery revolts among the Paraguay reductions,<ref name="Sarreal" /> alongside cooperation with the [[Augustinian Recollects|Recollects]], allowed their vacated parishes to be put under control by the local nationalistic diocesan clergy; the martyrdom of three of them, the diocesan priests known as [[Gomburza]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Escalante |first1=Rene |author1-link=Rene R. Escalante PHD |title=Watch: Gomburza an NHCP Documentary |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUlf9KtbqC8&feature=youtu.be |website=youtube.com |publisher=[[National Historical Commission of the Philippines]] |language=en |format=video |date=12 May 2020 |access-date=5 January 2024 |archive-date=27 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240227102344/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUlf9KtbqC8&feature=youtu.be |url-status=live }}</ref> inspired [[José Rizal]] (also Jesuit-educated upon the restoration of the order), who became the Philippines' national hero. He successfully started the [[Philippine Revolution]] against Spain.

The Jesuits largely discredited the [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]], who claimed responsibility for the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution of 1848|French Revolutions]], by reverting Jose Rizal from Freemasonry back to Catholicism.<ref>Garcia, Ricardo P. (1964). "''The Great Debate: The Rizal Retraction'' – Preface". R.P. Garcia Publishing Co., Quezon City.</ref> They argued that since the Philippine Revolution was inspired by the allegedly Masonic ideals behind the French and American revolutions, the French and American Freemasons themselves betrayed their own founding ideals when the American Freemasons annexed the Philippines and killed Filipinos in the [[Philippine-American War]] and the French Freemasons assented to the [[Treaty of Paris (1898)]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYfSbFGFWlUC&pg=PA477 |title=The Encyclopedia of the Spanish–American and Philippine–American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History |author=[[Spencer C. Tucker]] |year=2009 |page=477 |publisher=Abc-Clio |isbn=978-1851099528 }}</ref><ref>Bullock, Steven C. Revolutionary brotherhood: Freemasonry and the transformation of the American social order, 1730–1840 (UNC Press Books, 2011)</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Histoire des Francs-Maçons en France: De 1815 à nos jours |volume=2 |publisher=Privately published |year=2000 |orig-date=1981 |isbn=2-7089-6839-4 |editor=Daniel Ligou |page=200 }}</ref> this is compounded by the fact that American Freemason lodges dismissed the Philippine Revolutionary Freemason lodges as "irregular" and illegitimate.<ref>[https://www.grandlodge.ph/about] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250224145004/https://grandlodge.ph/about|date=24 February 2025}}"The Filipino Lodges felt that the American Lodges had not acted with true Masonic spirit in not inviting to the Convention Lodges working under the Grand Oriente Español. The reason such an invitation was not extended was because most members of Lodges holding Charters from California agreed that it would be considered irregular by many of the Grand Lodges of the United States, which would neither take the time nor show interest enough to investigate the reasons for such action. They would simply have refused to grant recognition to the new Grand Lodge for allowing irregular Lodges to participate in its deliberations."</ref> For the remainder of this period, Philippine Freemasonry was subservient to the Grand Lodge of California.<ref name="1901-18">{{Cite web |url=http://www.philippinemasonry.org/1901---1918.html |title=History of Masonry in the Philippines. Chronology, 1901-1918 - Philippine Center for Masonic Studies |access-date=28 September 2016 }}</ref>

In 1953, after being expelled from [[China]] by the [[Chinese Communist Party|Communists]], the Jesuits relocated their organization's nexus in Asia from China to the Philippines and brought along a sizeable [[Chinese Filipino|Chinese diaspora]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.adi.edu.ph/index.php/about/history |title=Ateneo de Iloilo Website |website=www.adi.edu.ph |access-date=8 August 2017 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105044703/https://www.adi.edu.ph/index.php/about/history |url-status=live }}</ref> The Jesuits play a pivotal role in the nation-building of [[the Philippines]] with its various [[List of Jesuit educational institutions in the Philippines|Ateneos]] and educational institutes training the country's intellectual elites.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/10/12/2216141/ateneo-overtakes-top-philippine-university-global-ranking |title=Ateneo overtakes UP as top Philippine university in global ranking |date=12 October 2022 |website=The Philippine Star |access-date=12 October 2022 |archive-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030120739/https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/10/12/2216141/ateneo-overtakes-top-philippine-university-global-ranking |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/10/13/news/ateneo-overtakes-up-in-world-university-rankings/1861981 |title=Ateneo overtakes UP in World University Rankings |date=12 October 2022 |website=The Manila Times |access-date=12 October 2022 |archive-date=27 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127202453/https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/10/13/news/ateneo-overtakes-up-in-world-university-rankings/1861981 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Colonial Brazil====
[[File:Nobrega2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Manuel da Nóbrega]] on a commemorative Portuguese stamp of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of [[São Paulo]], Brazil]]
[[File:Brazil 18thc JesuitFather.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A Jesuit in 18th century, Brazil]]

[[Tomé de Sousa]], first [[Governorate General of Brazil|Governor General of Brazil]], brought the first group of Jesuits to the colony. The Jesuits were officially supported by the [[List of Portuguese monarchs|King]], who instructed [[Tomé de Sousa]] to give them all the support needed to Christianize the indigenous peoples.

The first Jesuits, guided by [[Manuel da Nóbrega]], Juan de Azpilcueta Navarro, Leonardo Nunes, and later [[Joseph of Anchieta|José de Anchieta]], established the first Jesuit missions in [[Salvador, Bahia|Salvador]] and in [[São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga]], the settlement that gave rise to the city of [[São Paulo]]. Nóbrega and Anchieta were instrumental in the defeat of the French colonists of [[France Antarctique]] by managing to pacify the [[Tupi people|Tamoio]] natives, who had previously fought the Portuguese. The Jesuits took part in the foundation of the city of [[Rio de Janeiro]] in 1565.

The success of the Jesuits in converting the Indigenous peoples is linked to their efforts to understand the native cultures, especially their languages. The first grammar of the [[Tupian languages|Tupi]] language was compiled by José de Anchieta and printed in [[Coimbra]] in 1595. The Jesuits often gathered the natives in communities (the [[Reductions|Jesuit reductions]]), where the natives worked for the community and were evangelised.

The Jesuits had frequent disputes with other colonists who wanted to enslave the natives. The action of the Jesuits saved many natives from being enslaved by Europeans, but also disturbed their ancestral way of life and inadvertently helped spread infectious diseases against which the natives had no natural defenses. Slave labor and trade were essential for the economy of Brazil and other American colonies, and the Jesuits usually did object to the enslavement of African peoples, criticized the conditions of slavery.{{sfn|Campbell|1921|pp=87ff}} In cases where individual Jesuit priests criticized the institution of African slavery, they were censored and sent back to Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chamberlin |first1=William |date=4 June 2018 |title=Silencing Genocide: The Jesuit Ministry in Colonial Cartagena de Indias and its Legacy |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021934718778718 |journal=Journal of Black Studies |volume=49 |issue=7 |pages=672–693 |doi=10.1177/0021934718778718 |s2cid=149464521 |access-date=23 April 2022 |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423190057/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021934718778718 |url-status=live }}</ref>