Ignatius of Loyola, Saint

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Ignatius of Loyola, Saint (1491–1556) Spanish soldier, churchman and founder of the Jesuits. In 1534, with Francis Xavier and other young men, he made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1537 and moved to Rome where, in 1540, Pope Paul III formally approved his request to found a religious order: the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits. He spent the rest of his life in Rome supervising the rapid growth of the order, which was to become the leading force in the Counter-Reformation.

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