The Society of Jesus, Constitution, 1540

The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, as members became known, was a group founded by the Basque noble Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556).

Officially sanctioned by the pope, Jesuits and were intent on reforming Catholicism from within in the wake of the Protestant Reformation.

Missionaries in places like Latin America and Asia, they converted
nonbelievers with their fiery rhetoric.

He who desires to fight for God under the banner of the cross in our society—
which we wish to distinguish by the name of Jesus

All members of the society shall realize, and shall recall daily, as long as they
live, that this society as a whole and in every part is fighting for God under faithful
obedience to one most holy lord, the pope, and to other Roman pontiffs who succeed him.

all who practice the faith of Christ are subject to the Roman Pontiff as their head and as the vicar of Jesus Christ, yet we have adjudged that, for the special promotion of greater humility in our society and the perfect mortification of every individual and the sacrifice of our own wills

we should each be bound by a peculiar vow, in addition to the general obligation, that whatever the present Roman pontiff, or any future one, may from time to time decree regarding the welfare of souls and the propagation of the faith

we are pledged to obey without evasion or excuse, instantly, so as in us lies, whether he send us to the Turks or any other infidels, even to those who inhabit the regions men call the Indies; whether to heretics or schismatics, or, on the other hand, to certain of the faithful.