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Appearing below, the first decree promulgated by the 33rd General Congregation (an event convoked to accept the resignation of the Jesuits’ superior general) presents the views of the congregation’s delegates on the state of the Society of Jesus “in today’s world.” It consists of a brief introduction and conclusion but is primarily divided into two, […]

The following decree of the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus responds to several postulata (or petitions) received that contained different concerns on the nature of a Jesuit’s priestly work. Many postulata, according to historian John Padberg, expressed a “fear” that “the present-day Society be too much given over to apostolic works of

The following text was first orally approved by Pope Paul III in 1539. More commonly known as the “Five Chapters,” the document serves the first foundational document of what became the Society of Jesus, stating the key purposes of the proposed religious order. The document was later revised in 1540 (approved in the papal bull

More famous for their promulgated decrees, the General Congregations also feature important addresses, homilies, and statements–remarks that help guide the work of the Jesuit delegates assembled at the congregations but also the subsequent work at the Jesuit apostolates around the globe. Below is a selection of those addresses from the most recent General Congregations. For

The Jesuit Online Library includes the following 14 titles, consisting of nearly 100,000 pages in 700 volumes. To suggest other titles for inclusion in the Jesuit Online Library or to grant permission for titles to be digitized and added, please contact the Portal’s editors (jesuitportal@bc.edu).     Journals Jesuit Educational Quarterly Published by Jesuit Educational

One month after they elected Alfonso Nicolás to succeed Peter-Hans Kolvenbach as the Jesuits’ superior general, the delegates of the 35th General Congregation gathered, at the pontiff’s invitation, in the Vatican’s Sala Clementina. There, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the men with words of gratitude. He states, “I very much hope, therefore, that the entire Society

 The 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus opened on January 5, 1995, with a Mass at the Church of the Holy Spirit, located across from the Jesuits’ Curia in Rome. At noon that same day, the delegates proceeded to the Vatican’s Sala Clementina for an audience with Pope John Paul II. To the

General Congregation 32 signified a major transition in how the Jesuits understood the connection between their mission and the service of faith and promotion of social justice. That connection was articulated in the congregation’s fourth decree, “Our Mission Today.” “In short,” as the decree’s introduction observes, “our mission today is to preach Jesus Christ and

At the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Jesuits, as with other Catholics, engaged in new labors and in new contexts. The Council’s decree Perfectae Caritatis encouraged those in a religious order to first know their institute’s “original spirit” so that they might make “the best adjustments…in accordance with the needs of our new