List of Jesuits

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Íñigo López de Loyola, recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church, founded the Society of Jesus in 1534.

This is an alphabetical list of historically notable members of the Society of Jesus.

A

• José de Acosta, Spanish historian; author of The Natural and Moral History of the Indies
• Francois d'Aguillon, Belgian mathematician and physicist
• Mateo Aimerich, Spanish philologist
• Giulio Alenio, Italian missionary to China, called the "Confucius of the West"
• Claude-Jean Allouez, French Jesuit, missionary to Wisconsin
• Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, French missionary to China
• Yves Marie André, French mathematician, philosopher, and essayist
• José de Anchieta, Portuguese missionary in Brazil, founder of São Paulo, Brazil
• Saint Modeste Andlauer, martyred in China
• Juan Andres, prolific 18th-century Spanish writer
• Saint Edmund Arrowsmith, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
• Pedro Arrupe, 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus, led the first rescue party in Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb
• Xabier Arzalluz, Spanish Basque leader; later left the Society

B

• Jakob Balde, German latinist, court chaplain to Maximillian I
• John Ballard, English Jesuit priest executed for being involved in an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England
• Hans Urs von Balthasar, 20th-century theologian, Jesuit from 1928 to 1950 when he left the order to found a new community with Adrienne von Speyr
• Ignacio Martin Baro, martyr in El Salvador
• Augustin Barruel, French writer
• Michel Baudouin, Superior-General of the Louisiana Mission (1749 to 1763)
• Joseph Bayma, wrote "Molecular Mechanics" in 1866...
• Augustin Bea, German cardinal
• Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German missionary to China; astronomer
• Saint Robert Bellarmine, Italian theologian and Doctor of the Church
• Frans Jozef van Beeck, theologian
• Joop Beek, Dutch and Indonesian educator and presidential political advisor
• Saint John Berchmans, Jesuit Seminarian from Belgium
• Prosper Bernard, a Canadian missionary to China, killed by the Japanese
• Joaquin G. Bernas, Filipino Jesuit, constitutionalist, Dean Emeritus of the Ateneo Law School; former president of the Ateneo de Manila University, former Provincial Superior of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus
• Daniel Berrigan, American political activist, poet, and professor at Fordham University
• Giuseppe Biancani, a very early selenographer
• Jacob Bidermann, theologian and playwright - inspired Johann Wolfgang Goethe
• Jacques de Billy, "pen-pal" of Pierre de Fermat, many early contributions in number theory.
• Leopold Biwald, 18th-century Austrian physics professor and textbook author
• Saint Andrew Bobola, Polish missionary, killed by the Cossacks
• Saint Francis Borgia, third Superior General of the Society and exorcist
• Ruđer Bošković, many contributions to physics and astronomy
• Giovanni Botero, Italian thinker, discharged from the Society in 1579
• Joachim Bouvet, early missionary to China and a leading member of the Figurist movement
• Louis Bourdaloue, French preacher and orator
• William S. Bowdern, exorcist who inspired the novel and film The Exorcist
• Niklaus Brantschen, Swiss Jesuit, Zen master, author, and founder of the Lassalle-Institut
• Saint Jean de Brebeuf, 17th-century French-Canadian missionary and martyr
• Saint Alexander Briant, English martyr
• Frank Brennan, Officer of the Order of Australia for services to Aboriginal Australians
• Franz Brentano, philosopher who founded his own school of thought, the Brentano School...
• John de Brito, Portuguese martyr and missionary to Madura, India (present-day Tamil Nadu)
• Ruđer Josip Bošković, Croatian atomic physicist, forerunner of Faraday
• Claude Buffier, aimed to discover the ultimate principal of knowledge, praised by Voltaire

C

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a philosopher who trained as a paleontologist and geologist

• Niccolò Cabeo, many early contributions to physics
• Saint Edmund Campion, English martyr
• Saint Petrus Canisius, Dutch theologian, writer of the widely-used Little Catechism; Doctor of the Church
• John Carroll, first bishop of the United States and founder of Georgetown University
• Paolo Casati, Mathematician, supported Galileo..
• John II Casimir Vasa, king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Louis Bertrand Castel, French Scientist
• Leonardo Castellani, 20th-century Argentine writer and theologian
• Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian Jesuit brother; artist to the Chinese Emperor
• Saint Juan del Castillo, martyr of the Río de la Plata
• Jean Pierre de Caussade, spiritual director, college rector, and author of Abandonment to Divine Providence
• Michel de Certeau, French cultural theorist
• Francesco Cetti, mathematician and zoologist
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French paleontologist, theologian/philosopher and spiritual writer
• Saint Noël Chabanel, North American martyr
• Pierre Cholonec, Superior of Montreal
• Walter Ciszek, missionary and religious prisoner in Soviet Union; author
• Saint Peter Claver, Spanish missionary in South America
• Christopher Clavius main architect of the modern Gregorian calendar
• Saint Claude de la Colombière, preacher to the seventh Duchess of York, Mary of Modena
• Louis Le Comte, early missionary to China
• Frederick Copleston, English writer, author of the definitive History of Philosophy
• John M. Corridan, labor activist and "Waterfront priest" whose story inspired the classic film On the Waterfront
• Horacio de la Costa, Philippine historian and the first Filipino Jesuit provincial superior in the Philippines
• Jacques Courtois, 17th-century French painter
• Saint Roque González de Santa Cruz, Paraguayan missionary and martyr
• Johann Baptist Cysat, published the first printed European book concerning Japan
• Stanisław Czerski, Polish graphic designer

D

Fr. Joseph O'Callahan (right), a Jesuit priest, is presented with the Medal of Honor by President Truman

• Claude Dablon, Superior General of all the Canadian missions from 1670 to 1680
• Saint Antoine Daniel, North American martyr
• Cardinal Jean Daniélou, author, scholar, and member of the French Academy
• John Dear, American peace activist and spiritual author
• Alfred Delp, German hanged for his opposition to Hitler
• Saint Paul Denn, martyred in China
• Robert De Nobili, Famous Italian missionary to India (Madurai Mission, who tried to inculturate Christian values to the Indian culture
• Joseph de Maistre, Savoyard political conservative
• Pierre-Jean De Smet, active missionary among the Native Americans of the Western United States in the mid-19th century
• Eduardo Dougherty, American-Brazilian educator, communicator and leader of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Brazil
• Robert Drinan, the first Catholic priest to serve as a voting member of U.S. Congress (congressman from Massachusetts)
• Gabriel Druillettes, the Apostle of Maine, missionary and explorer
• Cardinal Avery Dulles, American theologian and professor at Fordham University
• Jacques Dupuis , Theologian, edited The Christian Faith which went to seven editions

E

• Ignacio Ellacuría, rector of University of Central America; murdered in 1989
• Saint Philip Evans, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

F

• Blessed Peter Faber, early companion of Ignatius of Loyola, co-founder of the Society of Jesus; missionary in Germany
• Honoré Fabri, the first to explain why the sky is blue
• Jean-Charles de la Faille, first to determine the center of gravity of the sector of a circle
• Leonard Feeney, ultra-conservative American theologian
• Jean de Fontaney, missionary to China
• Balthazar Francolini, attritionist professor at the Gregorian University who wrote Clericus Romanus Contra Nimium Rigorismum Munitus in 1707 against Jansenism.
• Luis Frois, Portuguese missionary to Japan; author of a history of Japan

Robert Bellarmine, one of the most important cardinals of the Catholic Reformation

G

• Saint Henry Garnett, first English Provincial; executed after being implicated in the Gunpowder Plot
• Saint Charles Garnier, North America martyr
• John Gerard, English Jesuit; one of the few men to escape from the Tower of London
• Jean-François Gerbillon, early missionary to China
• Filippo Salvatore Gilij, contributor in the field of South American historical linguistics
• Paul Goethals, Belgian, first Archbishop of Calcutta
• Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian priest; patron saint of students
• Thyrsus González, Spanish 13th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• John Goodman, jailed in England during the Long Parliament
• Saint John Soan de Goto, martyred in Japan
• Saint René Goupil, Jesuit brother and North American martyr
• Baltasar Gracián, Spanish prose writer
• Francesco Maria Grimaldi, 17th-century Italian mathematician, physicist and astronomer; accurately mapped the Moon; one of the first to suggest the wave-like nature of light
• Paul Guldin father of Guldinus theorem
• José Gumilla, Naturalist who studied the Orinoco, South America
• Bartolomeu de Gusmão, Brazilian-Portuguese priest and mathematician; said to be an early inventor of the dirigible

H

Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and priest

• Juraj Habdelić, Croatian writer and lexicographer
• Walter Halloran, assistant in the exorcism which inspired the novel and film The Exorcist
• John Hardon , wrote The Catholic Catechism and many other works
• Timothy Healy, late president of Georgetown University and president of the New York Public Library system
• Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (spent a very short time as a novice before beginning his philosophical career)
• John-Baptist Hoffmann, German Apostle of the Mundas in India
• Ferdinand Augustin Hallerstein, missionary to China that was made a mandarin
• Christopher Holywood, Irish priest of the Counter-Reformation
• Eduardo Hontiveros, Filipino philosopher, theologian and composer of sacred and liturgical music
• Gerard Manley Hopkins, renowned English poet
• Johann Baptiste Horvath, 18th-century Hungarian/Slovak physics professor and textbook author
• Saint Alberto Hurtado, social reformer in Chile

I

• Blessed John Ingram
• Saint Rémy Isoré, martyred in China

J

• Andreas Jaszlinszky, 18th-century Hungarian physics professor and textbook author
• Saint Francis de Geronimo, Italian priest and missionary
• Franz Jetzinger, theology professor, Austrian political figure, and principal biographer of Adolf Hitler's early years
• Pierre Johanns, Luxemburger priest and missionary in India
• Isaac Jogues, 17th-century French martyr and missionary to North America
• Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, Mexican priest, executed during the persecution of the Catholic Church under the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles

K

Athanasius Kircher, a 17th-century German polymath

Saint Gabriel Lallemant

• Georg Joseph Kamel Czech botanist assigned to the Philippines; the Camellia flower was named after him
• Sebastian Kappen, Indian theologian
• Eusebio Francisco Kino, missionary and cartographer of Mexico and Arizona
• Athanasius Kircher, 17th-century German scientist; discoverer of microbes
• Saint James Kisai, Japanese martyr
• Adam Adamandy Kochański, Polish mathematician and clockmaker
• Anthony Kohlmann, early Catholic priest in New York whose decision not to testify established American precedent for "priest-penitent privilege" or "clergy confidentiality" in law
• Peter Hans Kolvenbach, linguist; 29th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Cardinal Ján Chryzostom Korec, Prisoner for Christ
• Saint Stanislaus Kostka, patron saint of Jesuit novices
• Franz Xaver Kugler, Doctor of chemistry and mathematics. Famous also for his Babylonian studies
• Kurien Kunnumpuram, Indian theologian (ecclesiology)

L

• Saint Jean de Lalande, North American martyr
• Saint Gabriel Lalemant, North American martyr
• Brendan Lally, American; Famous spiritual director at the Pontifical North American College and Saint Joseph's University
• Georges LeMaitre, Belgian physicist; one of the originators of the "Big Bang" theory
• Leonardus Lessius, Belgian moral theologian and writer on economics
• Léon Degrelle, Belgian Soldier
• Saint David Lewis, Welsh martyr
• Constant Lievens, the Apostle of Chotanagpur, a Flemish Jesuit who worked among the Adivasis of Central India
• Segundo Llorente, Spanish-born priest in rural western Alaska; was elected by write-in vote to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1960 by residents of the Wade Hampton district, becoming the first Catholic priest to serve in a U.S. state legislature
• Bernard Lonergan, Canadian philosopher and theologian, Companion of the Order of Canada
• Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Cardinal Henri de Lubac, French theologian, and patrologist

M

Jacques Marquette, the French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement

• Louis Maimbourg
• James Martin, author of My Life With the Saints and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything; culture editor for America magazine
• Malachi Martin, author of sixteen books, had three Ph.D's, spoke ten languages, much cloak and...
• Ignacio Martín-Baró, martyr of El Salvador
• Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Italian scripture scholar, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan
• Joseph Maréchal, Belgian transcendental philosopher
• Jacques Marquette, French explorer of the Mississippi and Northern Michigan areas
• William Francis Masterson, American educator to the Philippines; (Ateneo de Manila University, Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan), founder of the Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan College of Agriculture
• Saint Lèon-Ignance Mangin, martyred in China
• Blessed Julien Maunoir, 17th-century missionary to the Breton people
• Blessed Rupert Mayer, Servant of God, Resisted the Nazi's..
• Horace McKenna, founder of So Others Might Eat and advocate of the Sursum Corda Cooperative
• John McLaughlin, American political commentator; left the Jesuits after a failed bid for a Senate seat in Rhode Island
• Anthony de Mello, Indian spiritual guide and writer
• Everard Mercurian, Belgian fourth Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Saint Paul Miki, Japanese martyr
• Segundo Montes, martyr of El Salvador
• Saint Henry Morse, English martyr
• Simon Le Moyne, New World explorer
• John Courtney Murray, American theologian credited with the drafting of the Second Vatican Council Declaration on Religious Freedom

Petrus Canisius, a theologian to whom the restoration of Catholicism in Germany after the Reformation is credited

N

• Oswald von Nell-Breuning
• Adolfo Nicolás, 30th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Roberto de Nobili, Italian missionary to India; linguist
• Manoel da Nóbrega, Portuguese founder of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro
• Charles de Noyelle, Belgian 12th Superior General of the Society of Jesus

O

• Joseph T. O'Callahan, U.S. Navy chaplain; awarded Medal of Honor
• Saint John Ogilvie, Scottish martyr
• Joseph A. O'Hare, former president of Fordham University and chairman of the New York City Charter Revision Commission and the first New York City Campaign Finance Board
• Gian Paolo Oliva, Italian 11th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• William O'Malley, author and actor (played Father Joe Dyer in The Exorcist)
• Walter J. Ong, American cultural historian and spiritual writer
• Blessed Peter Onizuko, Japanese martyr burned at the stake during 17th century persecutions in Japan
• Saint Nicholas Owen (martyr), Martyr Saint of England and Wales

Adolfo Nicolás, the current Superior General of the Society of Jesus

P

• Mitch Pacwa, scholar; host on EWTN
• Kuruvilla Pandikattu, Indian philosopher
• Denis Pétau, French scholar and theologian
• Saint Joseph Pignatelli, Italian leader of the Jesuits in exile
• Brother Andrea Pozzo, A great artist of the baroque genre..
• John Powell, American author and professor

R

• Karl Rahner, 20th-century German theologian
• Saint Bernardino Realino, pastor of Lecce
• Joseph Redlhamer, 18th-century Austrian physics professor and textbook author
• Saint John Francis Regis, French rural missionary preacher
• Karl Leonhard Reinhold
• Franz Retz, Czech 15th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Alexandre de Rhodes, French missionary to Vietnam; linguist
• Servant of God Matteo Ricci, Italian missionary to China, linguist and published the first Chinese edition of Euclids Elements
• Giovanni Battista Riccioli, 17th-century Italian astronomer; devised the system for the nomenclature of lunar features that is now the international standard
• Gabriel Richard, co-founder of University of Michigan, "second founder" of Detroit, first congressional representative from Michigan (then a territory, not yet a state)
• Saint Alonso Rodriguez, martyr of the Río de la Plata
• Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, Jesuit brother; mystic
• Saint José María Rubio, Spanish priest; canonized in 2003

S

• Grégoire de Saint-Vincent, contributions to the theory of Logarithms
• Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish Latin poet of the Counter-Reformation, crowned poet laureate by Pope Urban VIII
• Johann Schreck, 17th-century German polymath and missionary to China
• Gaspar Schott, first published mention of the universal joint
• Angelo Secchi, astronomer
• Juan Luis Segundo, liberation theologian
• Thomas Ewing Sherman, son of U.S. Civil War General William T. Sherman
• Piotr Skarga, Polish priest, homilist, and hagiographer
• Pierre-Jean De Smet, American explorer and missionary

Pierre-Jean De Smet, a missionary to the Native Americans in the Western United States

• Jan Mikołaj Smogulecki, introduced logarithms to China
• Jon Sobrino, Author of Christology at the Crossroads, liberation theologian
• Carlos Sommervogel, scholar and author of Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus
• Saint Robert Southwell, Elizabethan poet and martyr
• Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík, Czech theologian and professor
• Walter Steins, 19th-century Dutch bishop, Vicar Apostolic of Bombay and then Calcutta and 3rd Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand.
• Francisco Suárez, Scholastic philosopher
• Jón Sveinsson, Poet and writer from Iceland
• Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian mathematician and astronomer

T

• Guy Tachard, Two important embassies to Siam...
• André Tacquet, Flemish mathematician whose works facilitated the discovery of calculus
• Michelangelo Tamburini, Italian 14th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Francesco Lana de Terzi, creator of the first realistic technical plans for an airship
• Antoine Thomas, Belgian astronomer in China
• Cosme de Torrès, contemporary of Francis Xavier
• Pascal Tosi, Italian co-founder of the Alaska Mission
• Nicolas Trigault, early missionary to China
• Michael Alphonsius Shen Fu-Tsung, the first Mandarin-speaking Chinese to become a Jesuit

V

Francis Xavier, one of the first seven Jesuits and missionary to Asia

• Luca Valerio corresponded with Galileo Galilei
• Alessandro Valignano, Italian canonical visitor to the Asian missions; promoter of an inculturated missionary approach
• John Vattanky, Indian classical philosopher
• José María Vélaz, founder of Fe y Alegria
• Ferdinand Verbiest, Belgian missionary to China; astronomer and mathematician
• Antonio Vieira, 17th-century Portuguese missionary and diplomat
• Juan Bautista Villalpando, Isaac Newton referred to his works
• Grégoire de Saint-Vincent, Flemish mathematician
• Claude de Visdelou, early missionary to China

W

• Edmund A. Walsh, founder of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
• Saint Henry Walpole, English martyr
• Garry Wills, Pulitzer Prize-winning author (briefly a Jesuit)
• Jakub Wujek, scholar and translator

X

• Saint Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary to Asia who initiated a large conversion movement in India, Malacca, and Japan

Z

• Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer and musician
• Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder, expert in the Old Javanese language and literature

See also

• List of Jesuit theologians
• List of Jesuit Saints
• Canadian Martyrs
• Jesuit China missions

External links

• The Jesuit Portal – Jesuit Worldwide Homepage