Short History of the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) founded the Jesuit order.

The Society of Jesus was established at a time when the Church was shaken by reform movements initiated by Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. During the Catholic Reformation, the Jesuits gained significant influence at royal courts and among the upper classes. With their school system, they became leaders in education and were also successful in pastoral work through preaching, spiritual exercises, and the establishment of congregations and confraternities.

In the arts, they were key promoters of the new Baroque style. They developed theatrical activities which, in the 17th century, represented the peak of European theater. Through missionary work, they also gained recognition on other continents.

Pope Paul III officially approved the Jesuit order.
Jesuit establishments:

• 1551 – The first Jesuit college in Austria was established in Vienna.

• 1573 – A Jesuit station was founded in Graz.

• 1596 – The Jesuit college in Ljubljana was established, stemming from the Graz college.
  Jesuit schools were also active in Klagenfurt (1605), Gorizia (1615), Trieste (1619), Rijeka (1627), and Maribor (1757).

Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Jesuit order with the papal brief Dominus ac Redemptor Noster. In Austria, the dissolution was proclaimed by Empress Maria Theresa. She continued to support Jesuit schools and seminaries, and employed former Jesuits as teachers. Some Jesuits left the country. Among them was the Jesuit from Ljubljana, Gabriel Gruber (1740–1805), one of the most important Slovenian engineers, architects, and professors of mathematics. In Ljubljana, he led the draining of the Ljubljana Marsh and the construction of the so-called Gruber Canal.

Pope Pius VII restored the Jesuit order with the decree Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum. The restoration was also supported by the Ljubljana Jesuit Fr. Gabriel Gruber, who had left for Russia after the suppression, as the order had not been banned there. He later became the Superior General of the Jesuits in Russia.

The Jesuits returned to Slovenia as leaders of popular missions. However, lacking permission from civil authorities, they were forced to leave three years later. After 1884, they occasionally preached in the cathedral. In 1896, they began constructing a residence in Poljane, followed later by the Church of St. Joseph (1912–1921) and a retreat house (1925). In 1932, they returned to Maribor, but were expelled by the Germans at the start of World War II. In 1949, their property in Ljubljana was confiscated, and the Jesuits were either imprisoned or exiled to the half-ruined Bogenšperk Castle near Litija.

Archduke Ferdinand founded a Jesuit college in Ljubljana, branching from the Jesuit college in Graz.

In January, the first three Jesuits arrived in Ljubljana from Graz. Their settlement was initially encouraged by Bishop Urban Textor (1543–1558), and later realized through the efforts of Bishop Janez Tavčar (1580–1597), who had studied at the Jesuit college in Vienna.

The Jesuits were granted space near the Church of St. James for the construction of their college. This site had previously housed the Augustinian monastery (1494–1555), later turned into the imperial hospital (1555–1597). The old Church of St. James was partially refurbished, and the poorhouse buildings were demolished. Since more space was needed, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Kostanjevica na Krki donated a monastery house next to the church, and Bishop Tavčar purchased two adjacent houses. The Jesuits themselves bought around thirty mostly wooden and already abandoned houses.

The Jesuit complex was built as a unified space with the church and college. The college buildings formed a square layout. In the middle of the courtyard, a wall separated the monastic courtyard on the eastern side from the school atrium on the western side.

Today, the Jesuits in Slovenia are active

• in Ljubljana in Dravlje (location of the Jesuit Provincialate),
• at St. James’s on Gornji trg (the first Jesuit station in Slovenia),
• at St. Joseph’s in Poljane (home to the Ignatian Retreat House),
• and in Maribor at St. Magdalene’s.

The Jesuits also serve parishes in Radlje ob Dravi, Radenci, Muta, Pernice, and Sv. Jernej nad Muto. Slovenian Jesuits are also present in France and Italy, and as missionaries in Zambia and Malawi. Two Slovenian Jesuits are also members of the Russian Region of the Society of Jesus.