Also called: Íñigo López de Loyola, Saint Ignatius
Basque soldier turned priest from Spain who founded the Society of Jesus with his companions in 1534, won papal approval in 1540 and became its first superior general
In 1540 Pope Paul III approved Ignatius of Loyola’s Society of Jesus, which through education and overseas missions became the spearhead of the Catholic Reformation (Counter-Reformation).
From Luther’s Ninety-five Theses to Catherine the Great — the wars of religion of a divided Christendom ended at Westphalia, and absolute monarchs armed with divine right, standing armies, bureaucracies and mercantilism, followed by the enlightened despots of eastern Europe, contended for the balance of power among sovereign states