1491 Birth of Ignatius of Loyola
1521 Battle of Pamplona, where Ignatius was wounded and his conversion begun
1534 Ignatius and six fellow students at the University of Paris pronounce a vow to go to Jerusalem
1540 Official approval of the Society of Jesus by Pope Paul III
1542 Francis Xavier arrives in India
1547 Portuguese Jesuits arrive in Brazil
1548 Jesuits open their school in Messina, Italy
1556 Ignatius dies in Rome
1558 The First General Congregation approves the Constitutions and elects Diego Laínez to succeed Ignatius
1583 Matteo Ricci and Michele Ruggieri enter China
1614 Jesuits and other missionaries expelled from Japan Publication of the Monita Secreta
1622 Canonization of Ignatius and Xavier
1656 Pascal publishes the first of his Provincial Letters
1704 Condemnation of “Chinese Rites” by Pope Clement XI
1754 Outbreak of the “War of the Seven Reductions”
1759 Expulsion of the Jesuits from Portugal and Portuguese dominions
1764 King Louis XV issues the royal decree suppressing the Jesuits in France
1767 Jesuits suppressed in Spain and Spanish dominions and their properties seized
1773 Worldwide suppression by Pope Clement XIV, Dominus ac Redemptor
1801 Pope Pius VII validates the existence of the Society in Russia, Catholicae fidei
1814 Worldwide restoration of the Society by Pius VII, Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum
1965 Election of Pedro Arrupe as superior general, Thirty-First General Congregation
2013 Election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope