Expulsion of the Jesuit Order from Malta : 23 April 1768

Abstract

Pope Paul Ill (Farnese) had asked Ignatius Loyola probably born in 1491, in the Basque country - Spain, to found the Society of Jesus - the Jesuit Order which he did. He was a mystic, burning with the fire of divine love, a priestly apostle and a spiritual director. Pope Paul Ill formally approved the Society of Jesus on 27 September 1540. Ignatius was chosen as superior and led the Society between 1541 and his death in 1556. Next to the Lutheran revolution, no single event traumatised the Catholic world as severe as the suppression of the Jesuits by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, who according to Giovanni Bonello reached that final decision, because of a scandal involving a Maltese family - the Pisani imbroglio. This was the time when the Catholic Church was encountering the Lutheran-Calvin religious revolution, and the Jesuits became the commandoes of the Cabolic Church. [excerpt]