The Society has been ruled by twenty-five generals and four vicars from its foundation to the present day (1910). Of all the various nationalities represented in the Society, neither France, its original cradle, nor England, has ever given it a head, while Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Poland, were all represented. The numbers of the Society are not accurately known, but are estimated at about 20,000, in all parts of the world; and of these the English, Irish and American Jesuits are under 3000.
The generals of the Jesuits have been as follow:—
| 1. | Ignatius de Loyola (Spaniard) | 1541-1556 |
| 2. | Diego Laynez (Spaniard) | 1558-1565 |
| 3. | Francisco Borgia (Spaniard) | 1565-1572 |
| 4. | Everard Mercurian (Belgian) | 1573-1580 |
| 5. | Claudio Acquaviva (Neapolitan) | 1581-1615 |
| 6. | Mutio Vitelleschi (Roman) | 1615-1645 |
| 7. | Vincenzio Caraffa (Neapolitan) | 1646-1649 |
| 8. | Francesco Piccolomini (Florentine) | 1649-1651 |
| 9. | Alessandro Gottofredi (Roman) | 1652 |
| 10. | Goswin Nickel (German) | 1652-1664 |
| 11. | Giovanni Paolo Oliva (Genoese) vicar-general and coadjutor, 1661; general | 1664-1681 |
| 12. | Charles de Noyelle (Belgian) | 1682-1686 |
| 13. | Tirso Gonzalez (Spaniard) | 1687-1705 |
| 14. | Michele Angelo Tamburini (Modenese) | 1706-1730 |
| 15. | Franz Retz (Bohemian) | 1730-1750 |
| 16. | Ignazio Visconti (Milanese) | 1751-1755 |
| 17. | Alessandro Centurioni (Genoese) | 1755-1757 |
| 18. | Lorenzo Ricci (Florentine) | 1758-1775 |
| a. Stanislaus Czerniewicz (Pole), vicar-general | 1782-1785 | |
| b. Gabriel Lienkiewicz (Pole), vicar-general | 1785-1798 | |
| c. Franciscus Xavier Kareu (Pole), (general in Russia, 7th March 1801) | 1799-1802 | |
| d. Gabriel Gruber (German) | 1802-1805 | |
| 19. | Thaddaeus Brzozowski (Pole) | 1805-1820 |
| 20. | Aloysio Fortis (Veronese) | 1820-1829 |
| 21. | Johannes Roothaan (Dutchman) | 1829-1853 |
| 22. | Peter Johannes Beckx (Belgian) | 1853-1884 |
| 23. | Antoine Anderledy (Swiss) | 1884-1892 |
| 24. | Luis Martin (Spanish) | 1892-1906 |
| 25. | Francis Xavier Wernz (German) | 1906- |
The bibliography of Jesuitism is of enormous extent, and it is impracticable to cite more than a few of the most important works. They are as follows: Institutum Societatis Jesu (7 vols., Avignon, 1830-1838); Orlandini, Historia Societatis Jesu (Antwerp, 1620); Imago primi saeculi Societatis Jesu (Antwerp, 1640); Nieremberg, Vida de San Ignacio de Loyola (9 vols., fol., Madrid, 1645-1736); Genelli, Life of St Ignatius of Loyola (London, 1872); Backer, Bibliothèque des écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus (7 vols., Paris, 1853-1861); Crétineau Joly, Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus (6 vols., Paris, 1844); Guettée, Histoire des Jésuites (3 vols., Paris, 1858-1859); Wolff, Allgemeine Geschichte der Jesuiten (4 vols., Zürich, 1789-1792); Gioberti, Il Gesuita moderno (Lausanne, 1846); F. Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World and The Jesuits in North America (Boston, 1868); Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, écrites des missions étrangères, avec les Annales de la propagation de la foi (40 vols., Lyons, 1819-1854); Saint-Priest, Histoire de la chute des Jésuites au XVIIIe Siècle (Paris, 1844); Ranke, Römische Päpste (3 vols., Berlin, 1838); E. Taunton, History of the Jesuits in England (London, 1901); Thomas Hughes, S.J., History of the Society of Jesus in North America (London and New York, 1907); R. G. Thwaites, Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (73 vols. Cleveland, 1896-1901).
(R. F. L.; E. Tn.)
JESUP, MORRIS KETCHUM (1830-1908), American banker and philanthropist, was born at Westport, Connecticut, on the 21st of June 1830. In 1842 he went to New York City, where after some experience in business he established a banking house in 1852. In 1856 he organized the banking firm of M. K. Jesup & Company, which after two reorganizations became Cuyler, Morgan & Jesup. He became widely known as a financier, retiring from active business in 1884. He was best known, however, as a munificent patron of scientific research, a large contributor to the needs of education, and a public-spirited citizen of wide interests, who did much for the betterment of social conditions in New York. He contributed largely to the funds for the Arctic expeditions of Commander Robert E. Peary, becoming president of the Peary Arctic Club in 1899. To the American museum of natural history, in New York City, he gave large sums in his lifetime and bequeathed $1,000,000. He was president of the New York chamber of commerce from 1899 until 1907, and was the largest subscriber to its new building. To his native town he gave a fine public library. He died in New York City on the 22nd of January 1908.
JESUS CHRIST. To write a summary account of the life of Christ, though always involving a grave responsibility, was until recent years a comparatively straightforward task; for it was assumed that all that was needed, or could be offered, was a chronological outline based on a harmony of the four canonical Gospels. But to-day history is not satisfied by this simple procedure. Literary criticism has analysed the documents, and has already established some important results; and many questions are still in debate, the answers to which must affect our judgment of the historical value of the existing narratives. It seems therefore consonant alike with prudence and reverence to refrain from attempting to combine afresh into a single picture the materials derivable from the various documents, and to endeavour instead to describe the main contents of the sources from which our knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as an historical personage is ultimately drawn, and to observe the picture of Him which each writer in turn has offered to us.
The chief elements of the evidence with which we shall deal are the following:—