Father Emmanuel Sa, who revised St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate.
Father Bourdeloue, the highly eloquent and popular preacher in the
Court of King Louis XIV of France.
Father Fritz, who published the first map of the Amazon River in
1707.
Father Gusmao, who invented the balloon.
Father Terzi, who invented signs for the blind to communicate their
thoughts.
Father Allonez, who discovered Lake Superior in North America.
Father Marquette, who discovered the mouth of the Missouri River.
Father Goes, who discovered the overland route from India to
China.
Jesuits in Peru discovered the medicinal qualities of quinine.
Jesuits discovered the use of India-rubber.
Jesuits imported the rhubarb plant from Turkey.
Jesuits imported turkeys from China.
Not only were the Jesuits outstanding educators and men of great
achievement, they were also missionaries of the highest zeal and courage.
Due to their preaching and apostolic works, whole regions and countries
were restored to the Catholic Church. These included parts of Germany,
Austria and Bohemia. Protestant influence in Poland and Hungary was
significantly reduced, while the valiant efforts of the graduates of the Douai
College in Belgium kept the underground Church in England alive.
Campion, Parsons, Southwell, Garnet and Ireland became household names
to English Catholics during the era when Catholicism in England was
terribly repressed. These Jesuits preached the Faith in a land where spies
abounded watching for Catholic activity, and would continue to witness for
Christ in prison, under torture, and on the Tyburn gibbet. Anti-Jesuit
hysteria was whipped up from time to time in order to justify and maintain
severe anti-Catholic laws. Father Henry Garnet was executed for the
alleged Gunpowder Plot of 1605, and six other Jesuits were executed for
the fabricated Titus Oates Plot of 1678.
Even more impressive was Jesuit missionary activity outside of Europe.
The greatest of the overseas missionaries was the intrepid St. Francis
Xavier. He single-handedly introduced the Catholic Faith to India,
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