Who were the Jesuits?

The Jesuits (officially, the Society of Jesus) were formed
as sort of an elite order of Catholics who would dedicate their lives to promoting and
preserving the Catholic faith.  They were particularly interested in combatting the
Protestant Reformation that was going on around the time that they were
founded.

The Society of Jesus was founded in 1540.  It was
created by a man named Ignatius Loyola who had been a soldier but who had turned to
religion while recovering from a wound.  He received permission from the pope to start a
new religious order that would be directly responsible to the pope (as opposed to local
bishops).

The major role of the Jesuits historically has
been as missionaries and educators.  For example, I started my high school career at a
Jesuit school in Micronesia.

Here is a relevant quote from
the link I've attached:

readability="8.0141843971631">

As the object of the society was
the propagation and strengthening of the href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm">faith everywhere, the
Jesuits naturally endeavored to counteract the spread of href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12495a.htm">Protestantism. They
became the main instruments of the href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04437a.htm">Counter-Reformation; the
re-conquest of southern and western href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06484b.htm">Germany and href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02121b.htm">Austria for the href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm">Church, and the
preservation of the href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm">faith in href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06166a.htm">France and other
countries were due chiefly to their
exertions.