The Emblem of the Society of Jesus

Map

IHS: Seal of the Society of Jesus

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On September 27th 1540, the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuit Order, was founded by St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier and five others. 

The Chiesa del Gesù is the mother church of the Jesuits. Above the main entrance, and framed by the heads and wings of two angels (the work of the Florentine sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati, 1574), are three letters: IHS.

​The middle letter is surmounted by a cross and below it are three nails. IHS are the first three letters of  Jesus' name in Greek (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) and this christogram is the emblem of the Jesuits.

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Church of the Gesù