Company of Jesus

Mama Antula collaborated in the performance of spiritual exercises based on the writings of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Company of Jesus in 1534, according to her biographer.

After the Company of Jesus was suppressed in 1767 and its priests expelled from Spain’s colonies, Mama Antula kept the Jesuits’ Ignatian spiritual exercises alive by teaching them across Argentina, even at the risk of being imprisoned.

The exercises, devised in the 1520s, invite the “exercitant” to use his imagination to place himself in the company of Jesus, at the foot of the cross, among tormented souls in hell.

St. Ignatius had a military background, and early adherents referred to themselves as the “Company of Jesus,” hence both of the nicknames that live to this day.

His military training made him dream of forming a spiritual knighthood to battle for the salvation of souls: "Company of Jesus" is a military term.