(Vatican Radio) Wednesday 31st of July the Church remembers Saint Ignatius of Loyola,
founder of the Society of Jesus. To mark this occasion, Francis the first Jesuit Pope
in history, crossed the Tiber River to meet with his fellow Jesuits… It was at
the Mother Church of the Jesuits in Rome known as the Gesù, consecrated in 1584, where
he celebrated Holy Mass. It's a great baroque building with a façade designed by two
Jesuits by the names of Tristani and de Rosis, as well as other architectural features
by no other than Vignola and della Porta. But while the most striking artistic
feature of the interior is the ceiling fresco, the grandiose Triumph of the Name of
Jesus, perhaps the most imposing is the Saint Ignatius Chapel situated on the left
hand side of the transept which houses the tomb of Saint Ignatius. Among the Jesuits
in Rome is church historian and well known author, Professor Norman Tanner. Veronica
Scarisbrick recently sat down with him in our studios in an effort to find out more
about what it is that makes a Jesuit... Listen: