August 15, 1534

Society of Jesus

Montmartre vows of Ignatius and six companions

Their plan had an escape clause: if no ship could take them to Jerusalem, they would report to Rome and accept a papal mission.

Feast of the Assumption, 15 August 1534

On the Feast of the Assumption, 15 August 1534, Ignatius of Loyola and six University of Paris companions gathered in a small chapel associated with the martyrdom of Saint Denis at Montmartre.

Pierre Favre, the only priest among the seven, celebrated Mass and received the companions' vows.

Sources variously identify the site as a chapel, crypt or martyrium connected with Saint Denis and the Benedictine abbey. It should not be confidently equated with the present church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre.

What they actually promised

The companions committed themselves to evangelical poverty and chastity, and to travel together to Jerusalem. If the pilgrimage proved impossible, they would place themselves at the pope's disposal for mission.

That was not the later Jesuit vow of obedience to a superior, nor the special vow concerning papal missions.

No written formula of the Montmartre vows survives. Four retrospective accounts by early companions differ in details, so the exact wording and sequence cannot be reconstructed with certainty.

No order, no rule, no superior general

The seven left Montmartre personally bound to a shared Jerusalem-or-Rome plan, but with no corporate rule, official name or papal charter. They went back to their studies and later arranged to reunite at Venice.

The Society of Jesus was not legally founded that day. The decision to create a permanent order came through the companions' deliberations in 1539, and papal approval followed in 1540.

The group was not predominantly Castilian, as it is often described: the seven included a Basque, a Navarrese, a Savoyard and a Portuguese alongside three men from Castilian territories.

Sources

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What the sources leave uncertain

No written formula of the Montmartre vows survives. Four retrospective accounts by early companions differ in details, so the exact wording and sequence cannot be reconstructed with certainty.
Sources variously identify the site as a chapel, crypt or martyrium connected with Saint Denis and the Benedictine abbey. It should not be confidently equated with the present church of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre.
The date, participants and general Jerusalem-or-papal-service commitment are consistently attested.