The Jesuit Historical Institute, also known as IHSI (Latin: Institutum historicum Societatis Iesu), is an international group of Jesuit historians committed since the end of the 19th century to bring out scientifically critical editions of the foundational texts of the Society of Jesus (the MHSI), and to promote research on the history of the Jesuits. Originally based in Madrid, the institute is now quartered in Rome.[1]
In the 19th century, a group of Spanish Jesuits began the publication of letters of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The century’s atmosphere of religious controversies and polemical anti-clerical and anti-Jesuit pamphlets and diatribes required, for appropriate rejoinders, that access be given to the foundational documents of Jesuit life and history.[2] Historical science had also made great progress. New methods had been developed.
Encouraged by General Congregation XXIV (of 1892) the Superior General of the Jesuits Luis Martin established in 1893 a 'College of writers' in Madrid, with mission to establish critical editions of the foundational documents of the Society of Jesus, particularly those regarding the life and times of the founders, Saint Ignatius of Loyola and his first companions. The purpose was also to provide material for accurate regional and national histories of the Society to be prepared in various European countries. The historians entrusted with the task adopted the critical methods of contemporary historical research. In January 1894 the first volume of the Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu came out of the press.
In 1911 the institute extended its field of work and research and began to publish historical monographs on particular aspects of Jesuit life, spirituality and apostolic works. In 1930 the superior general Wlodimir Ledóchowski gave the official name to the institute[1] and decided to transfer it to Rome, where it settled in the ‘Curia Generalizia’, headquarter of the Jesuit Order.
In 2010, the apostolate of Jesuit history at the Curia in Rome was reconstituted within the context of the Archives (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu - ARSI).[1]
In 2010, the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (JHIA) was created to encourage the study of the Jesuit’s evangelization work in Africa.[3] This work is based in Kenya.