Church of the Gesù

The Church of the Gesù (Italian: Chiesa del Gesù, pronounced [ˈkjɛːza del dʒeˈzu]), officially named Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù (English: Church of the Most Holy Name of Jesus), is a church located at Piazza del Gesù in the Pigna rione of Rome, Italy. It is the mother church of the Society of Jesus (best known as Jesuits). With its façade, described as "the first truly baroque façade", the church served as a model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in Central Europe and in Portuguese colonies. Its paintings in the nave, crossing, and side chapels became models for art in Jesuit churches throughout Italy and Europe, as well as those of other orders. The Church of the Gesù is one of the great 17th-century preaching churches built by Counter-Reformation orders like the Jesuits in the Centro Storico of Rome – the others being Sant'Ignazio, also of the Jesuits, San Carlo ai Catinari of the Barnabites, Sant'Andrea della Valle of the Theatines, and the Chiesa Nuova of the Oratorians.

First conceived in 1551 by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus active during the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Gesù was also the home of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus until the wide suppression of the order in 1773. The church having been subsequently regained by the Jesuits, the adjacent palazzo is now a residence for Jesuit scholars from around the world studying at the Gregorian University in preparation for ordination to the priesthood.