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May 1, 1572	At Rome, Pope St. Pius V dies. His decree imposing Choir on the Society was cancelled by his successor, Gregory XIII.
May 2, 1706	The death of Jesuit brother G J Kamel. The camellia flower is named after him.
May 3, 1945	American troops take over Innsbruck, Austria. Theology studies at the Canisianum resume a few months later.
May 4, 1902	The death of Charles Sommervogel, historian of the Society and editor of the bibliography of all publications of the Jesuits from the beginnings of the Society onward.
May 5, 1782	At Coimbra, Sebastian Carvahlo, Marquis de Pombal, a cruel persecutor of the Society in Portugal, died in disgrace and exile. His body remained unburied fifty years, till Father Philip Delvaux performed the last rites in 1832.
May 6, 1816	Letter of John Adams to Thomas Jefferson mentioning the Jesuits. "If any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition on earth and in hell, it is the company of Loyola."
May 7, 1547	Letter of St. Ignatius to the scholastics at Coimbra on Religious Perfection.
May 8, 1853	The death of Jan Roothan, the 21st general of the Society, who promoted the central role of the Spiritual Exercises in the work of the Society after the restoration.
May 9, 1758	The 19th General Congregation opened, the last of the Old Society. It elected Lorenzo Ricci as general.
May 10, 1773	Empress Maria Teresa of Austria changed her friendship for the Society into hatred, because she had been led to believe that a written confession of hers (found and printed by Protestants) had been divulged by the Jesuits.
May 11, 1824	St Regis Seminary opens in Florissant, Missouri, by Fr Van Quickenborne. It was the first Roman Catholic school in USA for the higher education of Native American Indians.
May 12, 1981	A letter of this date, from Secretary of State, Cardinal Casaroli, speaks positively of Teilhard de Chardin in celebration of the centenary of his birth (May 1,1881).
May 13, 1572	Election of Gregory XIII to succeed St Pius V. To him the Society owes the foundation of the Roman and German Colleges.
May 14, 1978	Letter of Pedro Arrupe to the whole Society on Inculturation.
May 15, 1815	Readmission of the Society into Spain by Ferdinand VII. The members of the Society were again exiled on July 31, 1820.
May 16, 1988	In Paraguay, Pope John Paul II canonizes Roque Gonzalez, Alfonso Rodriguez, and Juan del Castillo.
May 17, 1572	Pope Gregory XIII exempted the Society from choir and approved simple vows after two years of novitiate and ordination before solemn profession. In these matters he reversed a decree of St Pius V.
May 18, 1769	The election of Cardinal Lorenzo Ganganelli as Pope Clement XIV. He was the pope who suppressed the Society.
May 19, 1652	Birth of Paul Hoste mathematician and expert on construction of ships and history of naval warfare.
May 20, 1521	Ignatius was seriously wounded at Pamplona, Spain, while defending its fortress against the French.
May 21, 1925	Pius XI canonizes Peter Canisius, with Teresa of the Child Jesus, Mary Madeleine Postal, Madeleine Sophie Barat, John Vianney, and John Eudes. Canisius is declared a Doct or of the Church.
May 22, 1965	Pedro Arrupe was elected the 28th general of the Society of Jesus.
May 23, 1873	The death of Peter de Smet, a famous missionary among Native Americans of the great plains and mountains of the United States. He served as a mediator and negotiator of several treaties.
May 24, 1834	Don Pedro IV expelled the Society from Brazil.
May 25, 1569	At Rome the Society was installed by Pope St Pius V in the College of Penitentiaries. Priests of various nationalities who were resident there were required to act as confessors in St Peter's.
May 26, 1673	Ching Wei-San (Emmanuel de Sigueira) dies, the first Chinese Jesuit priest.
May 27, 1555	The Viceroy of India sent an embassy to Claudius, Emperor of Ethiopia, hoping to win him and his subjects over to Catholic unity. Nothing came of this venture, but Fr Goncalvo de Silveira, who would become the Society's first martyr on the Africa soil, re
May 28, 1962	The death of Bernard Hubbard famous Alaskan missionary. He was the author of the book Mush, You Malemutes! and wrote a number of articles on the Alaska mission.
May 29, 1991	Pope John Paul II announces that Paulo Dezza, SJ is to become a Cardinal, as well as Jan Korec, in Slovakia.
May 30, 1585	The landing at Osaka of Fr Gaspar Coelho. At first the Emperor was favorably disposed towards Christianity. This changed later because of Christianity's attitude toward polygamy.
May 30, 1849	Vincent Gioberti's book Il Gesuita Moderno was put on the Index. Gioberti had applied to be admitted into the Society, and on being refused became its bitter enemy and calumniator.
May 31, 1900	The new nov itiate of the Buffalo Mission, St Stanislaus, in South Brooklyn, Ohio, near Cleveland, is blessed.