After this success, they obtained a hold upon religious instruction in many schools of Rome.

Adherents flocked around them; and they saw that it was time to give the society a defined organization, and to demand its official recognition as an Order.

It was resolved to add the vow of obedience to their former vows of chastity and poverty.

Obedience had always been a prime virtue in monastic institutions; but Ignatius conceived of it in a new and military spirit.

The obedience of the Jesuits was to be absolute, extending even to the duty of committing sins at a superior's orders.