WHEELING, WV, Nov. 5, 2009 — The university remembers a special saint who was canonized in 1954, the year that Wheeling Jesuit was founded, as it marks the Feast of St. Joseph Pignatelli on Monday, Nov. 16, with a noon Mass in the Chapel of Mary and Joseph.

The Rev. James M. Shea, S.J., provincial of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, will preside at the Mass, along with members of the Jesuit Community of Wheeling Jesuit University. The service is open to the public.

Born in Spain in 1737, Pignatelli’s parents were wealthy nobles. Orphaned at age nine, his life changed dramatically over the years. He attended the Jesuit college in Saragossa, Spain, and joined the Jesuits when he was 16.

Serving as a prison chaplain, he carried out his priestly ministry until Pope Clement XIV, yielding to the demands of the powerful Bourbon family, dissolved the Society of Jesus in 1773. Jesuits were banned and went into exile or became secular members of European society. Many were homeless. A total of 23,000 Jesuits were affected.

However, because of her respect for the Society of Jesus, Czarina Catherine II maintained the order in Russia. When Pignatelli learned this he received permission from the new pope (Pius VI) to join the Russian Jesuits.

Sadly, Pignatelli did not live to see the end of the 41-year suppression of the Jesuits. He died in Rome, three years before Pius the VII restored the Society of Jesus. Despite the suppression, Pignatelli showed leadership in hostile times and he is considered the restorer of the Society of Jesus.

He was canonized June 12, 1954 and chosen as the Patron Saint of Wheeling Jesuit by Archbishop John J. Swint of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

Wheeling Jesuit University is the newest of 28 Jesuit institutions of higher learning in the country. There are 10 Jesuits in residence at Whelen Hall on the WJU campus. Some serve as faculty, staff and administrators at the school. The local Jesuits also provide pastoral, sacramental ministry for parishes and religious houses in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

The Society of Jesus is one of the largest men’s religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church, and was founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish nobleman and soldier. Today, more than 20,000 Jesuits serve in 112 nations on six continents throughout the world.