Our Jesuit Heritage

Alpha Delta Gamma is not the oldest national fraternity, yet it is one of the few that traces its roots into the antiquity of the Middle Ages. Strange as it may seem, the history of this American-born fraternity has its beginnings in medieval Europe. For, on December 24, 1491, the year before Columbus discovered the New World and claimed it for Ferdinand and Isabella, a son was born to the Lord of the Great castle of Loyola in Guipuzcoa, in the Basque country of northwest Spain. Thirty years later at the siege of Pamplona a cannon ball shattered the leg of Ignatius Loyola finishing his military career. But his life’s work was just about to begin. Within a few years his dynamic new moral spirit swept across the face of Europe through his band of religious brothers, the Society of Jesus .
In 1789, as George Washington was being sworn in as President, missionary members of the Society of Jesus established Georgetown University, the forefather of all Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. Shortly before, the Jesuits founded America’s first Catholic college, Holy Cross, in New England. The country grew and as it did, Catholic colleges spread. Fraternities flourished for a short time at the turn of the 20th century, but for the most part The Roaring 20′s found few fraternities on Catholic college campuses.
There was a need for a dynamic new spirit to bring fraternities to Catholic colleges. The Jesuit institution of Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois served as the breeding ground for this spirit. A fraternity named Alpha Delta Gamma took root at Loyola University and made sure it was an organization that would not discriminate on the basis of faith, race or ethnicity–one that would be founded on the ideals of the Society of Jesus. The letters taken for the fraternity, ADG, served as an acronym of its motto “Ad Dei Gloriam,” (“For the glory of God”) a shortened version of the Jesuits’ own centuries-old motto, “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam” (“To the greater glory of God”), which was created by St. Ignatius himself. Since that time, ADG has made its home at various other famous Jesuit college and universities across America and has installed many members of the Society of Jesus as moderators both nationally and at local chapters.
In 1789, as George Washington was being sworn in as President, missionary members of the Society of Jesus established Georgetown University, the forefather of all Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. Shortly before, the Jesuits founded America’s first Catholic college, Holy Cross, in New England. The country grew and as it did, Catholic colleges spread. Fraternities flourished for a short time at the turn of the 20th century, but for the most part The Roaring 20′s found few fraternities on Catholic college campuses.
There was a need for a dynamic new spirit to bring fraternities to Catholic colleges. The Jesuit institution of Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois served as the breeding ground for this spirit. A fraternity named Alpha Delta Gamma took root at Loyola University and made sure it was an organization that would not discriminate on the basis of faith, race or ethnicity–one that would be founded on the ideals of the Society of Jesus. The letters taken for the fraternity, ADG, served as an acronym of its motto “Ad Dei Gloriam,” (“For the glory of God”) a shortened version of the Jesuits’ own centuries-old motto, “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam” (“To the greater glory of God”), which was created by St. Ignatius himself. Since that time, ADG has made its home at various other famous Jesuit college and universities across America and has installed many members of the Society of Jesus as moderators both nationally and at local chapters.