those immigrants were badly needed. During the period when Portugal and Spain were ruled by the same monarch (15801640), Portuguese merchants, many of whom were crypto-Jews, passing as Christians, became important members of the merchant communities in the viceregal capitals of Mexico City and Lima. When Portugal successfully revolted in 1640 from Spain, the Holy Office of the Inquisition in both capitals initiated intensive investigations to identify and prosecute crypto-Jews, resulting in spectacular autos-da-fé in the mid-seventeenth century. Society of Jesus Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), said that "he would take it as a special grace from our Lord to come from Jewish lineage". In the first 30 years of the Society of Jesus, many Jesuits were conversos. However, an anti-converso faction led to the Decree de genere (1593), which proclaimed that either Jewish or Muslim ancestry, no matter how distant, was an insurmountable impediment for admission to the Society of Jesus - effectively applying the Spanish principle of Limpieza de sangre to Jesuits Europe-wide and world-wide. Aleksander Maryks interprets the 1593 decree as preventing, despite Ignatius's desires, any Jewish or Muslim conversos and, by extension, any person with Jewish or Muslim ancestry, no matter how distant, from admission to the Society of Jesus. Jesuit scholar John Padberg states that the restriction on Jewish/Muslim converts was limited only to the degree of parentage. Fourteen years later this was extended back to the fifth degree. This 16th-century Decree de genere remained in force far longer among the Jesuits than in the Spanish state, though over time the restriction relating to Muslim ancestry was dropped leaving only people of Jewish ancestry to be excluded. In 1923, the 27th Jesuit General Congregation reiterated that "The impediment of origin extends to all who are descended from the Jewish race, unless it is clear that their father, grandfather, and great grandfather have belonged to the Catholic Church." Only in 1946, in the aftermath of the Second World War, did the 29th General Congregation drop the requirement, but it still called for "cautions to be exercised before admitting a candidate about whom there is some doubt as to the character of his hereditary background". See also Blue blood Cagot Casta Caste Converso Morisco Crypto-Judaism Inquisition Judaizer Marrano One-drop rule Malinchism References Further reading Alberro, Solange. Inquisición y sociedad en México, 1571-1700. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1993. Beinart, Haim.