Ad maiorem Dei gloriam

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Society of Jesus
History of the Jesuits Regimini militantis Suppresion Jesuit Hierarchy Superior General Adolfo Nicolás Ignatian Spirituality Spiritual Exercises Ad maiorem Dei gloriam Magis Discernment Famous Jesuits St. Ignatius of Loyola St. Francis Xavier Blessed Peter Faber St. Aloysius Gonzaga St. Robert Bellarmine St. Peter Canisius St. Edmund Campion

A.M.D.G. engraving in choir loft of St. Ignatius Church, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts adjacent to the campus of Boston College

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam or ad majorem Dei gloriam (when an "i" functions as a consonant in Latin, it is often represented with a "j"), also known by the abbreviation AMDG, is the motto of the Society of Jesus, commonly referred to as the Jesuits. The society is a religious order within the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. In Latin, the motto means "For the greater glory of God" and is believed to have been coined by the founder of the religious order, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, as a cornerstone of the society's philosophy.

This phrase is the motto of many Jesuit educational institutions, including eight of the twenty-eight members of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, and many high schools worldwide. In Georgetown University's Gaston Hall, the phrase is followed by "inque hominum salutem," making the full phrase state "for the greater glory of God and the salvation of humanity."^[1]

Many Jesuit schools ask students to write the initialism at the tops of their papers, to remind them that even their schoolwork is "For the Greater Glory of God."

A.M.D.G. was frequently included in the signatures of the late Pope John Paul II^[2] and Johann Sebastian Bach.^[3]

The term is also the motto for Loyola University New Orleans.