AMDG. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam -- to the greater glory of God.
This is the motto of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1534 and approved by Pope Paul III in 1540.
Ignatius had been born to a noble Spanish family and had served as a page in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. He went into the army, served in several campaigns, but took a cannonball to the leg at the Siege of Pampeluna, a fight between Spanish and French troops for control of Navarre.
During his long recovery, he read The Golden Legend and Ludolph the Carthusian's Life of Christ. In The Golden Legend, he read about all those crazy hermetic saints, so upon recovery, he spent a year living in a cave. Then he went on a pilgrimage to Rome. From there he traveled to the Holy Land, trying his hand at converting Muslims. When that was played out, he went back to school, earning his doctoral degree and taking holy orders. It was a tumultuous time for the Church, what with the whole Reformation thing, and his response was a new religious order -- highly educated, organized, disciplined, and willing to go anywhere for the greater glory of God. He gathered a few friends -- James Lainez, Alonso Salmerón, Nicholas Bobadilla, Simón Rodriguez, Peter Faber, and Francis Xavier -- and formed the Society of Jesus.
The Jesuits (originally a term of derision for the Society but now used with pride) have over 500 universities and colleges worldwide, at least three of which in the USA are named for Ignatius of Loyola himself.
BONUS: Here's a link for a video biography of Ignatius performed in Lego.
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