After seven years in Rome, under the guidance of Ignatius Loyola and Francis Borgia, he entered the Society of Jesus about 1550, and became rector of the college at Modena.
He attracted the attention of the English officials and in 1561 Elizabeth I of England stated to Pope Pius IV, as one of her reasons for not sending representatives to the Council of Trent, that Wolfe had been sent to excite disaffection.
In 1564, the Pope, by a bull dated 31 May, entrusted to Wolfe and Richard Creagh the erection of universities and schools in Ireland.
[1] On 14 April 1577, Sir William Drury informed Francis Walsingham that Wolfe was to be sent to the Indies.
On 24 March 1578, Drury informed the privy council that James Fitzmaurice had put to sea with Wolfe, and had captured an English ship, whose crew had been handed over to the Inquisition.