St. Ignatius

Ignatius Loyola began his early adult life as a soldier, and in 1521 while defending the fortress of Pamplona against the French a cannonball ripped through Ignatius’s legs. After treatment at Pamplona, he was transported to Loyola in June 1521. There his condition became so serious that for a time it was thought he would die. Once out of danger, he chose to undergo a painful surgery to correct blunders made when the bone was first set. The result was a convalescence of many weeks, during which he read about the life of Christ and many of the saints, the only reading matter the castle afforded.

After much reflection, he resolved to imitate the holy austerities of the saints in order to do penance for his sins. In 1522, when he regained mobility, Ignatius travelled to the Benedictine monestary of Santa Maria de Montserrat, where he kept a journal as he gained insight and deepened his spiritual experience. He added to these notes and began to direct others seeking closer union with God and a desire to follow the path of Jesus. Eventually, Ignatius gathered these prayers, meditations, reflections, and directions into the carefully designed framework of a retreat, which are known today as the Spiritual Exercises.

Ignatius next went to Manresa, a town 48 km (30 miles) from Barcelona, where he lived as a beggar, ate and drank sparingly, scourged himself, and for a time neither combed nor trimmed his hair or nails. He attended Mass daily and spent seven hours in prayer, often in a cave outside Manresa.

Ignatius and many of his companions were ordained on June 24, 1537. There followed 18 months during which they acquired knowledge arond the practice of ministry, while also devoting much time to prayer. During these months, Ignatius had a transformative experience, one in which he seemed to see the suffering Christ, and beside him the Eternal Father who said, “I wish you to take this man for your servant." He told his companions that Jesus then took him and said, “My will is that you should serve us.” On Christmas Day 1538 Ignatius said his first mass at the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome.

The final period of Loyola’s life was spent around Rome. In 1539 he and his companions decided to form a permanent union, taking vows of poverty, chastity, and affirming obedience to the Roman pontiff. In 1540 Pope Paul III approved the establishment of a new order, the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. Ignatius was the choice of his companions for the office of general.

The Society of Jesus developed rapidly under his hand. When he died, there were roughly 1,000 Jesuits divided into 12 administrative units, called provinces, three in each Italy and Spain, two in Germany, one in France, one in Portugal, and two overseas in India and Brazil. Loyola was, in his last years, much occupied with Germany and India, to which he sent his famous followers St. Peter Canisius and St. Francis Xavier. 

Probably the most important work of his later years was the composition of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. In them he decreed that his followers were to abandon some of the traditional forms of the religious life, such as chanting the divine office, physical punishments, and penitential garb, in favor of greater adaptability and mobility; they also renounced chapter government by the members of the order in favor of a more authoritative regime, and their vows were generally of such a nature that separation from the order was easier than had been usual in similar Catholic groups.

Ignatius Loyola was beatified by Pope Paul V in 1609 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. In 1922 he was declared patron of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI, and he is also considered a patron of soldiers. His legacy, embraced by Jesuits around the world, emphasizes following the path of Jesus, sharing the word of God through proselytization, education and caring for those excluded by society.

Learn More