Saint Ignatius of Loyola, also known as Ignacio (Íñigo) López de Loyola (December 24, 1491 – July 31 1556), was the principal founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus, a religious order of the Catholic Church professing direct service to the Pope in terms of mission. Members of the order are called Jesuits.

He is famous as the compiler of the Spiritual Exercises, and he is remembered as a gifted spiritual director. Ignatius of Loyola was very active fighting the Protestant Reformation and promoting the subsequent Counter-Reformation. He was beatified and then canonized to receive the title of Saint on March 12, 1622. His feast day is July 31, celebrated annually. He is the patron saint of Guipúzcoa and Biscay as well as of the Society of Jesus.

Early life

Ignatius was born at the castle of Loyola, near Azpeitia, 16 miles southwest of San Sebastián in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, Spain. The youngest of 13 children, Ignatius was only seven years old when his mother died. In 1506, Ignatius became a page in the service of a relative, Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, treasurer (contador mayor) of the kingdom of Castile.

In 1517, Ignatius took service in the army. Severely wounded at the Battle of Pamplona (May 20, 1521); he spent months as an invalid in his father's castle.

Religious aspiration

During this

On recovering he visited the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat (March 25, 1522), where he hung his military accouterments before an image of the Virgin. He then went and spent several months in a cave near the town of Manresa, Catalonia where he practiced the most rigorous asceticism.

He is said to have had visions. The Virgin became the object of his chivalrous devotion. Military imagery played a prominent part in his religious contemplations.

During this time he drafted his Ejercicios espirituales (Spiritual Exercises), which describes a series of meditations to be undertaken by various people who came to him for spiritual direction, including in due time the early Jesuits. The Spiritual Exercises was to exert a strong influence in changing the methods of teaching in the Church; "the mill into which all Jesuits are cast; they emerge with characters and talents diverse; but the imprint remains ineffaceable" (Cretineau-Joly).

Ignatius was arrested twice after being accused of teaching the ways of God without the proper education. Both of these arrests happened during the Spanish Inquisition.

Studies in Paris

In 1528 he entered the University of Paris where he remained over seven years, extending his literary and theological education and disturbing the students by attempting to interest them in the Spiritual Exercises.

By 1534 he had six key companions - Peter Faber (French), Francis Xavier (from Navarra, Spain), Alfonso Salmeron, Jacob Laines, and Nicholas Bobedilla (Spaniard), and Simon Rodrigues (a Portuguese).

Foundation of



the Society of Jesus

On August 15, 1534, he and the other six in St. Mary's Church, Montmartre founded the Society of Jesus - "to enter upon hospital and missionary work in Jerusalem, or to go without questioning wherever the pope might direct". In 1537 they travelled to Italy to seek papal approval for their order. Pope Paul III gave them a commendation, and permitted them to be ordained priests. They were ordained at Venice by the bishop of Arbe (June 24). They devoted themselves to preaching and charitable work in Italy, the renewed war between the emperor, Venice, the pope and the Ottoman Empire rendered any journey to Jerusalem inadvisable.

With Faber and Lainez, Ignatius made his way to Rome in October, 1538, to have the pope approve the constitution of the new order. A congregation of cardinals reported favorably upon the constitution presented, and Paul III confirmed the order through the bull Regimini militantis (September 27, 1540), but limited the number of its members to sixty. This limitation was removed through the bull Injunctum nobis (March 14, 1543).

Father General of the Jesuits

Ignatius was chosen as the first Superior General of his religious order, invested with the title of Father General by the Jesuits. He sent his companions as missionaries around Europe to create schools, colleges, and seminaries. Juan de Vega, the ambassador of Charles V at Rome had met Ignatius there. Esteeming him and the Jesuits, when Vega was appointed Viceroy of Sicily he brought Jesuits with him. A Jesuit college was opened at Messina; success was marked, and its rules and methods were afterwards copied in other colleges. In 1548 Spiritual Exercises was finally printed, and he was briefly brought before the Roman Inquisition, but was released.

Ignatius wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, adopted in 1554, which created a monarchical organization and stressed absolute self-abnegation and obedience to Pope and superiors (perinde ac cadaver, " like a corpse" as Ignatius put it). His main principle became the Jesuit motto: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam ("for the greater glory of God"). The Jesuits were a major factor in the success of the Counter-Reformation.

During 1553-1555 Ignatius dictated his life's story to his secretary, Father Gonçalves da Câmara. This autobiography is a valuable key for the understanding of his Spiritual Exercises. It was kept in the archives for about 150 years, until the Bollandists published the text in Acta Sanctorum. A critical edition exists in Vol. I (1943) of the Fontes Narrativi of the series Monumenta Historica Societatatis Iesu. He died in Rome on July 31, 1556.

A neighbourhood in Bilbao and the corresponding Metro Bilbao station San Inazio are named after him.

Beatification and canonization

He was beatified by Paul V on 27 July, 1609, and canonized by Gregory XV on 22 May, 1622.

Portrayals

St Ignatius is a principal character of the opera Four Saints in Three Acts by composer Virgil Thomson and librettist Gertrude Stein.

References and external links

• Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
• in the Catholic Encyclopedia

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