Ignatius of Loyola, Saint

Early Life and Ordination

Ignatius was of noble birth and was reared in the household of a prominent courtier. In 1517 he left his life at court to enter the army. During a convalescence (1521) from a serious wound, he was converted through reading a life of Jesus. He went to Montserrat, where he was confessed and absolved, and from there he went to ManresaManresa
, city (1990 pop. 65,818), Barcelona prov., NE Spain, in Catalonia, on the Cardoner River. It is an industrial center with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. Of ancient origin, Manresa has a Roman bridge and a Gothic collegiate church.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1523 he set out for the Holy Land. Prevented from entering Palestine, he returned with the decision to secure an education.

He studied at Barcelona (1524–26); at Alcalá (1526–27), where for a short time he was imprisoned by the Inquisition; at Salamanca (1527–28), where he again suffered brief imprisonment; and at Paris. St. Ignatius's strength lay not in scholarship but in spiritual direction. The Inquisition again became suspicious, but he was cleared of any irregularities. He and six followers—among them St. Francis XavierFrancis Xavier, Saint,
1506–52, Basque Jesuit missionary, called the Apostle to the Indies, b. Spanish Navarre, of noble parents. He studied in Paris (1525–34), where he became an associate of St.
..... Click the link for more information.  and Diego LainezLainez, Diego
, 1512–65, Spanish theologian, leader of the Counter Reformation; general of the Society of Jesus. He was one of the small band that formed the original Society of Jesus under St. Ignatius of Loyola.
..... Click the link for more information. —together took vows of poverty and chastity. This group was the nucleus of the future Jesuits. They planned to go to the Holy Land and live in imitation of Christ, working to convert the Muslims, but the Turkish wars intervened, and they went to Rome instead. They were ordained (1537) and received by the pope (1538), who set them to work in Italy.

Founding of the Jesuit Order

In 1539, Ignatius drew up a Formula for a new order and secured (1540) papal approval. It served as the basis for the later Constitutions, published at his death, by which Jesuits have been governed ever since. Ignatius was elected (1541) general of the order and remained its leader, with headquarters in Rome, until his death. Although the Jesuits became a major force in the Counter ReformationCounter Reformation,
16th-century reformation that arose largely in answer to the Protestant Reformation; sometimes called the Catholic Reformation. Although the Roman Catholic reformers shared the Protestants' revulsion at the corrupt conditions in the church, there was present
..... Click the link for more information. , the society was not founded particularly for that purpose. Ignatius's great interests seem to have been the foreign missions and the education of youth. Many schools were opened in Europe during his lifetime, and missions were begun in Japan, India, and Brazil.

He was dominated all his life by a desire to imitate Christ. His Spiritual Exercises, written over a number of years, are a series of reflections, examinations of conscience, and prayers, grouped according to a traditional set of four steps leading to mystical union with God. The spirituality identified with St. Ignatius is characterized by emphasis on human initiative. His little book is a classic of Christian mysticism and is much used by devout Catholics. His concept of the "soldier of Christ" has often been understood too militaristically: Ignatius used the image in obvious imitation of St. Paul (Eph. 6.10–17). He is buried in the Gesù at Rome. He was canonized in 1622. Feast: July 31.

Bibliography

See Letters of St. Ignatius Loyola (tr. 1959) and his quasi-autobiography, The Testament of Ignatius Loyola (tr. 1900); J. P. Brodrick, The Origin of the Jesuits (1940, repr. 1971); T. Maynard, Saint Ignatius and the Jesuits (1956); H. Rahner, Ignatius the Theologian (tr. 1968); W. W. Meissner, Ignatius of Loyola: The Psychology of a Saint (1992).