St. Ignatius of Loyola

Inigo Lopez de Loyola started the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was born in Guipuzcoa, Spain. His family was rich and he had twelve siblings. When he was young, he was sent to be a page at the royal court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. In the battle of Pamplona, he won honor for his courage but, a wound in his leg from a cannon ball forced him to spend months in bed at Loyola Castle. Ignatius asked for some books to read. He like stories about knights, but only life stories of Jesus and the saints were available. Having nothing else to do, he read them. The books became very interesting to him and his life began to change. When he was fully recovered, Ignatius hung his sword before the altar of the Virgin Mary and put on simple robes and began to live a life of poverty. He then traveled through Europe and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land before he settled in Rome. Before he could begin his great work of starting the Society of Jesus, he had to go back to school. The rest of the students were little boys and Ignatius was thirty-three years old. Yet Ignatius was ready to bear the shame and went to the class because he knew he would need this knowledge to help him in his work for Jesus. He used his time trying to teach and encourage people to pray. Ignatius was forty-three years old when he graduated from the University of Paris. After this, with six other students, he took his religious vows and became a priest. Ignatius and his friends, including Blessed Peter Faber and Saint Francis Xavier promised to work for God in whatever way the Holy Father thought best. In 1540 their order was officially recognized by the pope. Before Ignatius died in Rome, on July 31, 1556, there were one thousand members of the Society of Jesus or "Jesuits."