Saint Ignatius of Loyola :

Feast day : 31 July

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish Catholic priest who lived during the period 1491-1556. Though his early days were spent in seeking worldly pleasures, he had a true conversion of heart after reading about the lives of Our Lord Jesus Christ and other saints of the Church. He soon realised the futility of worldly pleasures and ardently sought the true happiness that comes from God alone. He was blessed with several extraordinary graces and gifts which he used effectively for the salvation of souls. He is the founder of the Society of Jesus, a missionary Order of priests popularly called the Jesuits, who travelled around the world to preach the Gospel. His motto of Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (all for the greater glory of God) became the motto of the Order, reminding all to live and do everything only for the glory of God. His spiritual exercises to attaining perfection became his most famous literary work called ‘The Spiritual Exercises’ and is a treasure for those seeking to grow in perfection.

Early life:

Saint Ignatius was born into a noble family in Spain as the youngest of 13 children. He served as a page in the court of King Ferdinand V and later entered the military at a young age. He loved valour and the glory of being a hero and he was indeed a good soldier but during one of the battles, though he fought valiantly, he was badly wounded by a cannonball that hit his leg and left him lame for the rest of his life. He was consigned to bed for a long time to recover from his wounds and during this time he asked for books on romance, to spend his time. One of the books he received was on the life of Jesus Christ called De Vita Christi by Ludolph of Saxony and soon, much to his surprise he loved this book more than the others and often read it. The story of Jesus had a profound influence on him. He read books on the stories of saints too which moulded his mind to aspire to become like them. He realised the futility of worldly pleasures and that true happiness and contentment were only to be found in God. He gave up his worldly desires and took a vow of chastity. When he was well again, he set off on a pilgrimage to the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat in Montserrat. After the Blessed Virgin Mary along-with the infant Jesus in her arms appeared to him in a vision, he experienced spiritual delights that left him insipid to worldly pleasures forever. At the altar of the monastery, he hung up his sword and dagger as a sign of his renunciation of his worldly life and changed into the clothes of a beggar. He retired to a mountain cave in Manresa and lived a life of prayer and penance for several months. There he discovered spiritual practices and methods which later became his famous literary work titled ‘The Spiritual Exercises’. His spiritual exercises led him to a perfection of his own soul and filled him with a burning desire for the salvation of other souls too. He was blessed with several extraordinary graces and gifts. His motto in life became to do everything for the greater glory of God ‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’.

Vocational life:

He visited the Holy Land and decided to become a priest. At the age of 33, he went to study Theology and Philosophy. At the University of Paris, he converted many souls from their sinful ways including Saint Francis Xavier who abandoned his worldly ways under his influence and went on to become one of the most popular saints of his Order. On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1534, seven of them gathered and took the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and offered themselves for service in the Holy Land. They called themselves the ‘Company of Jesus’. This was the beginning of the Society of Jesus, a missionary Order formed for preaching the Gospel. They offered themselves to the Holy Pope and were effectively used by the Pope as missionaries in the fight against the new doctrines preached in Europe by Martin Luther. All of them were ordained as priests in the year 1537. The Order was formally approved by Pope Paul III on 27 September 1540 by a Papal bull and Saint Ignatius became the first Father General of the Jesuits. He wrote the Constitution and Rules of the Society. He envisioned all the members of the Society to be ‘contemplatives in action’ spending an equal time in the sanctification of their own souls through prayer and also labouring tirelessly for the salvation of other souls.

Saint Ignatius often received visions in prayer and was known to glow radiantly during prayer. He was favoured with raptures and visions and had revelations into divine mysteries. He was known to have the gift of healing and he could read the souls of people and point out their secret sins. He spent hours in prayer and was often seen levitating in prayer exclaiming “O my God! O my Lord! O that men knew Thee!”

Death & Sainthood:

The Order grew and spread around the world. Saint Ignatius was General of the Society for almost 16 years. He died peacefully in Rome on 31 July 1556 at the age of 65 years. He was buried in the little church of the Jesuits and later when the Church of Giesu was built, his sacred remains were laid to rest under the altar. He was beatified by Pope Paul V on 27 July 1609, and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on 12 March 1622. He is the patron saint of Catholic soldiers, the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Basque Country, Antwerp, Belo Horizonte, Junín and various towns and cities in his native region. He was declared patron saint of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922. His feast day is celebrated on July 31.