Jul-31 Feast of St Ignatius Loyola

 July 31: Feast of St Ignatius Loyola

Iñigo Lopez de Oñaz y Loyola, or St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, was on his way to military fame and fortune when a cannon ball shattered his leg. Because there were no books of chivalry and romance to read during his convalescence, he read the only ones available on the lives of Christ, St Francis of Assisi and St Dominic. His conscience was deeply touched, and a long, painful turning to Christ began, making him give up his earthly ways. 

He traveled through the town of Montserrat, Spain where he gave away his fine clothes to a poor man. Then, in an all-night vigil before the Black Madonna in the local church of the Benedictine abbey, he hung up his sword and dagger. Effectively, his old life was over and his new life as a pilgrim had begun. Enroute to Barcelona he spent ten months serving the poor in a hospital beyond the walls of a town called Manresa. There he prayed deeply on what it truly meant to live a life as a disciple of Jesus. But the more he prayed, the more he was tormented. There was no comfort in anything— prayer, fasting, sacraments or penance - but he persevered in meditation and at last his peace of mind returned. It was during this year of conversion that Ignatius began to write down the material that later became his greatest literary work, the Spiritual Exercises  

He did complete his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On his return to Barcelona he decided to complete his education where he frequently got into trouble with authorities for discussing advanced theological problems without any training. He left Spain to study at College Ste. Barbe of the University of Paris, considered the heart of the French Renaissance. It was a rigorous program and even at age 38 he had to start with the introductory courses and over four years complete each and every subject. It’s here that he changed his name to Ignatius. He eventually earned his Master’s degree but at age 43 was turned down for doctoral studies.

 

While at the University of Paris, Ignatius roomed with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier (a nobleman from the eastern end of the Basque country).  Gradually a whole circle of "Friends in the Lord," as they called themselves, formed around Ignatius who led them in reflections using his Spiritual Exercises. 

In 1540, he convinced the group of six to live a life of poverty, chastity and obedience and go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land but they had to scuttle their plans due to a year long war between Venice and the Ottoman Turks. The group instead went to Rome and presented their services to Pope Paul III who allowed them to start a new religious order, The Society of Jesus. Skeptics disparagingly nicknamed them Jesuits but they embraced the name and it stuck. Their spirituality is expressed in their motto Ad majorem Dei gloriam — For the greater glory of God.”

As the Superior General of the Jesuits, Ignatius sent companions all over Europe and around the world, counselling them to serve "without hard words or contempt for people's errors."  In addition to writing the Constitutions of the fledgling order, with the help of his assistant Juan Polanco, he wrote nearly 7,000 letters to motivate the Jesuits.

He taught them to pray as follows:

Teach us, good Lord, to be generous, 

to serve you as you deserve;

to give, and not to count the cost,

to fight, and not to heed the wounds,

to toil, and not to seek for rest,

to labor, and not to ask for reward,

except that of knowing that we are doing your will.

At the time of his death on July 31, 1556, there were 1,000 Jesuits, a good number of them involved in the 35 schools that had been founded. Ignatius was beatified in 1609, and canonized, receiving the title of Saint on 12 March 1622. His feast day is celebrated on July 31. 

Today the Jesuits are present in 124 countries and their mission is characterized by ministries in the fields of missionary work, human rights, social justice and, most notably, higher education including India. Pope Francis is a Jesuit.