In Christian history

St. Ignatius of Loyola, Wounded by a

cannonball in the battle the founder of the

of Pamplona, breaking Society of Jesus was

his one leg and injuring born in 1491 in the the other, he was taken

prisoner by the French, Basque Country of

who set his leg and Northern Spain to

eventually let him be parents of brought home to Loyola.

He spent his time distinguished families

recuperating at the home in that area. He was the

of his brother. Confined youngest of 13 to his sick bed, he was

given pious books to children and was

read, which he called Iñigo. At the age

grudgingly accepted. of 15, he served as a To his surprise, he

enjoyed them and began page in the court of a

to dream of becoming a local nobleman and

“knight of Christ,” later embraced a pursuing the ideals of St.

Francis and St. Dominic. military career and

He eventually promised became a valiant

to devote his life to soldier. being a knight for St.

Peter if he recovered, which he did after nine months of convalescence.

Ignatius noticed that after doing good deeds for the Lord, he felt peaceful – which he termed as a “consolation,” but when he thought of being a successful soldier or of impressing beautiful ladies where he had initially felt enthusiastic about he later felt dry and empty.

Through this process of discernment, Ignatius was able to recognize that God was leading him to follow a path of service. Out of this experience he wrote his famous “Spiritual Exercises.” After traveling and studying in different schools, he finished in the University of Paris, where he received his degree at the age of 43.

Many initially hated St. Ignatius because of his humble and austere lifestyle. Perhaps he appeared queer to them. Despite this, he attracted many followers at the university, including Francis Xavier, who became a saint. And they soon started his order, the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits.

Ignatius traveled to Europe and the Holy Land, and then settled in Rome to direct the Jesuits. His health suffered in later years, and he was nearly blind at death. He died at the age of 65.

The spirituality of St. Ignatius, (Ignatian Spirituality) was founded mainly on his own transformation from the experience of the Spiritual Exercises. A glimpse of this spirituality can be gathered from the quotes and sayings of him, such as – “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,” (For the greater glory of God) which guided all his decisions and actions.

This was based on the Principle and Foundation of his Spiritual Exercises, which can be paraphrased as follows: “God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God’s purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.

All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know Him better, love Him more surely, and serve Him more faithfully. As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as these help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God.

But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go. “Therefore, the guiding principle of our life and action should always be