Ignatius was born in Loyola, in the Basque Country, into a family of minor nobility. He frequented the court and participated in military campaigns. In 1521, forced to stay in bed due to a wound sustained in the defense of Pamplona, he spent his time reading a life of Christ and the lives of the saints. These readings animated him, and the desire to follow Jesus emerged.
A long period of outward and inward pilgrimage began. The itinerary of the “pilgrim” – as Ignatius himself defines himself when recounting his life – had as its first stop the town of Manresa, near Barcelona. Here he had an intense spiritual experience that lasted throughout his life. The book of Spiritual Exercises is the summary of this saint’s experience.
The journey, always characterized as that of a pilgrim, took him to Jerusalem, where he was forbidden to settle, as he would have wished, so he had to return to Europe. Arriving in Barcelona, he dedicated himself to studies in order to better help others.
In Paris, where he had gone to deepen and complete his philosophical-theological training, a small group of about ten students formed around him, whom Ignatius himself called “friends in the Lord”. These “friends” (among whom we find Francis Xavier, future saint and patron of Missions) were of different nationalities and were animated by the same ideal of helping others. Ignatius was ordained a priest in Venice in 1537 and in the same year went to Rome.
Along this last stretch of the journey towards the goal, Ignatius had another strong encounter with the Lord at La Storta, near Rome. And it was in Rome that the small group that had formed in Paris now made itself available to the Pope to be sent on mission anywhere: it became the community that founded the Society of Jesus. This was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540.
Ignatius was elected the first Superior General of the Jesuits. Until 1556, the year of his death, he governed the Jesuits by composing the constitutions of the Order, writing about 6000 letters, and taking an interest in various dimensions of society: from rulers to poor street women, from defending and propagating the faith on the chessboard of the then-known world to issues concerning individuals. Ignatius was in tune with the saying: “not to be constrained by the greatest and yet to be contained by the least: this is divine”.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola is celebrated on July 31, the day of his death.
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