St Ignatius of Loyola: How a Cannonball Changed the World

Some saints live unholy lives until they let God intervene. Günther Simmermacher looks at one such life — that of the founder of the Jesuits.

St Ignatius at a Glance
Name at birth: Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola
Born: October 23, 1491, in Azpeitia, Crown of Castile (Spain)
Died: July 31, 1556, in Rome
Beatified: 1609
Canonised: 1622
Feast: July 31
Patronages: Retreats; spiritual exercises and discernment; educators and learners; military personnel; Society of Jesus

Sometimes God calls people to their vocation with a cannonball. That is how St Ignatius of Loyola began his journey to founding the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits.

He was born as Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola on October 23, 1491, the youngest of the 13 children of a noble family in Azpeitia, in the Basque region of what now is in Spain, about 40km south-west of San Sebastian.

At 16, Iñigo was sent to serve as a page in the court of the duke of Nájera, the treasurer of the kingdom of Castile. There he took up dancing, fencing, duelling, horsemanship, as well as gambling. A sharp dresser, he pursued young women and relied on his privilege to escape prosecution for various acts of violence. This conduct was a far cry from the priesthood which his father, Don Beltran, had envisaged for his son.

But Íñigo had no interest in religious pursuits; his dream was to become a famous soldier, a chivalrous knight like El Cid! So when he turned 17, Iñigo joined the army of Castile. For a dozen years he fought in many battles and emerged unscathed. That changed on May 20, 1521. That day, during the defence of the fortress of Pamplona, a French cannonball shattered his leg.

Ignatius — at some point he latinised his name — was taken to his father’s castle at Loyola. There he endured a series of excruciating and botched operations to reset the leg, leaving him with a lifelong limp.

A spiritual awakening

A ricochet of a cannonball had ended his military career. Now, during his long and painful recovery, Ignatius began to read books on the lives of the saints and the teachings of Christ, given to him by his sister-in-law, Magdalena de Araoz, instead of the books on chivalry he really wanted to read. But these books sparked a spiritual transformation in Ignatius. He began to live a deeply ascetic lifestyle and started to practise deep meditation and reflection as part of his daily routine.

After his recovery, he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat in Catalonia, where he experienced a profound spiritual awakening. He spent several months in prayer and meditation, and made a vow to devote himself to God and live a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. For a year he lived in the nearby town of Manresa, working at a local hospital for food and lodging. During that time, he spent a long spell living in a cave on the outskirts of the town, where he  prayed for seven hours a day, and conceived what would become his Spiritual Exercises.

In 1523, Ignatius travelled to the Holy Land, hoping to settle in Jerusalem with plans to convert the Muslims. After three weeks, the Franciscans there sent him home. Back in Spain, he completed his education, and studied theology and Latin at the university. He also attracted the attention of the Inquisition for his unauthorised preaching.

New friends in Paris

Ignatius then moved to France to study for a master’s degree at the University of Paris. Soon Ignatius had gathered around him a group of fellow students. These included his fellow Basque Francis Xavier de Jasso and Peter Faber (or Pierre Lefebvre). On August 15, 1534, these three and four companions gathered in the church of St Peter at Montmartre to make solemn vows of their lifelong work for God and his Church.

Five years later, in 1539, Ignatius, Francis Xavier and Peter Faber formally founded the Society of Jesus. The Society was dedicated to the service of God and the Catholic Church — especially at a time of the Reformation — and its members took a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the pope. The order was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540, and Ignatius moved to Rome to establish the headquarters of the Society of Jesus there.

The Jesuits quickly gained a reputation for their educational and missionary work, and spread their influence throughout Europe and the world. They established schools, universities and seminaries, and sent missionaries to Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Ignatius was the Jesuits’ first superior-general, or Father General, and served in this position until his death. His Constitution for the order was adopted in 1553. It outlined the centralised structure of the order, the practice of obedience within its hierarchical lines, its loyalty to the Church, and its focus on education. The Constitution also guided individual Jesuits in their spiritual life through instructions on meditation, prayer, and discernment.

A prayer aid even today

He wrote the Spiritual Exercises, a series of meditations and contemplations designed to help people deepen their relationship with God, which became a cornerstone of Jesuit spirituality. The Spiritual Exercises remain in wide use to this day as a guide to prayer and meditation.

Ignatius died on July 31, 1556, at the age of 64. Dressed in his priestly robes, he was buried the following day in the crypt of the church of Maria della Strada, next to his living quarters in which he had died.

Two years later that church was demolished to make way for the magnificent church of the Gesù. Ignatius had planned that church since 1551 as the Jesuits’ mother church; construction started in 1568 and it was completed 12 years later. It now holds the tomb of the leading founder of the Society of Jesus.

St Ignatius was canonised in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, alongside his friend St Francis Xavier, contemporaries St Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri, and Isidore the Farmer. His feast day is on July 31.

Published in the July 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine