Ignatius of Loyola

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Saint Ignatius redirects here; for other Saints, see Ignatius.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, also known as Íñigo Oñaz López de Loyola (before October 23, 1491 – July 31 1556), was the principal founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus, a religious order of the Catholic Church professing direct service to the Pope in terms of mission. Members of the order are called Jesuits.

The compiler of the Spiritual Exercises and a gifted spiritual director, Ignatius has been described by Pope Benedict XVI as being above all a man of God, who gave the first place of his life to God and a man of profound prayer. He was very active in fighting the Protestant Reformation and promoting the subsequent Counter-Reformation. He was beatified and then canonized to receive the title of Saint on March 12, 1622. His feast day is July 31, celebrated annually. He is the patron saint of Guipúzcoa as well as of the Society of Jesus.

Early life

Íñigo Lopez de Recalde was born in the municipality of Azpeitia at the castle of Loyola in the Kingdom of Navarre, in today's Basque province of Guipúzcoa, Spain. The youngest of 13 children, Ignatius was only seven years old when his mother died. In 1506, Íñigo adopted the last name "de Loyola" in reference of the city where he was born and later became a page in the service of a relative, Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, treasurer (contador mayor) of the kingdom of Castile.

In 1509, Íñigo took up arms for Antonio Manrique de Lara, Duke of Nájera and Viceroy of Navarre. According to Thomas Rochford sj., his diplomacy and leadership qualities made him a es:Gentilhombre very useful to the Duke. Under Duke's leadership, he had participated in many battles without injury to himself. But when the French army, supporting the Navarrese monarchy expelled in 1512, stormed the Pamplona's fortress at on May 20, 1521, a cannonball shot wounded one of his legs and broke the other. Heavily injured, Íñigo was returned to his castle. He was very concerned about the injuries on his leg, and he was exposed (by his own decision) to several surgical operations, which were, at that time, very painful processes.

Religious aspiration places

During the time he was recovering, Ignatius read a number of religious texts on the life of Jesus and the saints and became fired with an ambition to lead a life of self-denying labor and emulate the heroic deeds of Francis of Assisi and other great monastic leaders. He resolved to devote himself to the conversion of non-Christians in the Holy Land. Upon recovery, he visited the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat (March 25, 1522), where he hung his military vestments before an image of the Virgin. He then went and spent several months in a cave near the town of Manresa, Catalonia where he practiced the most rigorous asceticism. He begged his journey to the Holy Land, as a way of self denial and sacrifice. After that, he studied at the ascetic Collège de Montaigu of the University of Paris, where he remained over seven years. In later life, he was often called "Master Ignatius" in recognition of his final academic credential. While in Paris, his spiritual preaching granted him some attention from the french Inquisition.

By 1534 he had six key companions, all of whom he met as students at the University—Francis Xavier, Alfonso Salmerons, Diego Laynez, and Nicholas Bobadilla, all Spanish; Peter Faber, a Frenchman; and Simão Rodrigues of Portugal. Later on he would be joined by nobles like Francisco de Borja, a member of the Borgia familiy, who was the main aide of Emperor Charles V.

Ignatius Loyola was the main creator and initial Superior General of the Society of Jesus, a religious organization of the Catholic Church which agreed straight service to the Pope in conditions of mission. The Members of the organization are called Jesuits. He is famous as the gatherer of the Spiritual Exercises, and he is kept in mind as a talented spiritual director. He was very vigorous in fighting the Protestant Reformation and promoting the following Counter-Reformation. He was beatified and then canonized and received the title of Saint on March 12, 1622. He is the patron saint of the state of Guipúzcoa as along with the Society of Jesus.

Ignatius Loyola wrote Spiritual Exercises from 1522-1524, the publication is a simple set of meditations, prayers, and various other mental exercises. The exercises of the book were designed to be carried out over a period of 28-30 days. The book was 200 pages and was designed to enhance and strengthen a person's faith experience in Roman Catholic Church manners.

Foundation of the Society of Jesus

On August 15, 1534, he and the other six met in the crypt of the Chapel of St. Denis on, Montmartre in Paris and founded the Society of Jesus - "to enter upon hospital and missionary work in Jerusalem, or to go without questioning wherever the pope might direct". In 1537 they traveled to Italy to seek papal approval for their order. While in Venice, they attended those affected by the plague.Pope Paul III confirmed the order through the bull Regimini militantis (September 27, 1540), but limited the number of its members to sixty. This limitation was removed through the bull Injunctum nobis on March 14, 1543.

Father General of the Jesuits

Ignatius was chosen as the first Superior General of his religious order, invested with the title of Father General by the Jesuits. He sent his companions as missionaries around Europe to create schools, colleges, and seminaries. Juan de Vega, the ambassador of Charles V at Rome had met Ignatius there. Esteeming him and the Jesuits, when Vega was appointed Viceroy of Sicily he brought Jesuits with him. A Jesuit college was opened at Messina; success was marked, and its rules and methods were afterwards copied in other colleges.

In 1548 Spiritual Exercises was finally printed, and he was briefly brought before the Roman Inquisition, but was released.

Ignatius wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, adopted in 1554, which created a monarchical organization and stressed absolute self-abnegation and obedience to Pope and superiors (perinde ac cadaver, "well-disciplined like a corpse" as Ignatius put it). His main principle became the Jesuit motto: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam ("for the greater glory of God"). The Jesuits were a major factor in the Counter-Reformation.

During 1553-1555 Ignatius dictated his life's story to his secretary, Father Gonçalves da Câmara. This autobiography is a valuable key for the understanding of his Spiritual Exercises. It was kept in the archives for about 150 years, until the Bollandists published the text in Acta Sanctorum. A critical edition exists in Vol. I (1943) of the Fontes Narrativi of the series Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu. He died in Rome on July 31, 1556 after a long struggle with chronic stomach ailments.

Canonization and legacy

Ignatius was beatified by Paul V on July 27, 1609, and canonized by Gregory XV on March 12, 1622. His feast day is celebrated annually on July 31, the day he died. Saint Ignatius is venerated as the patron saint of Catholic soldiers, the ordinariate of the Philippine military, the Basque country and various towns and cities in his native region.

On April 22, 2006, Feast of Our Lady, Mother of the Society of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI said that "St Ignatius of Loyola institutions, are dedicated to St Ignatius. Perhaps the most famous of them is Basilica of St Ignacius Loyola built next to the house where he was born in Azpeitia, the Basque Country. The house itself, now a museum, is incorporated into the basilica complex.

Genealogy

Lope de Oñaz (~1180)

  ├ García López de Oñaz (~1221)

     ├ López García de Oñaz

        wife: Inés, dame of Loyola – unit of families (~1261)

         ├ daughter: Inés de Oñaz y Loyola (~end of XIII c.)

            husband: Juan Pérez (related)

            ├  Jaun (Basque - Lord) Juan Pérez

            ├  Gil López de Oñaz

            ├  other 5 brothers (see – battle of Beotibar)

                 Beltrán Yáñez (vel Ibáñez) de Loyola, son of Jaun Juan (+1405)

                 wife: Ochanda Martínez de Leete from Azpeitia

                     ├ Sancha Ibáñez de Loyola

                     |  husband: Lope García de Lazcano

                     |  married: 4 III 1413

                     ├ heir: Juan Pérez de Loyola (d. childless, heirdom for Sancha)

                     ├ Maria Beltranche

                     ├ Elvira

                     ├ Emilia

                     ├ Juanecha

                              Juan Pérez de Loyola, son of Sancha Ibáñez (+ in Tolosa)

                              wife: Sancha Pérez de Iraeta (+1473)

                                 ├ Don Beltrán Yáñez (vel Ibáñez) de Oñaz y Loyola (+ 23 X 1507)

                                   wife: Doña Marina Sáenz (vel Sánchez) de Licona (+ < 6 V 1508)

                                   married: 13 VII 1467 r.

        	13 children:

1. Juan Pérez de Loyola (+1503 in Naples)

2. heir – Don Martín García de Oñaz y Loyola (1477 – 29 XI 1538)

              wife: Magdalena de Araoz

              married: 11 IX 1498

    * – order uncertain

*. Ochoa Pérez de Loyola

*. Juan Beltrán de Loyola

*. Beltrán de Loyola (+ < 14 XI 1527)

*. Hernando de Loyola (+ in Panama, New World)

*. Pero López de Oñaz y Loyola (priest, + < VII 1529 in Barcelona)

*. Juaniza (vel Joaneiza) de Loyola, wife of Juan Marínez de Alzaga, notary from Azpeitia

*. Magdalena de Loyola, wife of Juan López de Gallaiztegui, notary from Anzuola

*. Sancha Ibáñez de Loyola

*. Petronila de Loyola, wife of Pedro Ochoa de Arriola

*. Maria Beltrán de Loyola, wife of Domingo de Arruado

13. Iñigo López de Loyola (< 23 X 1491 – 31 VII 1556)

Portrayals

John Donne's anti-Catholic work Ignatius His Conclave (1611) satirizes the Jesuits. In the story, St. Ignatius of Loyola is an inhabitant of Hell:

But Ignatius Layola which was got neere his chaire, a subtile fellow, and so indued with the Divell, that he was able to tempt, and not onely that, but (as they say) even to possesse the Divell, apprehended this perplexity in Lucifer.

Ignatius is subsequently ejected from Hell and ordered to colonize the moon where he will do less harm.

St Ignatius is a principal character of the opera Four Saints in Three Acts by composer Virgil Thomson and librettist Gertrude Stein.

References

Bibliography

Primary

The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius (Translated by Anthony Mottola, Ph.D), Doubleday, 1964. ISBN 978-0-385-02436-5
Loyola, (St.) Ignatius (1900). The Autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyola, translated by Joseph O'Conner. Illustrated. From Internet Archive.
Loyola, (St.) Ignatius (1992). The Autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyola, with Related Documents (J. F. O'Callaghan, Trans). New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 0-8232-1480-X.

Secondary

Bartoli, Daniello (1855). History of the Life and Institute of St. Ignatius de Loyola: Founder of the Society of Jesus. New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother.
Caraman, Philip (1990). Ignatius Loyola: A Biography of the Founder of the Jesuits. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-250130-5.
O'Malley, John W (1993). The First Jesuits. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-30312-1.
Meissner, William W (1992). Ignatius of Loyola: The Psychology of a Saint. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06079-3.