Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Íñigo López de Loyola was born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola, in the Basque Country of Spain. Raised for life at court and in arms, he dreamed of glory until a cannonball shattered his leg at the siege of Pamplona in 1521. During his long recovery the only books at hand were a life of Christ and lives of the saints, and reading them transformed him.

He hung his sword before Our Lady of Montserrat and spent months of prayer and penance at Manresa, where he began writing the Spiritual Exercises. After studies in Barcelona, Alcalá, Salamanca and Paris, he gathered companions, among them Saint Francis Xavier and Saint Peter Faber, who made vows together at Montmartre in 1534. Pope Paul III approved the Society of Jesus in 1540, and Ignatius led it from Rome, sending Jesuits to found schools and missions around the world. He died in Rome on July 31, 1556, and was canonized in 1622.

Jesuit schools, universities and parishes throughout Latin America, Spain and the United States celebrate the feast with Masses, festivals and service projects, under the motto "Ad maiorem Dei gloriam." In the Basque Country July 31 is a great feast, and pilgrims visit his birthplace at the Sanctuary of Loyola in Azpeitia.