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St. Ignatius of Loyola was born in Castile Loyola in the Basque country of Northeastern Spain in 1491, one year before Columbus landed on North America. He was born in the Age of Exploration.
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In 1517 Ignatius became a knight in the service of another relative, Antonio Manrique de Lara.
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While defending the citadel of Pamplona against the French, Ignatius was hit by a cannonball on his leg. The cannonball hit his leg and shattered every bone in his left leg and other damage to his right leg.
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On February 1522 he left his family to go to Montserrat where he spent three days confessing the sins of his whole life.
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One day after St. Ignatius Of Loyola went to Montserrat he went to Manresa. To pass the decisive months of his career, from March 25, 1522, to mid-February 1523. He lived as a beggar, ate and drank sparingly, scourged himself, and for a time neither combed nor trimmed his hair and did not cut his nails. Daily he attended mass and spent seven hours in prayer, often in a cave outside Manresa.
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In 1539 Ignatius’s followers decided to make it official and voted Ignatius general of the Jesuits, AKA the society of Jesus.
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At Manresa he sketched a book and over time made changes until finally Pope Paul the lll approved it in 1548. It was called spiritual exercises. During his lifetime, Ignatius used it to give spiritual retreats to others, especially to his followers.
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St Ignatius dies in Italy Rome but he left his mark. Four years after he died there were SO MANY jesuits. When he died there were about 1,000 Jesuits divided into 12 administrative units, called provinces. Three of these were in Italy, one in Spain, two in Germany, one in France, one in Portugal, and two in India and Brazil. The Jesuits became a sensation.
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In 1622 St. Ignatius got canonized which means (in the roman catholic church) a dead person becoming a saint.
