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Ignatius of Loyola, born Inigo Lopez de Loyola, is born in the Basque region of northern Spain. He is the youngest of thirteen children.
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Christopher Columbus lands on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, jumpstarting the Age of Discovery.
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[Approximate date]
Ignatius of Loyola (then called Inigo) joins the army under the Duke of Najera and Viceroy of Navarre, Antonio Manrique de Lara. -
Martin Luther posts a list of 95 beliefs on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany, as part of the Reformation.
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Leonardo da Vinci finishes painting the Mona Lisa, in Florence, Italy. It now hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
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At the Battle of Pamplona, Ignatius is hit by a French cannonball and breaks his leg. It is improperly repaired and ends his military career.
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Ignatius of Loyola, fully recovered, but walking with a limp, visits the Benediction monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, where he lays his military uniform before an image of the Virgin Mary.
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Ignatius of Loyola, searching for self-denial and penance, arrives emotionally in Jerusalem. He is forced out twenty days later as not to anger the Turks, who controlled the area.
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Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez, Nicolás Bobadilla, Peter Faber, and Simão Rodrigues, all students at the University of Paris, meet at Our Lady of Montmarte and resolve to form the Company of Jesus to follow the demands of the pope.
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[Approximate date]
John Calvin, founder of the Protestant religion Calvinism, publishes an apologetic work called the Institutes of the Christian Religion, which defended the beliefs of the Reformation. -
Pope Paul III excommunicates the many-wifed King Henry VIII of England from the Roman Catholic Church, from which he had seceded three years prior.
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Pope Paul III issues the Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae, establishing the Jesuits, but limiting the number of its members to sixty.
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Ignatius of Loyola serves as the first Superior General of the Society of Jesus. He was voted into office unanimously.
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Ignatius of Loyola dies from Roman Fever, a severe form of malaria known to affect Rome at various times in history.
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The playwrite William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream) is baptized in Warwickshire, England. His real birth date is unknown.
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The first visible supernova is seen in the constellation Cassiopeia, marking a breakthrough in astronomy.
