Saint Ignatius Of Loyola - 31 July

Quoted from Christianity.com [1]:

Top 10 Events in the Life of Ignatius

1. Ignatius was born in 1491 in a castle at Loyola in the Basque region of Spain. The youngest of 13 children, his mother died when he was very young, and his eldest brother, Juan Perez, died fighting in the “Italian Wars.”

2. In 1508, Ignatius became a page for a relative, Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, treasurer of the kingdom of Castile.

3. In 1517, he became a knight for Antonio Manrique de Lara, Duke of Nájera and Viceroy of Navarre.

4. In 1521, Ignatius suffered a broken leg from a cannonball in Pamplona and began an extended time of treatment and recovery.

5. In 1522, Ignatius was well enough to leave his family and make a holy pilgrimage to Montserrat, where he confessed his sins and left his weapons with the statue of the Virgin Mary. In an extreme version of asceticism, he then chose to live as a homeless beggar for a time.

6. While living in a cave in Manresa, Ignatius had many visions and wrote his first work, The Spiritual Exercises. This is a series of prayers, meditations, and practices aimed at stretching and conditioning the soul. Ignatius compares the spiritual life to that of an athlete and promotes a life of training through spiritual disciplines.

7. After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Ignatius returned to Europe, where he studied to improve his education in Barcelona. There he studied Latin and theology. During this time, Ignatius caught the attention of the Spanish Inquisitors as a possible heretic. He was imprisoned and interrogated but was eventually released. He would have other encounters with the Spanish Inquisition.

8. Ignatius furthered his education in Paris, and there, he took the name Ignatius and developed a following of like-minded souls. Eventually, he and his followers would take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience.

9. In 1539, Ignatius formed the Society of Jesus with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier. In 1540, they gained the approval of the Pope. Eventually, there would be Jesuits in major cities across Europe, living according to the order’s vows and serving the dying through hospice care, advocating for the poor, caring for orphans, and opening schools.

10. Ignatius of Loyola died in Rome on July 31, 1556, at 64 years old, likely dying from malaria. He was beatified in 1609 by Pope Paul V, canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, and declared patron of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922. His annual feast day is July 31.

[1] https://www.christianity.com/wiki/people/what-you-should-know-ignatius-of-loyola.html, quoted without hyperlinks, bold type and large fonts, italics original.