LOYOLA, IGNATIUS (la-yo'la), orig inal name INIGO LOPEZ DE RECALDE, a Spanish soldier and prelate, the founder of the order of the Jesuits; born in the castle of Loyola, Guipuscoa, Spain, in 1491. He was descended of a noble Biscayan family. He was attached in his youth as a page to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, and trained up in all the vices and frivolities peculiar to his position. When still a young man he entered the army, and during the de fense of Pampeluna in 1521 against the French he was severely wounded, and a long and tedious confinement was the result. The only books he found to relieve its tedium were books of devotion and the lives of saints. This course of reading induced a fit of mystical devotion in which he renounced the world, made a formal visit to the shrine of the Virgin at Montserrat, and vowed himself her knight (1522). After his dedication he made a pilgrimage to Rome and Jeru salem, and from 1524 to 1527 attended the schools and universities of Barce lona, Alcala, and Salamanca. In 1528
he went to Paris, where he went through a seven years' course of general and theological training. Here in 1534 he formed the first nucleus of the society which afterward became so famous, Francois Xavier, Professor of Philos ophy, Lainez, and others having in conjunction with Loyola bound them selves together to devote themselves to the care of the Church and the conver sion of infidels. Rome ultimately be came their headquarters, when Loyola submitted the plans of his new order to Paul III., who, under certain limita tions, confirmed it in 1540 (see JEsuITS). Loyola continued to reside in Rome and govern the society he had constituted till his death, July 31, 1556. He was beatified in 1609 by Paul V., and canon ,zed in 1622 by Gregory XV.