LOYOLA. Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus: b. 1491, at the Castle of Loyola, Azpeitia, in Guipuscoa, Spain; d. Rome, 31 July 1556. He was the youngest son of Beltran Yafiez de Ofiez y Loyola and Marina Saenz de Licona y Bakla. Ifiigo, as the child was baptised, after Saint Enecus or Innicus, abbot of Ofia, adopted the name Ignatius dur ing his life in religion.
I. Early Years, 1491-1521.—The youth of Ignatius was mostly passed in the chivalry and grandeur that surrounded the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, rulers of Castile and Aragon. He became an officer of the army, and commanded the Spanish forces during the siege of Pampeluna by the French. So soon as their brave leader was wounded, the garrison surrendered, 21 May 1521. A cannon ball had lacerated the left and broken the right leg of Ignatius. Surgery was then primitive; so the shattered shin caused much trouble. It was set, broken and then reset; and a protruding bone was sawed off. In the end, the healing leg had to be stretched with weights. During days of enforced convalescence, the soldier called for some light reading,— the tales of chivalry that then had a vogue. None was to hand, at Loyola Castle; so .the (Life of Christ> by Ludolph of Saxony and the lives of the saints were brought to the sick man. At first his interest was that of a knight in the tales of deeds done by heroes. Then his own knightly deeds began to stand out in bold relief and strange contrast over against the chivalry of the knights of Jesus Christ. He mused on the possibilities of imitation and rivalry. The heroism of each saint opened out to him a new vista of life, and aroused the thought, °Why not I ?° The truth came home that there was a Captain, worth far more than any earthly leader; the battles fought by that Cap tain were entirely different from those that the high-spirited Spaniard had been wont to esteem. The Kingdom of Christ loomed larger and larger. He saw that the principles of action of his whole life would have to be re adjusted; they were selfward, and not fully Christward.
IL Preparation for the New Knighthood, 1522-34.— So soon as health was restored Ignatius, with that singleness of purpose which was his characteristic, set out at once to be come a knight of Jesus Christ in the King dom whose dynamic power is Christ-love. He made a pilgrimage to Montserrat, put his soul right with God by a general confession, laid his sword and poniard at Our Lady's altar, spent the night there in a vigil at arms, received communion next morning,— the Feast of the Annunciation 1522,— gave his courtly raiment to a beggar, donned a sack-cloth tunic and started the war against self-love for 'the Reign of Christ on earth. A year of solitude, prayer
and penance was then spent in a cavern, the °Santa Cueva,° just outside Manresa. The spiritual experiences of this year, its severe mortification, scruples, extremes of consolation and desolation, wonderful graces, visions and miraculous interventions, were all formative of his character and of the system of asceticism which has become famous by the little book called °The Spiritual Next year, 1523, he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to suffer the poverty, contumely and oppro brium which were emblazoned on the standard of his King. The plan was foiled by well meaning persons of authority in the Holy Land, who deemed that the presence of the enthusi astic pilgrim would impede their work. So Ignatius returned to Barcelona. He now re solved to draw others to the standard of Christ; and to that end began a course of studies that lasted 11 years. At 33 (1524) the intrepid patrician, in the garb of a poor man, took up the elements of Latin together with a class of mere schoolboys. In two years, 1526, he matriculated at the University of Alcali. Here the Inquisition looked askance at the zealous student's doctrine, imprisoned him for two months, and forced him to Sala manca, 1527. Studies at this university town were equally impossible, because of citation and imprisonment by the Inquisition. So Ignatius betook him to the University of Paris, February 1528. At Paris many trials came round from poverty and misunderstandings; but studies were successfully pursued, and much of value was learned in the science of education and that of the care of souls. Ignatius took his licentiate in theology in 1534, and his M.A. in 1535. Ill health prevented him from going up for the doctorate in theology. Meanwhile, a band of faithful followers were gathered. They were Blessed Peter Fabre and Claude Le Jay, Savoyards; Saint Francis Xavier, of Na varre; James Laynez Alonso SalmerOn and Nicholas Bobadilla, Spaniards; Simon Rodri guez, a Portuguese; Jean Codure and Paschase Broet, Frenchmen. These 10 knights, all thor oughly educated university men, formed the nucleus of the Society of Jesus.