Member-only story
Meet the Jesuits: St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Society of Jesus
The Big Three of Religious Orders, Part Three
We’ve come to the final instalment of this short series on the Big Three of Religious Orders, finishing appropriately with the group affectionately referred to (in times past, at least) as the “Soldiers of God.” Their official name is the Society of Jesus, but the world has come to know them simply as the Jesuits. The best way to get to know them is to introduce the man who started it all, a Spanish former soldier named Ignatius Loyola.
Born Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola on October 23, 1491, in the Basque region of Spain, his only goal in life was military glory. This goal ended on May 20, 1521, when his leg was shattered by a cannon ball during the Battle of Pamplona. After numerous surgeries and a lengthy convalescence, he recovered sufficiently to walk with a limp, but his military career was over.
During the months he was confined to his bed, the only books available for him to read were one on the life of Christ and one on the lives of the saints. This began a long period of conversion for Ignatius, and once he was able to travel he went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat near Barcelona. He stayed for a year in the nearby town of Manresa, first living with the Dominicans there, then at a…
