St. Ignatius Essay, Research Paper

Inigo de Loyola was born in 1941in Azpeitia located in northern Spain. Ignatius was the youngest of thirteen. When he turned sixteen he was sent to serve the treasurer of Castile, Juan Velazquez, as a page. Because of his frequent presence in the court, Ignatius acquired the liking of whatever went on. He was addicted to women and gambling. Ignatius dressed up as a fighting man with a coat of mail and breastplate. He also carried a sword and may other types of weapons.

At the age of thirty he was an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the French. The Spaniards were incredibly outnumbered and the commander of the Spanish forces wanted to surrender but Ignatius convinced to continue fighting for the honor of Spain. During the battle a cannon ball hit Ignatius, breaking one leg and wounding the other. French soldiers that admired his courage, took him back to recuperate at home in the castle of Loyola instead of prison. His leg was set but it didn t heal so they broke it again reset it.

On the 29th of June his leg healed, nut the bone protruded below the knee and that made one leg linger than the other. Ignatius didn t like this and considered worse than death. He asked the doctors to saw off the protruding bone and lengthen his leg by systematic stretching. But it was not successful and for the rest of his life one leg was longer than the other and he walked with a limp.

During his long recuperation his extreme boredom led him to read books to pass the time. He asked for romance novels but there were none available. Because he was so desperate he began to read books about the life of Christ and saints. The more he read them the more he considered doing what they did. Ignatius noticed that after reading and thinking about the saints and Christ that he was satisfied and at peace. This was the beginning of his conversion.

Eventually Ignatius completely converted. He changed from his desires and plans of romance and world conquest to follow Christ. He decided to go to Jerusalem to live where Jesus had spent most of his life. Ignatius had been converted but was still lacking a spiritual charity and Christian understanding. On his way to Jerusalem he encountered a Moor who was also riding on a mule. They began to debate religious matters. The Moor believed that the Virgin Mary was not a virgin in her life after Christ was born. Ignatius took this as an insult and did not know what to do. What Ignatius decided to do was if the mule decided to follow the Moor in the upcoming fork in the road he would kill him. So he let the reigns drop. The mule decided to take the other road and the Moor lived.

In Paris he met Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He was there to study Latin the language of all. He their managed to get six others to take vows of chastity and poverty and to go to the Holy Land. If the trip to the Holy Land became impossible then he would go to Rome and put himself of the disposal of the Pope. They waited for a year for a ship that would take them to the Holy Land but no ship came. So they went to Rome. There they took a vow that placed them at disposal of the Pope to travel wherever and to do whatever. Ignatius was elected as the first superior in the order that came to be known as The Society of Jesus.

During his life Ignatius would see The Society of Jesus grow from eight to a thousand members. The work that is best known by Ignatius is that of education. Before 1548 he had started schools in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and India. Ever since his days in Paris studying, Ignatius was suffering from stomach problems. His health grew worse in the summer of 1556. He asked his secretary to go and get the Pope s blessing but he thought he could do it tomorrow but Ignatius did not last until the next day. Shortly after midnight on July 31st he died. This day would later be his feast day.