Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Ignacio de Loyola was born in 1491, in the castle of Loyola, in Azpeitia. The son of one of the oldest and noblest families in the region, he began a brief military career, which ended abruptly on May 20, 1521, when a cannonball broke his leg during the fight in defense of Pamplona castle.
The painful recovery from the wound forces him to convalesce for a while and he begins to read books on spirituality. Under the influence of these readings, he rethinks his existence and criticizes his life as a soldier, until causing the definitive conversion of the soldier into a religious.
In the Monserrat Monastery, on March 25, 1522, he hangs his military clothing in front of the image of the Virgin and leaves the enclosure with rags and barefoot. He locks himself in a cave for ten months in spiritual exercise and then sets off on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He returns to Spain and studies in Barcelona and Alcalá de Henares, where he is accused by the Inquisition.
In 1528 he arrived at the University of Paris, where he remained for seven years. There he meets the first companions with whom he founded the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1534: Francisco Javier, Pedro Fabro, Alfonso Salmerón, Diego Laínez, Nicolás Bobedilla and the Portuguese Simón Rodrigues.
In 1538 he moved to Rome, in 1540 Pope Paul III approved the new religious order and in 1541 Ignacio de Loyola was named General of the Company.
Ignatius has been in correspondence with Francisco de Borja since the time of viceroy, but the first personal meeting took place in 1550, when Borja, already a Jesuit, moved to Rome, where he stayed for three months in the company of Ignatius.
The founder of the Jesuits understood from the first moment the great value of joining the order of a great from Spain, with so much influence at court, and decided, when Borja returned to Spain, to maintain the direct line with the founder , appointing him commissioner for Spain and Portugal and entrusting him with delicate diplomatic missions.
Ignatius of Loyola died on July 31, 1556 in his cell at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome. The news arrives a month and a half late to Francisco de Borja, who is deeply affected.
Ignatius of Loyola will be canonized on March 12, 1622.
