Ignatius of Loyola: Founder of the Jesuits

Ignatius of Loyola’s real name was Inigo Lopez de Onaz y Loyola. He was named Inigo until he reached the University of Paris, in which he was named Ignatius. Ignatius was born at the Castle Loyola, which still stands today in northern Spain, on the edge of the Pyrenees Mountains. He was born in 1491, but there are no records of which show the exact date. His mother was Marina Sanchez de Licona and his father was named Beltran. His father, Beltran, fought in a civil war for King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile. Inigo was the youngest of the thirteen children they had, but his mother died shortly after he was born. So he went to live with a nurse, Maria Garin, instead of living with his father in his castle. He learned to speak Bosque with Maria instead of learning Castilian, or Spanish, with his father.

Although his mother had died shortly after he was born, he may have benefited from this. “Biographers interested in psychological history have speculated on how the lack of contact with his mother influenced his development and personality” (2). Since he was the youngest, he could learn from his other brothers and sisters. His brothers were involved in war, control, and priesthood. Would Inigo follow the same path? The oldest brother, Juan, fought with the Spanish army, but died in Naples in the Battle of Atella in 1506. Beltran, another brother, fought and died in Naples as well. Pero, the second youngest brother, became a priest and served in the church at Azpeitia. Martin Garcia, the oldest brother when Juan died, became heir to most of their parents’ rights and property. As we can see, his brothers were involved with war, control, and priesthood and since his mother had died after he was born, his personality could develop into what one or more of his fellow brothers had done.

Ignatius was a strong man. He went through some very painful times, ones suffered during war. During one attack by the French, Inigo was struck by a small cannon ball. His right leg became shattered and his left leg was wounded. Since he was severely hurt, he became a server gentleman, and not a soldier, which he wanted to become. In the attack by the French, Inigo could have retreated with Beaumont, a commander, but he wished to defend the city and show how strong he actually was. Even though he was severely injured, he would not let the injury stop him from doing other things. “His early life was built on ambition, vainglory, dreams of chivalry, and the hope that deeds of daring would enhance his career as a courtier” (9). His ambition was to defend the city of Pamplona, which the French attacked, but if Inigo died in that battle, he would die gloriously. His thoughts of dying gloriously came from his father, Beltran, who won his glory fighting against a French attack.

Being a strong man, Inigo was given medical treatment by the French. When his legs were set up to heal, they were not set up correctly, resulting in his legs not healing correctly. It also could have been the rocking of the litter on his way back home. There, local doctors would rest his right leg and perform a surgical operation on it. And since there were no anesthetics, Inigo felt a lot of pain. But being a strong man, Inigo went through the operation only clenching his fists and showed no signs of pain. Another time when he went through excruciating pain was when the bones were set badly after the operation. His right leg was shorter than his left and a portion of the bone in his right leg stuck out. The only way to fix that was to go through another operation. The strong man he was, he went through this operation to fix his right leg. Going through these operations shows this was “not only of his determination but of his vanity and worldly thirst to cut a glamorous figure in court circles, regardless of the price” (11).

Ignatius was also a religious man. He read The Life of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Four Gospels by Ludolf of Saxony and The Golden Legend, which was about the lives of the saints, by Jacopo da Varazze. He liked the book about the lives of the saints rather than the somber book Ludolf had written. Ignatius had found the lives of the saints fascinating and how their deeds were vainglorious, something he could relate to. To the saints it was “not the love of God and neighbor or deep prayer but rather striking acts of religious valor, such as severe penances or stringent fasting” (12).

Inigo also felt that his life had been sinful, so he decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When Inigo arrived at Manresa, he decided to stay there to write in his notebook. He only planned to stay a few days, but ended up staying for eleven months. There were three reasons