History Spotlight, 3/12

Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, is canonized on this day in 1622. Ignatius wasn't one of these "sit around and listen to the music of the spheres and ponder the nature of evil" types. He saw evil (well, evil as he defined it) and went out to fight it.

He was born on October 23, 1491 in Loyola, Spain. As the youngest of 13(!) children, he didn't have much hope for the family fortune (such as it was) so his best bet was to hit the road and try to make a name for himself either as a priest or a warrior. Originally, his name was Inigo Lopez, but he changed it to Ignatius some time after leaving Spain because it sounded less foreign. At the age of 18, he signed on with the Duke of Najera, where he impressed the Duke with his leadership and diplomatic skills. He fought in many battle without injury until May 20, 1521 when, while fighting the French at the Pamplona fortress, he took a cannonball in the legs, breaking both of them. He had several incredibly painful operations on his legs and spent a long period in recuperation.

During this time, he read the De Vita Christi, a biography of Jesus written by Ludolph of Saxony. Ludolph wrote in a much more modern tone than the usual histories of the time. He invited the reader to imagine himself at each of the great moments of Christ's life and to picture what it was like to be there, or even to imagine what Christ was going through Himself. This is all standard stuff for modern historians but for the 1520's it was pretty mind-blowing and Ignatius had his mind well and truly blown.

After his recovery. he decided to abandon his old ways and devote the rest of his life to the Church and, specifically, to the conversion of non-Christians in the Holy Land. As a religious ascetic, he walked to the Holy Land, scrounging meals and lodging when he could and starving and sleeping under a tree when he couldn't. By the time he was in his forties, he had acquired six followers and created the Society of Jesus, a missionary society dedicated to spreading Catholicism and rolling back the Protestant Reformation. He died of malaria in Rome on July 31, 1556 at the age of 65, which is pretty old for the time. He was beatified by Pope Paul V on July 27, 1609 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 13, 1622. The basilica built next to the house he was born in (which still stands) is one of the more famous monuments to him. I chose Ignatius as my patron saint at my Confirmation mostly because of the cool name, but considering my argumentative, conservative nature I think it fits pretty well.