His soldier career abruptly ended at age thirty courtesy of a cannonball which shattered his right leg. At his father’s castle in Loyola, he was the youngest of 13 children, he endured several surgeries which he succinctly recalled as “butchery”. Long months of convalescence followed. Bored out of his mind he began reading the religious literature in his father’s library. A religious conversion slowly dawned on him. When he could walk again he decided to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Visiting the monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, he confessed all of his sins, gave his sword to the monastery and came out again to the world wearing sackcloth. Going to Manresa in Catalonia he spent a year begging and praying, eventually working at a hospital for room and board. He did make it to the Holy Land from September 3-23, 1523 but was sent home by the Franciscans. At age 34 in 1525 he attended a free grammar school to correct his lack of education. Advanced study in Latin and theology followed at the University of Alcala from 1526-1527. There he completed his Spiritual Exercises, that masterpiece in setting human intellect on the path to Christ. Moving on to the University of Paris, where he graduated in 1535, the idea of a Conpany of Jesus began to form in his mind. They would be in the world but not be of the world, dedicated to the service of Christ under the authority of the Pope. On August 15, 1534 he and six companions took solemn vows as the first members of this new army of Christ at the church of Saint Peter in Montmartre.
Thus from such unlikely material was the Society of Jesus founded, courtesy of God, a cannonball and a bored soldier with a very strong will who could shape himself into a man able to create and lead a world shaking order. Those who currently wear the title Jesuit are mostly unworthy sons, but the idea and the aim were good, and can be good again in the future.
My personal hero.
Don Inigo, please pray for me.