July Saints

                               Ignatius of Loyola
                                       1491-1556
     Ignatius was born in 1491 in Guipuzcoa, Spain. He was the last of thirteen children and was born to a noble family. His desire in life was to become a great soldier and marry a beautiful lady. In war, he was wounded by a cannon shot and was forced to stay in bed for many months. He asked for books to read and the only books available were of the great saints. Ignatius said that they were for children and did not want read them. He eventually read them because he had nothing else to read. Ignatius did not read them once but many times over. He decided to be like the saints in their prayers, penance's, and good works.

     Ignatius went back to school to study to help him in his ministry. All the other students were young children. They made fun of him but Ignatius persevered. Ignatius graduated from the University of France at the age of forty-three. At the university he met other young men, one of them was Francis Xavier. On the feast of the Assumption, August fifteenth, 1534, seven of these men met together in a church at Montmartre in Paris to take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They hoped to work in the holy land and if not there for the Pope's service. Ignatius started an order called the Jesuits, which stands for the 'Society of Jesus'. In 1537 these men were ordained priests. In 1540 the Pope officially recognized the order of Jesuits. They prayed where they worked and they worked closely with people. They did not wear a special habit. The Jesuits motto was, 'For the greater glory of God'.

     Ignatius spent much of his time writing "Constitutions of the Order". He also completed the book "Spiritual Exercises". "Spiritual Exercises" is about meditating on the meaning of life and on developing a prayer life.

     At the time of Ignatius death, the Jesuit order consisted of nearly one-thousand companions. Ignatius died in Rome, on July 31st, 1556. He was canonized a saint by Pope Gregory the XV in 1622. In 1922, Ignatius was named patron saint of spiritual exercises and retreats. 

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