Man's Call To Salvation

St. Ignatius was born in 1491 of a noble family, in the castle of Loyola in Guipuscoa, Spain. He entered the army and distinguished himself by his bravery. His personal conversion started when he lay ill in a castle after the siege of Pamplona where he got seriously wounded. While recuperating in bed, he read Flowers of the Saints and The Life of Christ. The reading of these two books created in him the desire to follow the footsteps of the saints and become a knight of Christ. When he got fully recovered, he went to confession and for almost a year, he lived in a cave on the banks of a river. His renewed life consisted of fasting, praying, and taking care of the poor and the sick.

Finally, he entered a school in Barcelona, Spain. He continued serving the Lord after being ordained a priest when he founded the Society of Jesus in Paris. Teaching in schools, preaching, conducting retreats, and doing missionary work made up the bulk of involvement he and the priests in his congregation became devoted to. Many of his men trained to be missionaries, some even teaching the Indians in America.

Ignatius directed the work of the Society for fifteen years. He died at the age of sixty-five. The priests who belong to the religious order of the Society of Jesus are called Jesuits.