Answer: Page
Born in 1491, Íñigo López de Loyola was the youngest of thirteen children. His name, Íñigo, means "My Little One". Perhaps that is why he began using the name "Ignatius" later in life; although the exact reason is unknown, he did take the name Loyola as a nod to the castle and town of his birth. Today the Sanctuary of Loyola is built on the site of his birthplace in Azpeitia, Basque Country. He began as a page for a relative, Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, who was the "contador mayor", or treasurer, of Castile. Some sources say that Ignatius worked in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella.
From Quiz: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldierly or Spiritual?
Answer: Pope Paul III
They would place themselves at the disposal of the Holy Father to travel wherever he should wish to send them for whatever duties. A vow to this effect was added to the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Formal approval of this new order was given by Pope Paul III the following year on September 27, 1540. Since they had referred to themselves as the Company of Jesus (in Latin Societatis Jesu), in English their order became known as the Society of Jesus.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: 1491
Inigo de Loyola was born in 1491 in Azpeitia in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in northern Spain. He was the youngest of thirteen children
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Reading romances
As a young boy, Ignatius especially liked reading romances, stories of adventure that typically featured a knight-in-training who was on some sort of quest. Tales such as "El Cid" (Spanish epic poem) and "La Chanson de Roland" (French epic poem) were his favorites, along with stories of King Arthur and his knights. As a young man, Ignatius' actions imply that he intended to follow on this same path. He joined the army at the age of seventeen; one of his biographers described him "with his cape slinging open to reveal his tight-fitting hose and boots; a sword and dagger at his waist". Given the fact that he obviously loved the military, is it any surprise that he is the patron saint of soldiers?
From Quiz: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldierly or Spiritual?
Answer: Ignatius
Ignatius was elected on the first ballot of the group to be superior, but he begged them to reconsider, pray and vote again a few days later. The second ballot came out as the first, unanimous for Ignatius, except for his own vote.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: Jesuit
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Cannonball
Ignatius had apparently been a soldier for quite some time before the injury occurred. When he was eighteen he was given the title Servant of the Court by the Duke of Nájera, but there is not much information about the twelve year period of time between his appointment and the accident. During the Battle of Pamplona (1521) a cannonball ricocheted off the wall and struck his leg, causing a devastating injury. He was taken back to the family home, where he had many surgeries in the attempt to repair the leg. It must be remembered that there was really no such thing as using painkillers during surgery at this time, and Ignatius had a lengthy, painful recovery. In spite of the fact that he had several surgeries, Ignatius was left with a limp for the rest of his life, and his military career was over.
From Quiz: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldierly or Spiritual?
Answer: 7,000
At first, Ignatius wrote his own letters, but as the Society grew in numbers and spread over the world, it became impossible to communicate with everyone and still run the new order. Therefore a secretary, Fr. Polanco, was appointed in 1547 to help him in his correspondence. We know that Ignatius wrote almost 7,000 letters during his lifetime, the vast majority of them after he became the Superior General of the Jesuits
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: His leg
A cannon ball struck Ignatius, wounding one leg and breaking the other. His leg was set but did not heal, so it was necessary to break it again and reset it, all without anesthesia. Ignatius grew worse and was finally told by the doctors that he should prepare for death. On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June) he took an unexpected turn for the better. The leg healed, but when it did the bone protruded below the knee and one leg was shorter than the other. This was unacceptable to Ignatius, who considered it a fate worse than death not to be able to wear the long, tight-fitting boots and hose of the courtier. Therefore he ordered the doctors to saw off the offending knob of bone and lengthen the leg by systematic stretching. Again, all of this was done without anesthesia.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Education
Perhaps the work of the Society of Jesus begun by Ignatius that is best known is that of education.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: Jerusalem
1522 He had decided that he wanted to go to Jerusalem to live where our Lord had spent his life on earth.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Become more skilled in Latin
Ignatius was thirty-three years old by the time he had done what he called "stricter penance" for past sins and returned from a brief visit to the Holy Land. Obviously he could read, but he was not literate in Latin. He had to spend some time at a grammar school before being admitted into the University of Alcalá, where he studied theology and Latin for ten years. After that he went to France and continued his studies at the Collège de Montaigu for seven additional years.
From Quiz: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldierly or Spiritual?
Answer: Polanco
A secretary, Fr. Polanco, was appointed in 1547 to help him in his correspondence.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: Pope Adrian VI
He met Pope Adrian VI and requested permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Preaching without a degree
The first incident with the Inquisition occurred while Ignatius was in Barcelona honing his skills and preparing himself to attend a higher school of learning. He was preaching in the street when some women of a group, the Illuminati, that the Spanish Inquisition found suspicious, had violent reactions to what he was saying - going into convulsions and the like. The problem was that Ignatius was preaching without a degree in theology. His second brush with the Inquisition was after the writing of his book. He had to undergo questioning before the pope would give permission for publication.
From Quiz: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldierly or Spiritual?
Answer: Latin
By now he was 33 years old and determined to study for the priesthood. However, he was ignorant of Latin, a necessary preliminary to university studies in those days. So he started back to school studying Latin grammar with young boys in a school in Barcelona.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Society of Jesus
Ignatius met what would become a very tight, eclectic circle of friends while at the University of Paris. In 1539 they formed the Society of Jesus. Interestingly, at the time of their pledge to work together, there was only one member of the group who was a priest. After the group received validation from the pope, Ignatius was chosen to be the Superior General and was bestowed with the title Father General. He continued on as the leader of the group until his death fifteen years later. During this time he was involved in composing the Jesuit Constitution and dictating his autobiography to his secretary.
From Quiz: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldierly or Spiritual?
Answer: July 1609
He was beatified by Paul V on 27 July, 1609.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: The Spanish Inquisition
His zeal got him into trouble, a problem that continued throughout his life. He would gather students and adults to explain the Gospels to them and teach them how to pray. His efforts attracted the attention of the Inquisition and he was thrown into jail for 42 days.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Spiritual Exercises
While Ignatius was a young man recovering from the injury to his leg, he learned about a form of meditation, which eventually he wrote about in his book, "Spiritual Exercises" (1548). He had learned about the teachings of Garcia de Cisneros while staying with Benedictine monks in Catalonia, and these teachings eventually formed the basis of his book. The book outlined the use of a devotion that was divided into parts so that it could be used over a month's time. It contained prayers, and meditations aimed at leading readers to spiritual enlightenment as they studied topics such as sin, God's mercy, the life, passion, and resurrection of Christ, and God's love for man.
From Quiz: Ignatius of Loyola: Soldierly or Spiritual?
Answer: May 1622
Canonized by Gregory XV on 22 May, 1622.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: University of Paris
It was also in Paris that he began sharing a room with Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He greatly influenced a few other fellow students (Xavier was the hardest nut to crack, interested as he was mainly in worldly success and honors), directing them all at one time or another for thirty, days in what we now call the Spiritual Exercises. Eventually six of them plus Ignatius decided to take vows of chastity and poverty and to go to the Holy Land. If going to the Holy Land became impossible, they would then go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for whatever he would want them to do
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
Answer: Gesu
His body lies under the altar designed by Pozzi in the Gesu.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part Deux
Answer: Chapel at La Storta
Ignatius, along with two of his companions, Peter Faber and James Lainez, decided to go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope. It was a few miles outside of the city that Ignatius had the second most significant of his mystical experiences. At a chapel at La Storta where they had stopped to pray, God the Father told Ignatius, 'I will be favorable to you in Rome' and that he would place him (Ignatius) with His Son.
From Quiz: St. Ignatius Part One
