The life of St. Ignatius of Loyola shows us how he, before God, was a true conqueror. If Christopher Columbus and other discoverers had the merit of finding new lands, St. Ignatius and his Company had the glory of baptizing a new continent.
Redaction (12/08/2022 09:15 AM, Gaudium Press) Installed in a Franciscan convent, the unforgettable discoverer of America dreamed in rapture of the wonders beyond the seas. Christopher Columbus was enraptured by Marco Polo’s stories about the kingdom of Xipangu. The mother-of-pearl bridges, the mountains of gold, and the squares with emerald benches only multiplied the plans, maps, and theories of the Genoese navigator. His pertinacious idea of reaching that land of dreams seemed crazy to some; to others, it was an investment as costly as it was dubious and not worth the risk.
Catholic Spain was still fighting for the Reconquista and King Ferdinand thought it too reckless to invest the riches of the Royal Treasury in such an uncertain adventure. It was the year 1491, and Columbus’ hopes were troubling him.
The birth of a conqueror
That same year, 1491, the eighth child of Don Beltrán Yáñez de Oñaz y Loyola and Don Marina Sáenz de Licona y Balda was born in the Castle of Loyola. This noble and distinguished family would baptize him with the name Íñigo, which later would become known as Ignatius.
While still a boy he met King Ferdinand, whom he charmed by his intelligence and nobility. These characteristics, as well as a temper considered beautiful in his time, would bring him a true slavery to vanity during long and unhappy years.
The discovery of souls to conquer
In January 1492, after all, Ferdinand and Isabella – the Catholic kings – would finish reconquering the last city in Spain that remained under Moorish domination. With the expulsion of Boabdil – the Moorish king – from the region of Granada and the intervention of one or two men who gave credence to Columbus’ plans, the voyage was finally sponsored by the queen. That same year, Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña would cross the Atlantic on the orders of the clever Genoese. Although they did not quite find exactly what Columbus’ lips promised, at least they did discover new lands for the King of Spain.
What there was, however, was a lot of people to be instructed in the law of God, in religion, in literature and in customs; there were souls to educate, teach and save. Who would be in charge of this? Someone had to win those souls for Christ!
Vanity, vanity…
This someone was still being prepared by God…
Ignatius of Loyola was 21 years old when he went to war against the French in Pamplona in 1512.
Wounded in the left leg by stone chips, and soon after, in the right leg by shrapnel from a cannonball, the brave and vain Ignatius fell to the ground, unable to continue the fight.
After a few days, about to die, the warrior asks for the sacraments. However, that very night, the Apostle Saint Peter appears to him in a dream. Very kindly, the Prince of the Apostles laid his hand upon his wounds and healed them. Upon awakening, Ignatius no longer felt the imminent dangers of death, and within a few days he was on his feet, healed.
A disappointment, however, discouraged the vain combatant. He was the most handsome nobleman of the court; it could not be that, because of this illness, he remained as lame and deformed as he had become. So he called the doctor and told him that it would be necessary to remove the protrusion from above his knee. To do this, he would have to make an opening large enough to expose the bone, in order to remove the entire protuberance.
The doctor told Ignatius that unfortunately this could not be done, as a man was not capable of enduring such pain, since in order to fulfill his request, it would be necessary to saw the bone off. Impatient, Ignatius replied, “Well, then saw it off! And so it was done.
I want to be a saint!
For months more he would be tortured in bed to recover from the violent surgery. Vanity was the only anesthesia, but Ignatius would endure anything for it!
Isolation and boredom made the vain warrior immerse himself in the novels of chivalry, then very much in vogue in Spain. At the end of his readings, Ignatius immediately rejected only two books: Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Flower of the Saints.
Time was running out and bitter idleness obliged him, begrudgingly, to begin reading what remained. Despite the initial boredom, Ignatius soon delighted in the lives of the saints. Those examples of humility and heroism enchanted the young patient, above all because those were men who did not put their hopes and glories on this earth, but in God and in eternity. It was then that, resolute, but not without inner struggles, Ignatius of Loyola wrote in the lines of history, with a single cry, his conversion: “I want to be a saint!
The conversion of one man conquers that of an entire continent
From the time of Ignatius’ conversion onwards, he began to receive truly extraordinary graces of contact with the Blessed Virgin, with Our Lord Jesus Christ and with the saints. The communications with heaven and the abundant mystical graces instructed him in sanctity, in writing – as occurred with the spiritual exercises – in the apostolate, and in the foundation of the Company that was to take place in the future.
Through this conversion, St. Ignatius of Loyola began to idealize, in his heart, a religious order with markedly military characteristics for the conquest of souls. Through this Company, the missionaries would go from Japan to Columbus’ new continent, guiding, teaching, instructing, sanctifying and saving souls, peoples and entire nations.
The founding of the Society of Jesus
After a long history marked even by begging, pilgrimages, the priesthood, promises, accidents on journeys by land and sea, came the approval of the constitutions written by Ignatius. It was recognized by Pope Paul III and with it was founded, by St. Ignatius and his disciples, the Society of Jesus, not without enormous difficulties. It was the year 1540, and Ignatius, despite everything, did not want to consider himself the Founder because he thought that his mission was only to organize and guide the Society of Jesus.
The missionaries
Through the intercession of Diogo de Gouveia, the first missionaries of the Society of Jesus were sent to India, since, at that time, the king of Portugal had gained ground in that part of the Orient.
The apostolic success, despite the setbacks and difficulties, soon made St. Ignatius’ work expand to other parts of the Earth.
The Brazil of St. Ignatius
Even before he died on July 31, 1556, at the age of 65, St. Ignatius had left, in the whole world, a model of sanctity. From this model men like Saint Francis Xavier and so many other incomparable saints were configured, among whom was such an esteemed apostle and tireless preacher: Saint Joseph of Anchieta, the Apostle of Brazil.
If there was a time when Brazil was a Catholic country, in large measure this is due to Saint Ignatius. Manuel da Nóbrega, no doubt can be considered the father of all Brazilians who, because of him, inherited this Catholic faith.
Now, if today we no longer see in this country the triumph of faith, it is surely because men have preferred to return to the old vanity and the reading of novels, instead of abandoning all that to imitate the life of the saints. [1]
Compiled by Angelica Vecchiato
[1] The biographical data of St. Ignatius of Loyola are taken from: DAURIGNAC, J. M. S. Saint Ignatius of Loyola: founder of the Society of Jesus. Trad. M. Fonseca. 4 ed. Porto: Press Apostolate. 1958.
