St. Ignatius of Loyola

Patron Saint of Retreats

Inigo de Loyola was born in 1491 in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in northern Spain.

At age thirty we find him a soldier defending the fortress of Pamplona against the French. Hugely outnumbered, the Spanish commander wished to surrender but Ignatius egged him to fight on. As the fight continued, Ignatius’ leg was fractured by a canon shot. Honoring his courage, the French allowed him to be treated at his castle of Loyola rather than in prison.

After enduring an operation without anesthetics, it was found that there was a bone protruding from under his knee. The thought of not being able to wear the slimming leggings of the time was unendurable, so he had doctors saw off the bone – without anesthetics. Still, he always limped as one leg remained shorter than the other.

Convalescing, he asked for romance novels, but was given to read the only books in the castle: a life of Christ and lives of the saints. As he begrudgingly picked up the volumes, he began to notice that while his thoughts of romance and fantasy left him restless and agitated, these books gave him peace and a sense of true accomplishment and well-being. Slowly moved by what he read, he made a powerful conversion.

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