Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola
The Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola is celebrated annually on July 31 by the Roman Catholic Church to honor St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. Born Iñigo in 1491 in the Basque region of Spain, Ignatius was the youngest son of a noble family. His life took a pivotal turn after a severe injury during military service, which led him to a profound spiritual transformation through reading religious texts. In 1534, he and six companions made a vow of poverty and chastity, establishing the foundations of the Society of Jesus, which was officially recognized by Pope Paul III in 1539.
The Jesuits have gained a reputation over the centuries for their educational and missionary work across the globe. Following Ignatius's death in 1556, the Society had grown to approximately 1,000 members. His contributions to the Catholic Church were acknowledged through his beatification in 1609 and subsequent canonization in 1622. The feast day serves not only as a remembrance of Ignatius's legacy but also as a celebration of the ideals of dedication and service espoused by the Jesuit order.
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Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola
Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola
July 31 of every year is honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the Feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, the Roman Catholic religious order whose members are known as Jesuits. Members of the Jesuit order have distinguished themselves as educators and missionaries for more than 400 years.
Ignatius was born the youngest son of an ancient and noble Spanish family in the Casa Torre of Loyola, Azpeitia, in the province of Guipuzcoa in the Basque region of Spain around the year 1491. He was baptized Iñigo and later took the name Ignatius from St. Ignatius of Antioch, a first-century bishop and martyr whose life he admired. During his teens, Ignatius spent time in and around the royal court acting as a page for an important politician. He joined the Spanish military, but his career ended on May 20, 1521, when a cannonball fractured his leg during the defense of the castle of Pamplona against the French. The religious books he read during his long convalescence transformed his life, convincing him to become a warrior in the service of Christ. On August 15, 1534, Loyola and six companions gathered at the Church of St. Denis in Paris and vowed to live in poverty and chastity. From the beginning, he called his little band the Company of Jesus, which eventually became the Society of Jesus. Ignatius and his friends hoped to go to the Holy Land, but when hostilities in the region made this impossible they went to Rome, Italy, to offer their obedience and their services to Pope Paul III in 1538.
On September 3, 1539, Pope Paul III approved the creation of the Society of Jesus and Ignatius became its first leader. The new organization was dedicated to the zealous propagation of the Roman Catholic faith. By the time Ignatius died in Rome on July 31, 1556, there were about 1,000 members and Jesuit missionaries working in many lands. Ignatius was beatified by Pope Paul V on July 27, 1609, and canonized by Paul's successor Gregory XV on March 12, 1622.