P. A. Chacko SJ
Born of the wealthy Basque Loyola family and son of a noble in Spain, Ignatius grew with the ambition of doing great things. As a young man he nourished dreams of winning name and fame alongside showing prowess and valour.
Employed under a relative of his, Antonio Manrique, duke of Najera and Vicerory of Navarre, he dreamt of chivalrous deeds to win laurels.
His worldly passion led him to undertake a military mission that even his superiors dissuaded him. It was a resistance move against the French army which was storming the citadel of Pamplona. Ignatius tried to withstand the mighty French. In the bargain, a French cannon ball hit and smashed his leg. The date was May 20, 1621.
With already a height of five feet and six inches, the limping figure felt, with embarrassment, that his life was shattered and his dreams of vainglory and temporal vanity scattered and buried under the rubble heap of the citadel, as it were.
However, the embers still glowed in the inner chamber of his self. Even under treatment and in recuperation, he sought books of valour and stories of heroes. For his ill luck, only the the Imitation of Christ and the Lives of Saints were available in Loyola castle. Reluctantly though, he read them. However, his thoughts and imaginations lingered on tales of chivalry and a mysterious lady whom he admired.
On recuperation, Ignatius looked a somewhat different person. In February 1522 he bade farewell to his family and proceeded to Montserrat, a Benedictine shrine of pilgrimage near Barcelona in north-eastern Spain.
With a host of scruples hovering over him, he went through a harrowing three day preparation for confessing his sins. The confession over, the lady of his dream evaporated and he found, in her place, the true lady, the Black Madonna, the Holy Virgin, at the Montserrat shrine. As a symbolic surrender of his ambition for chivalry and worldly honour, he hung his sword and dagger near the Black Madonna, vowing never to look back.
Walking out, he found a beggar with whom he exchanged his expensive dress and, in sackcloth, directed his steps towards Manresa, some 48 kilometres from Barcelona.
At Manresa in a rocky cave he spent a year of rigorous penitential life in prayer and begged for his daily needs. It was there at Manresa that he penned the fundamentals of The Spiritual Exercises which later became a retreat manual as a dynamic system of spirituality the world over.
He claimed to have visions and enlightenments during this period of cave life. He mentions one particular enlightenment while sitting on the bank of river Cardoner when his inner eyes opened to make him understand things he did not comprehend before.
In March 1523 he left for Jerusalem with a plan to settle there and do spiritual ministries. But, what prevented him was the threat of a Papal Bull. The Franciscan custodian of the bull and the sacred place threatened to invoke the Bull if Ignatius thought of staying back.
Not wanting to confront the Bull and the custodian, Ignatius retraced his steps in desperation towards Barcelona, but not before visiting a few holy places including the Mount of Temptation.
It slowly dawned on him that a good training in education was better than the expertise of wielding sword and dagger. At the age of 33 he began his studies at Barcelona and, after two years, moved on to Alcala, but could not pursue his studies there as his detractors had him imprisoned on false charges of spreading heresy.
Tried and found innocent, he moved on to Salamanca where again a similar fate awaited him. There too he was imprisoned with a warning to desist from his feverish preaching. Also his little band of followers was apprehended.
Though acquitted, he was prohibited to teach until he had finished his studies. Leaving his disciples, he left Spain for Paris.
In the French capital he had a long stay. That was where he did his higher studies and befriended people like Francis Xavier and Peter Favre. In 1534 the little band of faithful companions bound themselves for the service of Christ with three vows at Montmartre: poverty, chastity and obedience. In 1537 the group attempted to go to Jerusalem on pilgrimage but had to abandon the idea due to lack of convenient passage.
Later, in the same year, on June 24 Ignatius and most of his companions were ordained. But, for a time, Ignatius refrained from celebrating the Eucharist personally.
Later we find them in Rome where in 1540 they got the green signal form Pope Paul III to found the new order. They also took a fourth vow to be obedient and available to the Pope for sending them wherever he pleased.
The companions chose Ignatius as their Superior General. He died in Rome on July 31, 1556. In 1622 he was canonized. Three hundred years later, in 1922, the Church declared him Patron of Retreats. Ignatius’ opus magnum, The Spiritual Exercises, is a treasure house for retreat lovers!
The Order Ignatius founded was called the Society of Jesus. The first group called themselves Companions in the Lord. The watchword they chose was: All for the Greater Glory of God. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (AMDG).