&oSaint Ignatius Loyola was the founder of the Jesuits and his Feast Day is July 31st. Here are a few facts about our patron of the Jesuits.

• Saint Ignatius was born December 24 1491 to Don Beltrán Yañez de Oñez y Loyola and Marina Saenz de Lieona y Balda in Azpeitia at the castle of Loyola in the Kindgom of Navarre, Spain.
  
  
• He was the youngest of 13 children and was called Iñigo.
  
  
• Saint Ignatius Loyola is the Patron Saint of the Jesuit Order and Retreats.
  
  
• He was a soldier for Spain until a cannon ball and several bad operations terminated his military career in the year 1521.
  
  
• During his recovery he began reading about the lives of the saints and decided to devote his life to the Catholic Faith and to becoming a spiritual soldier.
  
  
• After experiencing visions, and the trials following that led him nearly to despair, he wrote his well-known Spiritual Exercises.
  
  
• Saint Ignatius traveled and studied at various schools and received his M.A. on March 14, 1535.
  
  
• He attracted many followers including Saint Francis Xavier.
  
  
• Saint Ignatius founded the Company of Jesus with six others and they took their vows in 1534 at a Mass in Paris.
  
  
• Pope Paul III signed the Bull “Regimini militantis ecclesiae,” on September 27, 1540 to establish the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) as an official religious order.
  
  
• Saint Ignatius was elected as General Superior of the order, where he served until his death.
  
  
• He died in Rome of natural causes on July 31, 1556, at the age of 65.
  
  
• St. Ignatius was beautified by Pope Paul V on July 27, 1609.
  
  
• Pope Gregory XV canonized him on May 22, 1622.

*Prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola

Dearest Lord,
teach me to be generous;
teach me to serve You as You deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and not to ask for reward
save that of knowing I am doing Your Will.

* Quoted from www.catholic.org

Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius -- Buy from Amazon

The Ignatian Workout: Daily Spiritual Exercises for a Healthy Faith -- Buy from Amazon

Peace in Christ,
© Melissa Knoblett-Aman