The Autobiography of St. Ignatius

by Saint of Loyola Ignatius

APPENDIX

ST. IGNATIUS AND HIS WORK FOR EDUCATION

In the kingdom of Navarre, in the north of Spain, among those mountains whence the armorers of Toledo drew their metal and forged for the world their trenchant steel, in a region where the generous, passionate, valiant people seemed to have formed their character on the austere grandeur of nature itself, St. Ignatius was born.

The world represents him as a man of few and stern words, in appearance severe and dark, and yet a man in whom intellect is ever prominent, but intellect elevated by the grandeur of a soul of chivalry and by an exquisite delicacy of charity—this was the real character of St. Ignatius. This will be seen in the brief glimpse given of his life and his spirit of charity, his absorbing love for souls, in his work of founding missions, his greatness of mind and heart, in the work originated by him, and carried on by his followers, in the cause of higher education.

His character stands prominently on the horizon of history. He cannot be ignored, nor is his existence or his work ignored.

His enemies have not passed him by without notice, and his friends, the friends of God, have rejoiced that, as God sent him forth to teach and produce fruit that the fruit might remain, the fruit has remained.

St. Ignatius sends his voice down the centuries as a great individuality. He has spoken as a man of God, as a man of ideas, a man of energy. He has made his influence felt throughout the universe, not only in the civilized world, but in the uncivilized portion, to bring it into civilization, or to bear to it the advantages of civilization.

Other great men have spoken and have sent forth their influence. Theirs has been a message to the civilized world; it has been limited to one point of view. It has been prowess on the battlefield or on the seas, work in the ship of state or in the fields of science. But Ignatius has not been limited to any one of these. He is the founder of a Religious Order that has sent pioneers into all these fields and forests of valor or research; he is the writer of the Spiritual Exercises that have won a fame gained by but few authors; he is the father of many saints; he is the educator of generations; he is the inspirer of scientific, literary, theological, philosophical investigation, and the promoter of discoverers and of pioneer missionaries in the Old and the New World.

Ignatius was born, in 1491, at the château of Loyola, and at fifteen years of age he was a page in the court of King Ferdinand, and then a soldier under the Duke of Navarre, his relative. The army of Francis I penetrated into Navarre, and, at the siege of Pampeluna, Ignatius, Captain of Infantry, was wounded by a cannon ball. His life is given in the preceding pages.