ஆண்டவருடைய விண்ணேற்றம் மே 12 ஞாயிறு

 † Saint of the Day †

(July 31)

✠ St. Ignatius of Loyola ✠

Catholic Priest/ Founder of Society of Jesus (Jesuits):

Born: October 23, 1491

Azpeitia

Died: July 31, 1556 (Aged 64)

Rome, Papal States

Venerated in:

Catholic Church

Anglican Communion

Beatified: July 27, 1609

Pope Paul V

Canonized: March 12, 1622

Pope Gregory XV

Feast: July 31

Patronage:

Dioceses of San Sebastián and Bilbao, Biscay and Gipuzkoa; Basque Country; Military Ordinariate of the Philippines; Society of Jesus; Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Junín, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Archdiocese of Baltimore; Soldiers and Antwerp, Belgium.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola (Born Íñigo López de Loyola) was a Spanish Basque Catholic priest and theologian, who co-founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became its first Superior General at Paris in 1541. The Jesuit order served the Pope as missionaries, and they were bound by a vow of special obedience to the sovereign pontiff in regard to the missions. They, therefore, emerged as an important force during the time of the Counter-Reformation.

Ignatius is remembered as a talented spiritual director. He recorded his method in a celebrated treatise called the Spiritual Exercises, a simple set of meditations, prayers, and other mental exercises to form his disciples, first published in 1548. He chose as the motto of his Society: “All for the greater glory of God.” He died on July 31, 1556, pronouncing the name of Jesus.

Ignatius was beatified in 1609 and then canonized, receiving the title of Saint on 12 March 1622. His feast day is celebrated on 31 July. He is the patron saint of the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Biscay as well as the Society of Jesus and was declared the patron saint of all spiritual retreats by Pope Pius XI in 1922. Ignatius is also a foremost patron saint of soldiers.

Comments:

This selection does not sufficiently describe the keynote of St. Ignatius’ work, the most profound sense of his conversion, which would determine the rest of his life. Let me try to fill this void.

St. Ignatius lived at a time when the tradition of medieval Chivalry still existed and had a strong influence. In his Spiritual Exercises, one notes the presence of this tradition. For example, looking at the parable of the king who is a great general and invites his knights to fight with him, St. Ignatius asks this question: “Who would be so base and vile as to refuse such an invitation?” 

It is a valid question and a well made argument to spiritually move the person who is making the Exercises. But what I would like to point out is the backdrop of the scene, which is the feudal ambience. St. Ignatius was describing the feudal system of vassalage, whereby a knight owes allegiance to his lord, and he was pointing out the disloyalty of the noble who does not follow his king. St. Ignatius presupposes the knight he addresses to be a medieval knight. Another confirmation of this can be found in his meditation on the two standards, the one of Christ, our Commander-in-chief, and the other of Lucifer, the mortal enemy of our human nature, which also makes up a part of his Spiritual Exercises. 

At the time of St. Ignatius, Chivalry had become decadent. Much of its style and many rituals remained the same, but an essential part had changed. I am referring to the dedication of the knight to the service of God, Our Lady, and the Holy Church. The ideal of a complete renunciation of the world in order to dedicate one’s life completely to the supernatural fight had passed away. The knight of that time was no longer a knight for the Catholic Church. His life was dedicated to serving his king and his lady. The notion of a sacred knighthood was dying.

The conversion of St. Ignatius took place during this period. During his convalescence, his first desire was to read books on this romantic Chivalry, but none were available in the castle. He read the lives of saints to pass time because that is what was at hand. As he read, however, he realized the great ideal of the saints as warriors of God and a sublime notion of Chivalry took hold of his spirit. This sublimation represented, on one hand, a return to the previous supernatural ideal of medieval Chivalry, and on the other hand, an even more perfect ideal than medieval Chivalry. 

When he decided to found the Society of Jesus, he was thinking of making an order of Chivalry, a military order. Compañia de Jesus is the Spanish name he chose for his work. Compañia means the company or army. He wanted to found an order exclusively turned to the fight for the Church, putting aside any other temporal concern. What he did was restore the sacral knighthood. 

The chivalry he founded did not have the sacramental of knighthood; it had the priesthood, that is, a participation in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The new priest-warriors he envisioned would be a new style of the warrior, warriors who did not shed blood but entered the battle in response to a new type of attack inaugurated by the enemies. They would fight by means of the word: preaching, teaching, hearing confessions and converting people in order to conquer the world for Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

To make a religious order with a military spirit and way of being was the idea of St. Ignatius. The Society of Jesus is an army, its head is a general, the hierarchy is military, the obedience is military, the action is combative and carried out in a militant style. 

This was the reason why the Society of Jesus was so combative - and also so combated by the enemies. 

We can understand today how different the Society of Jesus has become when we see it promoting all kinds of reconciliation with the enemies of the Church. 

What should we ask St. Ignatius on his feast day? To restore his work, to help to restore the whole Church immersed in this enormous crisis she has fallen into since Vatican II, to give us his spirit of combativeness and love for the Catholic cause.