Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Feast Day: July 31
The Protestant Reformation began in Germany in 1517. Soon many Catholics became Protestants. They did not understand the teachings of the Catholic Church. So they turned to what they did understand.
A few years later, a group of men called the Society of Jesus began to open schools. They taught people what the Catholic faith was all about. The leader of this group was Ignatius of Loyola. He had been born in Spain in 1491. When he grew up, Ignatius became a soldier. Then, on May 20, 1520, a cannonball shattered his leg.
As Ignatius recovered from his wound, he read the Bible and books on the lives of saints. In these books, he discovered a new way to live. He underwent a religious conversion and wrote a book called Spiritual Exercises. Through this manual, he encouraged others to respond generously to God’s grace and gifts.
Ignatius went back to school to study more. Soon, six men joined him. In 1540, they formed themselves into the Society of Jesus with Ignatius as their leader. In the rule he wrote for the Jesuits, Ignatius asked two things of them. They were to do all “for the greater glory of God” and they were to “find God in all things.”
The Jesuit missionaries carried Christianity around the world. They built schools everywhere they went. When Ignatius died in 1556, at the age of 65, he left behind many schools and missionaries. Like Ignatius, they glorified God by finding his presence in all people everywhere.
The Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, continue to this day to continue the work begun by their founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
Connecting to Faith First® Legacy Edition
Grade 2, chapter 21
Junior High, Liturgy and Morality, chapter 23