The Autobiography of St. Ignatius

Ignatius of Loyola was born Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola in the castle at Loyola, in the municipality of Azpeitia, Gipuzkoa, in the Basque region of Spain. He joined the army at seventeen and at the Battle of Pamplona on 20 May 1521 he gravely injured his leg. Iñigo underwent several surgical operations to repair the leg. In the end, the operations left his right leg shorter than the other. He would limp for the rest of his life, with his military career over. While recovering from surgery, Íñigo underwent a spiritual conversion and discerned a call to the religious life. After he had recovered sufficiently to walk again, Íñigo resolved to begin a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and to do stricter penances. After that Íñigo changed his name to Ignatius, adopted the surname «de Loyola,» and moved to France to study at the University of Paris. In 1539, with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier, Ignatius formed the Society of Jesus, which was approved in 1540 by Pope Paul III. He was chosen as the first Superior General of the order and invested with the title of «Father General» by the Jesuits. Ignatius sent his companions on missions across Europe to create schools, colleges, and seminaries. With the assistance of his personal secretary, Juan Alfonso de Polanco, Ignatius wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, which were adopted in 1553. They created a centralized organization of the order, and stressed absolute self-denial and obedience to the Pope and to superiors in the Church hierarchy. Ignatius died in Rome on 31 July 1556, probably of the «Roman Fever», a severe variant of malaria which was endemic in Rome throughout medieval history.