Ignatius of Loyola

[Title page], 1609

Top center monogram: Jesus, in all that he did, gave thanks to the Holy One; He brought his brothers as an offering to the Lord.

Ecclesiasticus 47:8, Isaiah 66:20-21

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.1

[Frontis], 1609

A selection of plates from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus,

by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Latin translations provided by F. W. Schlatter, S.J.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.2

[Plate 1], 1609

When his mother was about to give birth to Ignatius, out of her devotion to the Nativity, she ordered herself to be taken to the stable; and she gave birth to him, her last child after seven sons, in the year of our salvation 1491.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.3

[Plate 2], 1609

Ignatius, while in the military, was struck by a cannonball which crushed his leg. Nearly dead, he was knocked down during the defense of the citadel of Pamplona so that he might leave the military and transfer to divine service.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.4

[Plate 3], 1609

While he is suffering from his wounded leg and on the point of death, St. Peter (on the night of the feast of St. Peter) appears to him in his sleep and restores his health.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.3

[Plate 4], 1609

While lying bedridden, in order to lift his spirit, he reads the life of Christ the Lord and deeds of the saints; enflamed by their imitation of the divine virtues, he is converted to God.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.6

[Plate 9], 1609

On the text held by the angels: The Gift of Chastity.

On the same trip, fired by his love for the Blessed Virgin and in imitation of her, he vows his chastity to her; every sensation of impurity is extinguished and he receives forever the gift of that same chastity..

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.11

[Plate 10], 1609

He takes off his expensive clothes and gives them to a poor man; clothed in sackcloth and ashes he embraces the poverty of Christ the Lord.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.12

[Plate 11], 1609

Like one newly knighted, he spends an entire night in vigil before the altar of the Virgin in the church of Montserrat, and he hangs up his military armaments in the sanctuary.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.13

[Plate 13], 1609

At Manresa he lives with a crowd of poor people, serves in a hospital, and draws many out of the mire of their vices.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.15

[Plate 18], 1609

Christ the Lord and His Mother often manifest themselves to him so that he may contemplate and enjoy them for long periods of time; they inspire him to great constancy of soul in the Christian faith and piety he had adopted.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.20

[Plate 20], 1609

He is miraculously infused with the knowledge of the great divinity and humanity of all things.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.22

[Plate 21], 1609

He writes The Spiritual Exercises, with special inspiration from God and the light of heaven.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.23

[Plate 39], 1609

He selects nine young men from the University of Paris and appoints them as companions in his plan.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.41

[Plate 41], 1609

In a rural church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, he and his companions vow to advance the glory of God everywhere, but especially on a campaign to Jerusalem, and earnestly to seek the palm of martyrdom. They annually renew this vow in the same place.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.43

[Plate 44], 1609

He returns to Spain a sick man, he works strenuously in the country bringing souls to virtue; in the absence of churches large enough to accommodate the crowds, he preaches in an open field, and his voice is heard at a distance of three hundred feet.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.46

[Plate 49], 1609

He returns to Italy, and at Venice he and his companions from France are ordained; the bishop is so filled with heavenly delight that he has a vision of something unmistakably divine about the new priests.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.51

[Plate 53], 1609

While at prayer in an abandoned church near Rome, a vision of God the Father names him His Son's companion cross-bearer; the Son at the same time says these gentle words to him: "I shall be merciful with you at Rome," and He accepts him into His society. This experience is Ignatius' inspiration for the name, Society of Jesus.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1995.9.55

[Plate 54], 1609

He celebrates his first Mass at Rome at the manger of the Lord, after carefully preparing for it during the eighteen months since his ordination.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1995.9.56

[Plate 56], 1609

Pope Paul III, after reading the Institute of the Society of Jesus presented to him

by Ignatius, says: “The finger of God is here,” and he confirms the Society in the year of our salvation 1540.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1995.9.58

[Plate 58], 1609

Although he long resisted, he was elected General against his will, and in the Church of St. Paul outside the walls, he binds himself and his Society to the Pope.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.60

[Plate 60], 1609

At Rome he renews the practice of the sacraments and of sacred sermons, and he introduces the system of teaching children Christian traditions and doctrines in the churches and streets of Rome.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.62

[Plate 61], 1609

At Rome he is accused of having been convicted of many crimes in various cities. By divine providence all who had freed him of charges elsewhere come to Rome, and those who had previously been the judges of his innocence are now its witnesses.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.63

[Plate 63], 1609

At Rome he establishes admirable and effective public works of charity: a convent for married women of bad conduct, the convent of S. Caterina de' Funari for young women, the convent of Quattro Coronati for girls, and likewise one for orphan boys who wander about the city as beggars, and another for Catechumens, and other associations as well.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.65

[Plate 65], 1609

He composes the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus after receiving frequent apparitions of the most Holy Trinity and visions of the Blessed Virgin, who approve his work.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.67

[Plate 77], 1609

He dies piously at Rome, and at that very moment a noble and saintly woman in Bologna sees his blessed soul, visible in a brilliant light, being carried into heaven

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.79

[Plate 79], 1609

While his sacred remains are being transferred, gleaming stars are seen in his coffin and from it is heard heavenly music.

Attributed to Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) from The Life of Blessed Father Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus, by Cardinal Peter Pazmany, S.J. Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University; Gift of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga University. 1985.9.81

Ignatius of Loyola: Impelled by God’s Spirit When towards the end of his life St. Ignatius of Loyola dictated his autobiography to Luís Gonçalves da Camara, he referred to himself as “the pilgrim”. Ignatius’ entire life after his rather extraordinary conversion was impelled and guided by the Spirit, a pilgrim journey through life in search of and utterly dependent on God’s will for him. This exhibition of prints taken from the original copper-plate engravings prepared at the time of his beatification offers the viewer a glimpse into Ignatius’ relationship with his God, his impelling Spirit.

Born into one of the ten great families of his province in northern Spain, Ignatius came to love the lifestyle of the court and served valiantly in the military on behalf of the King of Castille to whom his family had maintained an intense loyalty over a number of generations. At Pamplona, during a war with the French, Ignatius suffered a blow from a cannon ball that severely fractured his leg (2). Returning to the family castle he spent many months recuperating and recovering his strength (3). The long days in bed led him to ask for reading material and the only books in the castle were a life of Christ and a collection of the lives of the saints (4). As Ignatius read these two books his soldierly valor turned to a deep desire to imitate the saints in their service of the Lord. St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi were particularly influential in this initial experience leading to his conversion.

Once recovered, he made his way to the Benedictine monastery at Montserrat where during a nighttime of prayer he devoted his life to service of Blessed Virgin (11). From Montserrat he went to the town of Manresa along the Cordoner River where he spent the next year in prayer and practices of asceticism. At one point during this year he experienced while praying by the Cardoner an interior illumination about which he later said he learned more on that one occasion than he did in the rest of his life (20). His notes on the experiences of this year later became the nucleus of his Spiritual Exercises (21). Ignatius’ soul during this time became a battleground in which the Spirit of God and a variety of demons struggled for the pilgrim’s soul. Ignatius learned through painful experience a practice that he would later call the “discernment of spirits”, something with which his Jesuit followers would become familiar in their work “for the greater glory of God and the good of souls”. He later included “rules for the discernment of spirits” in his Spiritual Exercises.

At the end of this year at Manresa Ignatius was filled with a desire to go to the Holy Land, there to spend the rest of his life following Christ and trying to convert the Turks. His zeal for making converts of the Turks ran him afoul of Church authorities in Palestine and he was ordered to return to Europe. Once back in Spain, he began a ministry of street preaching, personal spiritual conversations and a variety of other pious works. But because of his rather scant educational background the Inquisition (the Church’s guardian of the truth) had him put in jail for a brief time and forbade him to do his itinerant ministry first in Alcala and then in Salamanca. Deciding that further education would be both helpful and essential if he were to carry out the ministry to which he had become devoted, he set off for Paris in pursuit of a master’s degree at the famed University of Paris. There he met the men who became his first companions, with whom he would eventually form the Society of Jesus (39).

Their studies completed, these companions, deliberating together to discover God’s will for them, decided to go to the Holy Land to spend their lives in spiritual ministry there (41). But because travel from Venice to the Holy Land had been interrupted by warring relations with the Turks, the group determined that if they were not able to find passage by boat from Venice during the coming year, they would travel to Rome and offer their services to the Pope, whom, they were convinced, had a better knowledge than they of the universal apostolic needs of the Church. In fact, they were not able to find passage during that year and they dutifully set off for Rome. Along the way, at a small chapel of La Storta just outside Rome, Ignatius had his famous vision of God the Father asking his Son to take Ignatius as his companion under the cross, and God promising that he would be propitious to Ignatius at Rome (53). Just as the vision at the Cardoner had been key for development of the Spiritual Exercises, the vision at La Storta was key to the foundation and later ministry of the Society of Jesus. Their earlier deliberation confirmed by this vision, the companions continued on to Rome where in 1540 Pope Paul III, upon reading the Formula of the Institute of the Society of Jesus presented to him by Ignatius, proclaimed, “the finger of God is here.” (56) The Society of Jesus had been established in response to God’s impelling Spirit.

One of the original companions, Francis Xavier, was particularly close to Ignatius. At the Pope’s bidding, Ignatius sent Francis off to the missions in the Far East, first to India and eventually to Japan. Though the two would never see one another again, the testimony of their deep friendship and love would come down to us over the years in the form of their extensive correspondence.

Ignatius, who had been elected the first Superior General of the Society (58), spent much time at his desk writing more than 7000 letters to Jesuits and lay people alike, and authoring the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, a work that would articulate the Jesuit way of proceeding as an apostolic order of the Catholic Church (65).

One chapter of the Constitutions deals with the choice of ministries, always with a view to the greater glory of God and the help of souls. In the early years of the Society Ignatius did not want to involve his men in education, preferring to leave them free to respond to apostolic needs around the world. He did, however, found a number of schools for the education of the young Jesuits and before long lay people were begging to have their sons educated in these schools. Recognizing the effectiveness of this burgeoning apostolate in influencing those who would later have the most influence on others, Ignatius sent five men in 1551 to found our first college for lay students at Messina. Many more schools were to follow in Europe and in the mission territories.

Finally on July 31, 1556 he succumbed to an abdominal illness that had stuck with him ever since his days in Manresa (77). He was beatified on July 27, 1609 and canonized together with Francis Xavier and three other saints on March 12, 1612.

The Spirit had called and guided Ignatius through his conversion and years of formation to form with his first companions the Society. Ignatius’ vision for the Society is nicely summarized in the first paragraph of the Constitutions: God our Creator and Lord is the one who . . . must preserve, direct, and carry forward . . . this least Society of Jesus, just as he deigned to begin it; and . . . on our own part what helps most toward this end must be . . . the interior law of charity and love which the Holy Spirit writes and imprints upon hearts.

Frank Case, S.J. Vice President for Mission Gonzaga University Spokane, WA