Ignatius of Loyola

b. 1491; d. 1556.

Founder of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, whose Spiritual Exercises, completed in 1535, remains one of the most important instruments for spiritual contemplation.


A Spaniad of noble blood, he was converted to becoming a "soldier of Christ" while recuperating from a a wound sustained during military duty in 1521. He retreated to Manresa and from his meditations and mystical experiences from this period (1522-23) emerged the substance for his Spiritual Exercises.

©ALBERITH