Fr. Genelli - The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola

The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Father Genelli

Nihil Obstat:	Arthur J. Scanlan, D.D.
Censor Librorum
Imprimatur:		John Cardinal Farley
Archbishop of New York
New York
March 20, 1917

Copyright 1917 by Benziger Brothers, New York.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 88-50847

ISBN: 0-89555-345-7

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.TANBooks.com

1988

Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous.

Teach me to serve Thee as Thou deservest;

To give and not to count the cost;

To fight and not to heed the wounds;

To toil and not to seek for rest;

To labor and not to seek reward, save that of knowing that I do Thy will, O God.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. Ignatius Loyola.
Founder of the Society of Jesus
1491-1556

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

The family of St. Ignatius and the Castle of Loyola. His birthhis name in baptismhis education. He is placed at Court, and there forms acquaintance with a lady whose name he does not give. He devotes himself to feats of arms and reading romances of chivalry. In 1517 he takes part for the first time in the war against Navarre. The revolt of the townsit is suppressed. In 1521 Francis I. renews hostilities. Henry d'Albert conquers Navarre and besieges Pampeluna. The garrison wishes to capitulate, but is prevented by Ignatius, who after a courageous defense is severely wounded. He is treated with honor by the enemy, and sent back to his own country. His health becomes worse he prepares for death, and is suddenly cured. He undergoes a second operation. The reading of some pious books makes him feel the necessity of choosing between the world and the service of Jesus Christ. He decides on choosing the latter. His desire to please God. The Blessed Virgin appears to him with the Infant Jesus. He thinks of becoming a Carthusian.

Ignatius quits his country, notwithstanding the representations of his elder brother, and departs for Mont Serrat. He meets an unbeliever. He prepares himself in the church of Mont Serrat for his new life. Gives away all he possesses, and takes the habit of a penitent and a pilgrim. He makes acquaintance with Agnes Pasquale, who guides him to Manresa, where he lodges in the hospital. His kind of life. He is judged and treated in different ways by the inhabitants of the place. He serves the poor and sick

The cavern at Manresa to which St. Ignatius retires. He is tempted with vanity and with disgust. Scruples reduce him almost to despair. The useless means he employs against them. He has recourse to obedience, and his doubts disappear. His interior lights and consolations.He has for his only guide experience and the hand of God. The demon appears to him under the form of a serpent. After which he receives celestial light, discovering to him the secrets of faith and of nature. Frequent apparitions of Christ Our Lord. He has an ecstasy of nine days, during which he receives revelations concerning the founding of the Society of Jesus. His sickness determines him to moderate his austerities. He composes the book of the Exercises in the cave of Manresa. He instructs the faithful in the interior life. He seeks for disciples. Reasons which make him quit Manresa

He arrives at Barcelona. He makes acquaintance with Elizabeth Roser, who sees in the church his head encircled with light. He obtains a free passage upon a ship which leaves for Italy, and begs the provisions necessary for the voyage. He arrives in five days at Gaeta, whence he goes on foot to Rome with some other pilgrims. He saves a young girl's honor. His exhaustion, and the fear which the people of the country have of the plague, cause him many difficulties. He obtains at Rome a passport for Jerusalem, and receives the Pope's benediction. His journey to Venice, and his suffering in it. The Senator Trevisani takes him to his house, which St. Ignatius soon leaves. He obtains from the Doge free passage to Syria. He embarks while sick of fever. He escapes the plot of the crew against him. He arrives at Joppa. His entrance into Jerusalem

Ignatius wishes to found a society at Jerusalem for the conversion of the East. The opposition of the Franciscans hinders him from staying there. He submits to the representations of the Provincial. He visits the Mount of Olives aloneis brought back by force to the convent. He quits Jerusalem, and embarks for Venice, where he arrives at the beginning of 1524, after many dangers and delays. He decides upon acquiring the instruction he is in want of and upon embracing the ecclesiastical state. He returns to Spain. At Ferrara he distributes all his money to the poor, and traverses Lombardy, begging his way amid the armies of the belligerents. He is arrested as a spy in both camps. He embarks at Genoa

Ignatius goes from Barcelona to Manresa to commence his studies there with a Cistercian monk whom he knew. He finds him no longer alive, and returns to Barcelona, where he attends the public school. He moderates his piety, which was an obstacle to his study. He reforms a convent of Nuns by his Exercises, and thus draws upon himself the hatred and ill-treatment of a person whom he interfered with. He falls sick of the blows received. The interest shown in him. He continues the good work he had begun, and converts the man who had beaten him. He resuscitates a man who had hanged himself. Many disciples join him. He goes, at the end of two years, to Alcala. The remembrance of him is kept at Barcelona. He and his disciples wear a particular dress, and live on alms. The care he takes of his neighbor's good. He converts a canon

Ignatius becomes suspected by the Inquisitionthey proceed against him secretly. He is obliged to appear before the Vicar, who orders him and his disciples also to change their costume. The following year, 1527, there is a new inquesthe is put in prison as guilty of having favored the escape of two ladies of distinction. He receives many visits in prison. The Tribunal declares him innocent, but forbids him to teach religion and to preach until he has completed his studies. Punishment of a gentleman who had publicly wronged him. Ignatius goes to Salamanca, where he begins to exercise his zeal. But the Dominicans have him and his companions put into prison. The interest which is taken in him. The Bishop's Vicar directs the inquiry. His Book of Exercises is examined. What took place in his prison. They are declared innocent with regard to faith and morals, but are forbidden to treat of the difference between venial and mortal sin. Ignatius decides on leaving his companions, to go to continue his studies at Paris. He passes through Barcelona.

He finds more advantage at Paris for the accomplishment of his designs. Letters written by him from that city. He is delayed in his studies by his poverty, and thinks of making himself servant to a professor. His journeys to the Low Countries and to London. He finds there resources for himself and for others. The University of Paris. He studies a year and a half rhetoric, three years and a half philosophy, in which he takes his degrees, and a year and a half theology, but does not finish it at Paris. Difficulties he has to overcome

Ignatius foretells distinctly the foundation of the Society of Jesus. His three disciples at Paris abandon him. Opposition of his fellow-countrymen, who accuse him of sorcery, and denounce him to the Inquisition, while he is absent at the sick-bed of a man who had stolen his money. The judge does not receive the complaint. Ignatius brings a great number of students to a more Christian life. The Council of the University sentences him on that account to a chastisement in penalty. He convinces the rector of the College, Gova, of the injustice of the sentence passed on him. Public retractation on the part of Gova. Remarkable conversions. Peter Faber is the first companion who remains faithful to him. Ignatius forms him to piety