31 July 2011: St Ignatius of Loyola*, priest

A soldier converted by God while recuperating from battle wounds. In Paris to study theology, there gathered his first followers; and with them founded in Rome the Society of Jesus which is dedicated to the greater glory of God and service of the Church in total obedience to the Pope. (Fr James Socias, ‘et al’ [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1590)
*Scholars derive the name ‘Loyola’ from ‘lobos y olla’, which is Spanish for ‘the wolves and the pot’. Hence the pot, or kettle, flanked by two wolves, which is emblazoned on the coat-of-arms of St Ignatius’ family. The symbol is traditionally interpreted to signify the generosity of the House of Loyola, at whose feasts even the wolves were not sent empty away. (Horacio de la Costa, SJ, “Light Cavalry”, p577)

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”
These words of St Paul most suitably describe St Ignatius. There are, indeed, few saints in whom the operations of grace were more wonderfully manifest. Gradually, it brought St Ignatius to his destiny. In the divine will he was to found a religious order intended to stop heresy in the sixteenth century, and to repair the losses it would cause the Church.
Yet, up to the age of thirty years he pursued the phantom of military glory, till at last, wounded and exhausted in defending the ciy of Pamplona (in northern Spain), he laid in bed, suffering. Then did grace begin its work, first by showing him the nothingness of this world, and inspiring him with the desire of repairing his past faults by severe penance.
“Since he enjoyed reading the worldly and fantastic books of chivalry, he asked for some to pass the time. As none could be found in the house, they brought him a ‘Life of Christ’ and a book on the lives of the saints.
And while “reading, he stopped to consider in his own mind: ‘What would happen if I carried out this thing St Francis did, and that other St Dominic?’ ... he thought long and hard about all their good works.” (cf St Ignatius of Loyola, “Autobiography”, Madrid 1963, I, 1, 5, 7)
As soon as the light of grace penetrated into the soul of Ignatius, he set himself to repair the past, and to attain what his vocation required from him. He secretly left the castle of Loyola, hung up his sword before the altar of our Lady in the sanctuary of Montserrat#; clothed himself and lived as a beggar. He made a general confession and retired to Manresa (in Barcelona).
Ten months in the grotto of Manresa prepared him by diverse trials and frequent ecstacies for the interior life and direction of souls. He became a top master of the spiritual life as shown in his book, “Spiritual Exercises”; destined to become an apostle and father of numerous apostolic men. But he was not educated!
A new man in Jesus Christ consumed with divine love, he gave himself up to zeal for souls. So he might be more successful with others, he pursued the study of letters at Alcala; then at Paris for the higher sciences. With invincible perseverance he overcame the difficulties of this long study, and especially in establishing the new order which he had learned by grace.
Grace gave him the desire and means of acquiring knowledge by secretly leading him to the University of Paris. There, prepared and ready for him, were the young students who were to form the nucleus of the new order he was to found. The unction of grace drawn from the spiritual exercises made them united in one desire of consecrating themselves forever to God, of offering themselves forever to the Vicar of Jesus Christ to be sent to preach anywhere; and particularly to devote themselves to education of the youth.
Ignatius withdrew from others while he composed the Constitutions. He was almost always on his knees, fasting or praying, that all of them might accord with God’s will and bring about the ‘greater glory of God’.
These words became his motto. It appeared in the Constitutions at least three-hundred and sixty times. Absolutely dead to self-love and worldly glory, he lived for God only; the fruit of his unwavering fidelity to grace.
Pope Paul III, after reading the summary of the rules of the Institute, said: ‘The finger of God is here’. Ignatius, guided by grace, governed the infant society so wisely for sixteen years, that it received the commendation of the Council of Trent; and extended rapidly to the ends of the earth. In 1609 he was canonized a saint.
Like St Ignatius, let us cooperate generously and perseveringly with grace. It will be our counsel in doubts, consolation in troubles, support in the spiritual combat. It will bring us that crown of glory promised to those who seek in everything the ‘greater glory of God’.

[#The Abbey of Montserrat was established in Barcelona, Spain in the 9th century by St Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order. In 1895, intrepid Spanish Benedictine monks from this Abbey arrived in the province of Surigao, Mindanao to work as missionaries. On 17 June 1901, they moved to Manila and founded ‘Colegio de San Beda’. (“STARWEEK”, 11 February 2001, p8)]
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp482-4

‘A New Kind of Motherhood’
Through the centuries and generations it has been seen that ‘in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ’, a special grace. To this grace many saints (Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, etc) owe their profound conversion. A result of such a conversion is that the individual discovers the salvific meaning of suffering; and above all he becomes a completely new person.
The Divine Redeemer wishes to penetrate the soul of every sufferer through the heart of his holy Mother. As though by continuation of that motherhood which by the power of the Holy Spirit had given him life, the dying Christ conferred upon the ever Virgin Mary ‘a new kind of motherhood’: spiritual, universal, towards all human beings, so every individual, during the pilgrimage of faith, might remain with her, closely united to him unto the Cross; and so that every form of suffering, given fresh life by the power of this Cross, should become no longer the weakness of man but the power of God.
Ref: John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, “Salvifici Doloris”, 11 February 1984

• Our Lady of the Murdered, at Ceiça near Lorban, a Cistercian monastery in Portugal. It is said that this image was brought from heaven to the Abbot John, uncle of King Alphonsus, and that it restored to life several persons who had been murdered; that in memory of this miracle they had from that time a red mark on their throats, like that which is seen at present, on the throat of the image. — Cistercian Chronicle, lib, vi., c. 27 and 28. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of the Slain (at Ceica: near Lorban, Portugal). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)
• “Nossa Senhora” / Our Lady of the Slain. Ceiça, Lorban, Portugal. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)