Ignatius is most famous for his "Spiritual Exercises" which are still studied and practiced today.St. Ignatius started out life as an aristrocrat and soldier. He was wounded at 30 and spent some time recovering from his rather serious injuries. During this time, all he had to read was a book on the life of Christ and the lives of the Saints, which led to his conversion.
The next bit of his life was a bit troubling to me. He lived for a while in a cave and followed asceticism, mortifying himself with severe fasts and penances. He made pilgrimages barefoot and without food and water. This was apparently to struggle against "vain glory" (brought on by his glorious life as a knight). He set off on a pilgrimage to the holy land, begging for alms as he went. At one point, he ripped the bottoms of his shoes out so as to make it more painful on his pilgrimage.
Upon reaching the Holy Land, he presented himself to the Church authorities and expressed his desire to "remain in the holy places". The Order in charge of people in the Holy Land responded that
Many others had the same desire, some had died, others had been taken prisoners, and to his Order was left the work of ransoming captives, wherefore he should prepare himself to resume his journey with the pilgrims on the following day.
To this Ignatius answered that his resolution was very fixed, and he did not think that anything would keep him from executing it. If the precept did not bind him under pain of sin, he would not allow any fear to keep him from carrying out his desire.When the head of the Order told Ignatius that he had authority from the Pope to detain and even excommunicate people if need be, Ignatius wisely agreed to return to Europe.
But not before making an ill-advised second trip to the Mount of Olives, to see the place where Jesus footprints are visible in the rock he ascended from. "Therefore, without telling any one, and without a guide, although it was a dangerous thing to go without a Turkish guard, secretly withdrawing he went to Mount Olivet alone." The guards would not let him in so he bribed them by giving him his knife (?). And after he left, he decided he needed to go back AGAIN, because he didn't properly notice which footprint was on the left and which was on the right. The second time he gave his scissors as a bribe to get in.
Meanwhile, back at the monastery, a great search is started when they discovered he had gone off without a guide.
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I am always struck when I read historical accounts of how little things change and how the same issues we face today were relevant then.
This sounds so much like situations today, with people working in places they could be killed or kidnapped, and the organizations responsible for them wanting to limit their activities. How easy it is to be oblivious to the consequences of our actions.
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Ignatius did not seem to learn from this situation. On his return journey, he met up with some soldiers in Spain who strongly counseled him not to take a road leading between the battling armies of the French and the Spanish. He did so anyway and was captured as a spy and interrogated. Ignatius took this to heart "recalled to mind the thought of Christ led about as a captive. Although he was forced to walk through the three principal streets of the town, he did so, not with sadness, but feeling great joy and consolation."
Upon his return to Europe, Ignatius continued traveling and also sought out ways to study. Though he was already sharing his spiritual practices and other spiritual insights with individuals and religious orders, he was quite humble and always refused to teach on grounds that he had not finished his studies.
On several occasions, he was imprisoned and interrogated on suspicion of false doctrine but was always exonerated and released.
Ignatius spent a good deal of his time begging, at times refusing help from "persons of rank who were anxious to help him, but he did not wish to avail himself of their offers." Eventually he saw that begging on the streets took too much time and prevented him from study and service to others. He sought out a way to serve a lecturer at the seminary and thus make his way, but that did not work out. Finally someone convinced him to go to Flanders where in a few months of the year, he could get support to last him for the rest of the year in his studies. [I found this interesting as someone who raises my own support].
Although he had little, he was known to give away to the poor most if not all of the money he had received from others. "He labored also for the removal of many abuses, and through God's grace good results were obtained in many cases. ....He took means that the poor should be provided for publicly and regularly"
Much of his autobiography focused on the period early in his life of faith, between when he was 30 and 40, his time of pilgrimage and study. This was a time when he did some of his more ill-advised actions (in my opinion). Perhaps he grew out of these as he matured in his faith, but he never commented on that as he might have if he had changed his opinion of his earlier ways.
In any case, it would seem that much of what he accomplished happened after the narrative in the autobiography stops. He founded the "Society of Jesus" (Jesuits) when he was 49, the same age I am today, and in the 17 years before he died this movement spread so that when he died there were 100 colleges and houses in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Sicily, Germany, France, Brazil and the East Indies. 60 years after his death there were 272 colleges and there were 760 within 150 years. It has since spread to the Americas and Africa and beyond.
I would have liked to have had more detail on this last period of his life where he seemed to be more balanced and a greater influence on others. His life obviously had much to offer - you don't get to be a saint for nothing!
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