A Pilgrim's Journey: The Autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1555)

Tells the tale of Ignatius of Loyola the founder of the Jesuits from his boyhood, his injury in battle, his conversion during his convalescence, his growing spiritual discernment, his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, his early ministry and education and the founding of the Jesuit order.

This is a quick read (I read it in one sitting). I liked how this book showed Ignatius's fortitude of character and growing discernment in Spiritual matters.

It is an autobiography, but was dictated and is written down in the third person. ( )

Wonderful ( )

This is a review of the ca. 1900 O'Conner translation at Internet Archive:
http://www.archive.org/details/stignatiusautobi00ignauoft

St. Ignatius was the founder of the Catholic order of the Jesuits in the early 16th Century. He started from humble beginnings in Spain, and like many of his day, was zealously religious. He rose from obscurity and founded one of the most successful Catholic orders to this day. His life story is an inspiration for anyone who believes in something and has a vision and goal to overcome adversity. This is not just a story about Catholicism or even religion, it is inspirational for anyone.

Some of the memorable scenes from the book include his encounter with the Moore on the road and his struggle to decide if he should kill him or not for insulting the Virgin Mary. His trip to Jerusalem and sneaking past the guards to climb the Olive Mount. His days of begging in the streets of Paris while trying to earn a doctorate in the "Queen of sciences" (theology). Being imprisoned as a youth in Spain and standing up to what he believed in and overcoming the tribunals. His extreme mortifications (fasting, standing all night, roping his leg off with a cord). His injury to the legs with a cannonball and stoicism during three surgeries without anesthesia.

Ignatius was born into the "Reformation" generation, the same generation as Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII and many others who would re-shape religious life as we know it. It was a time when the bible was being made widely available because of the printing press, and a subsequent re-evaluation of what it meant to be Christian. Ignatius was a revolutionary like the Protestants who broke with the Catholic Church, but he was at the opposite extreme, fighting for Catholicism, not against it. The Jesuits would eventually win back Poland, Lithuania and other places from the Protestants, they were called the Catholic "shock troops" or front-line vanguard in the 'Counter Reformation'. They also went on to found some of the worlds top educational institutions which still exist today. ( )