St. Ignatius of Loyola
A cannonball to the leg, a long recovery, and nothing good to read.
Ignatius was a Basque soldier who cared a great deal about armor, duels, and being admired. At thirty he was defending a fortress at Pamplona when a cannonball shattered his leg. They had to break and reset it twice, without anything for the pain, because he wanted it to look right in tights.
The recovery took months. He asked for adventure stories. The house had none. All they had were a life of Christ and a book of saints, so out of sheer boredom he read them.
He noticed something odd: daydreaming about glory left him flat afterward, and daydreaming about living like Francis or Dominic left him happy for days. He started paying attention to that difference, and it turned into a method that is still taught five hundred years later, and into the Jesuits.
St. Ignatius of Loyola facts for kids
- He founded the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, in 1540
- He had his badly-set leg re-broken on purpose out of vanity
- He read the only two books in the house because he was bored, and it changed his life
- His Spiritual Exercises are still done as a 30-day silent retreat
Feast day: July 31 · Patron of soldiers, educators, and the Jesuits
St. Ignatius, help me notice what actually leaves me better.