Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Always in the Company of Jesus for the Greater Honor and Glory of God, July 31, 2025

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, whose feast we celebrate today, had one of those stupendous conversions from worldliness to sanctity that should inspire us to quit worldliness once and for all.

Saint Ignatius, wounded in a military battle, was given to read a Life of Christ and The Lives of the Saints, which inspired him to transform his zeal as a soldier of the Duke of Najera and the Viceroy of Navarre into a soldier in the Army of Christ the King. Saint Ignatius laid down his military armor in front of an image of Our Lady in the Benedictine monastery in Montserrat, Spain, on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1522, beginning the process that led to his ordination to the priesthood on June 24, 1537. Saint Ignatius endured many trials, some quite literal concerning his Spiritual Exercises, before his ordination as as he founded the Society of Jesus. He endured these trials as a soldier in the company of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Here is the account of his life as found in the readings for Matins in today's Divine Office:

Ignatius was a Spaniard by nation, and was born of the noble Biscayan family of Loyola, in the year of our Lord 1491. He followed first the Court and then the army of the Most Catholic King. At the siege of Pampeluna (in the year 1521) he received a severe wound which laid him up with a long and dangerous illness. During this time he chanced to read some godly books, and conceived from them a burning desire to follow in the footsteps of Christ and His saints. He betook himself to Monserrat, and there entered himself for the heavenly warfare, by hanging up his weapons, and watching them for a night before the Altar of the Blessed Virgin. Thence he withdrew to Manresa, clad in sackcloth, for he had before given his costly raiment to a beggar. At Manresa he lived upon bread and water, begging the bread, and fasting every day except the Lord's Day. He mastered his flesh by the use of a sharp chain and hair-cloth, slept upon the ground, and lashed himself to bloodshedding with iron scourges. Thus he dwelt for a year, feasted by God with such clear lights, that he was used afterwards to say that even if the Holy Bible had not existed, he would have been ready to die for the faith only on the evidence of those things which the Lord had shown unto him at Manresa. It was at this time that, albeit a man of little education, he put together that wonderful book entitled Spiritual Exercises, whose worth hath been attested by the judgment of the Apostolic See, and by universal usefulness.

To make himself of greater use for the profit of souls, he determined to improve himself by education, beginning by going through the rudiments among little boys. He left nothing untried that could help towards the salvation of others, and it was marvellous what pain and mockery he cheerfully accepted on all hands, suffering ill-usage also, imprisonment and stripes almost unto death; but he was willing to suffer them all much more for the greater glory of his Master. At Paris he took to him seven comrades from the members of that University, men of different nations, but who had all taken the Degree of Master of Arts and in Divinity. With these seven he laid the first foundations of the Society of Jesus in the crypt at Montmartre, (upon the 15th day of August, in the year of Christ 1534.) When he afterwards organised the same Society at Rome he bound it by the closest bonds to the Apostolic See, adding to the three accustomed vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, a fourth, concerning Missions. Paul III. was the first Pope to receive and confirm the Institute, but it has since been approved by other Popes and by the Council of Trent. Ignatius, to spread the Faith, sent holy Francis Xavier to preach the Gospel in the Indies, and others in other parts of the world, and the war, which he thus proclaimed against paganism and heresy, was waged with such success, that it was the general belief, confirmed by the utterance of the Pope, that even as God had in other times raised up holy men specially to meet the needs of their day, so He had raised up against Luther and the heretics of that age, Ignatius and the Society which he had founded.

But the first care of Ignatius was to set forward godliness among Catholics. He was a great promoter of seemliness in the Churches, instruction in the Catechism, and often hearing Sermons and using the Sacraments. He opened schools everywhere to train up boys in godliness and good learning. At Rome he founded the German College, a home for fallen and another for imperilled girls, an orphanage for boys and another for girls, houses for converts under instruction, and other godly institutions. He never wearied in his work of gaining souls for God, and was sometimes heard to say that if he had the choice he would rather live without knowing whether he was to be among the blessed, and meanwhile work for God and the salvation of his neighbours, than know he was going to glory and die forthwith. He exercised an extraordinary power over devils. Holy Philip Neri and others saw heavenly light shining from his face. At last, (on the 31st day of July,) in the year of our Redemption 1556 and of his own age the sixty fifth, he passed away to the embrace of that Lord Whose greater glory had been the constant theme of his words and aim of all his works. He is very illustrious in the Church on account of his great deeds and miracles, and Gregory XV. enrolled him in the Kalendar of the Saints. (Matins, The Divine Office, Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.)

Much in contrast to the counterfeit church of conciliarism's efforts to engage in "dialogue" with non-Catholics, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Father General of the Society of Jesus, and his foot soldiers worked valiantly to seek the unconditional conversion of those outside of the Church to her maternal bosom, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true social order. In this regard, you see, a Jesuit layman, Jorge Mario Berglio, and most of his Jesuit contemporaries are the living embodiments of the very antithesis of the spirit and mission of Saint Ignatius and his Company of Jesus. Bergoglio, apart from being a figure of Antichrist, is a veritable anti-Saint Ignatius, something that is on display at World Youth Day in Poland as he presides over some of the most sacrilegious and scandalous events ever staged under the apparent aegis of the Catholic Church, she who enjoys a perpetual immunity from error and heresy. 

Father Francis X. Weninger, himself a spiritul son of Saint Ignatius of Loyola who zealously and tireless labored for the conversion, sanctification, and salvation of the souls for whom Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood to redeem during His Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday, wrote a summary of his spiritual Father's life that is even better than that provided by Dom Prosper Gueranger in The Liturgical Year:

St. Ignatius, the glorious founder of the Society of Jesus, and the unweary laborer for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls, was born of noble parents in Biscay, a province of Spain, in the castle of Loyola, from which he took his name. His birth took place in 1491, in the same century in which Martin Luther, the well-known heretic, was born, who with Calvin, born in 1506, persecuted the Catholic Church and endeavored to destroy it entirely. God, according to a papal declaration, always watching over His holy Church, would oppose Ignatius to these two new heretics, that through him, and through the Society founded by him, their erroneous doctrines might be thoroughly refuted, and the Catholic faith have powerful protectors, as, in former days, He had opposed Arius by St. Athanasius, Nestorius by St. Cyril, Pelagius by St. Augustine, and other heretics by other apostolic men.

Ignatius, chosen by God for so important a work, was endowed with great natural gifts, possessed a comprehensive mind, and early exhibited wonderful abilities and tact, with unusual wisdom and strength of soul. All his aspirations were lofty, and nothing vulgar or low could attract him. Soon perceiving his talents, his parents sent him, after he had been carefully instructed in the Catholic faith, to the Court of King Ferdinand of Castile, where he was educated with the pages, and was taught all that was supposed befitting his rank. In riper years, he entered the army, hoping to become famous by his valor. In 1521, an opportunity was offered to give a proof of his courage. The king had entrusted to him the defence of the city of Pampeluna, which was besieged by the French. Ignatius acted with all the prudence and caution of an old and experienced warrior. But Providence so ordered, that the wall upon which Ignatius stood, bravely defending the fortress, was struck by a cannonball, and a fragment of stone severely injured one of his limbs, while at the same time the ball rebounding, bruised his foot so badly, that he sank unconscious to the ground. The French were soon in possession of the fortress, but they treated their heroic prisoner with the greatest kindness, and sent him, a few days later, on a litter, to the Castle of Loyola. Here Ignatius became so ill, that it was deemed necessary to give him the last sacraments. The thread on which his life hung: was so slender that the physicians all agreed that there was no hope for him, if before midnight the symptoms should not change.

The Most High did not wish to call Ignatius out of life, and had brought him to this state only to make him disgusted with the world, and so lead him to a holier warfare. Therefore, on the eve of the feast of the Apostles St. Peter and St, Paul, God sent the Prince of the Apostles, to whom Ignatius had been greatly devoted from his early youth, to restore him to health. Appearing to Ignatius during his sleep, St. Peter looked tenderly at him, and touching his wounds, took from him all pain, and thus saved him from the danger of death. But nevertheless, it was the will of God that Ignatius should keep his bed a considerable time, in order to regain his strength. To pass the time, he asked for something to read; but, by special providence, none of the romances he desired were to be found, and in their stead, two devout books were brought to him, one containing the "Life of Christ," and the other the "Lives of the Saints." Ignatius, little inclined to read them, took them for want of others, and at first only looking into them, soon became, by the grace of God, so deeply interested in them that, meditating on the acts of Christ and the Saints, he repented of his past idle life, and resolved, thenceforth, to follow their steps, and to serve God alone. Rising during the night, he cast himself before an image of the Blessed Virgin, begging of her the grace to be accepted into her service and that of her beloved Son, and to remain in it until the end of his days.

Hardly was his prayer finished, when suddenly a terrible noise was heard, the house was shaken as by an earthquake, and the windows were shattered. St. Ignatius regarded this as a sign that his prayer was heard, and exhibited more joy than fear. The Evil One, hereupon, endeavored, by a thousand representations and apprehensions, to make him abandon his determination, and pressed him with the most dangerous temptations. But Ignatius again sought refuge with the divine Mother, and addressed her in the words of the Holy Church: "Show thyself a Mother." The Divine Mother appeared to him with her heavenly Child, and animating him to persevere, she assured him of her assistance. After this comforting vision, all his temptations ended, and all his thoughts were directed towards the regulation of his new life. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, he, under some pretext, left the house of his father and repaired to Montserrat, where a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin drew crowds of pilgrims. There he made his general confession amid a flood of tears, and received, with the greatest devotion, the Blessed Sacrament. After this, he gave his horse to the monastery, and hung his sword near the altar of the Blessed Virgin, as a sign that henceforth he would no longer serve the world but God only. Having bestowed his costly garments on a beggar, he clothed himself as a poor pilgrim, and remained, as a newly-enrolled soldier of the highest of all generals, all night long before the altar of the Mother of Mercy, in fervent prayer.

The next day, which was the feast of the Annunciation of our Lady, he left early and betook himself to Manresa, which is three miles from Montserrat, and going to the hospital which was there, he served the sick with the most tender devotion.

As soon, however, as he detected that they began to esteem him for his charity and other pious deeds, he secretly left and went into a mountain cave, five or six hundred yards off, in which he led an extremely austere and penitential life. He daily spent seven hours on his knees, praying and weeping on account of his sins. He fasted continually except on Sundays, when he partook of the food of angels. Water and the bread which he received as alms, was his only nourishment. He always wore a hair-shirt, which was fastened round his loins by small chains. He scourged himself three times daily, often unto blood. The bare ground was his bed, and he never took more than a few hours' rest, passing the remainder of the night in meditation on death and the Passion of Christ.

By long continuation of this austere life, his body became so emaciated and weak, that he was found more than once, lying more dead than alive on the road to Manresa, whither he used to go to assist at Holy Mass. Some friends advised him not to be so severe with himself; but he said: "Oh! let me suffer this trifle in order to secure my salvation." Satan also tried to dissuade him from his austerities, and as he could not succeed, he took, by the permission of the Almighty, the form of a virtuous man, and going to the holy penitent, said, that it was not possible to continue long such extreme mortifications, and that he should therefore moderate them somewhat. "Unhappy man," said he, " you may still live seventy years; and have you the courage to spend so long a time in such penance and severity? " Ignatius replied: "Can you promise me one single day of the many years of which you speak?" With these words, he brought the spirit of lies to shame, and drove him away. God permitted also this holy penitent to be tormented with the most harassing scruples. To overcome these, he resolved to abstain from all food and drink until he was free from them, as he had read that a certain Saint had used this remedy in a similar case. Seven days he passed without partaking of any nourishment; but his confessor, on hearing of it, commanded him to take his usual sustenance. Ignatius obeyed, and was from that moment not only released from his scruples, but obtained also from God an especial gift to free others from them.

Many other special graces did the Almighty bestow upon Ignatius in the first year of his conversion, which space does not permit us to relate. But there is one thing which we cannot omit to mention: it is that, during the year of penance at Manresa, Ignatius wrote that wonderful book of "Spiritual Exercises," which has been recommended by the most learned and the most holy men, as the path, pointed out by heaven itself, to conversion, to spiritual perfection and holiness. The Apostolic See has praised and confirmed it, and the spiritual benefits which have been derived from it, and are still to this hour derived from it, are inexpressibly great. But as it is known that Ignatius, when he wrote this book, was as yet without learning, it must be concluded that he was inspired by God to give those instructions, by virtue of which he, and, later, the sons of his Order, worked real miracles of conversion in so many different places and persons. During this penitential year, the heart of Ignatius was filled with an intense desire to visit the Holy Land, not only for the purpose of seeing those places which have been hallowed by the presence of our Saviour, but also in the hope of converting the Mahommedans, and of giving his life for the true faith, in that land where our beloved Redeemer gave His for our welfare.

This voyage was undertaken in the greatest poverty and with deep devotion, and the holy places visited with a true spirit of ardent piety and reverence. As, however, the ecclesiastics, who resided there, dissuaded him from remaining long, and Ignatius himself recognized that, to gain his aim in life, which was to further the salvation of souls, he needed learning, he returned to Europe, and began at Barcelona, when 33 years of age, to study the rudiments of the Latin grammar with the boys in the public school. He continued his studies at different places and finished them at Paris, where he received the title of Doctor of Divinity. The trials, dangers, persecutions, disgraces, wrongs and calumnies he suffered, as well in his travels as during the years of his studies, would be too long to relate here. On his return from the Holy Land, he was seized by the Spaniards, who were at war with France, and was at first taken for a spy, and afterwards for a fool, and thus most disgracefully treated. By a few words, he could have escaped these insults; but he was silent and bore it all patiently, for the love of Christ, who just then had appeared to Him. At several places where he studied, or through which he travelled, he was apprehended by order of the authorities, and cast into prison; as at Alcala, Salamanca and Venice. The only cause of this cruel treatment was that, wherever the holy man was, he showed solicitude for the salvation of others, and converted many by his pious discourses, explanation of the Christian doctrine and his own Spiritual Exercises. Many he persuaded to leave the world, others he led to a quiet Christian life. For this he was suspected of disseminating false doctrines and corrupting men under the appearance of piety. But as often as he was examined, he was found guiltless, and requested to continue in his zeal.

At Paris, where he had recalled many young men from an idle and sinful life to a better and more useful one, it was resolved to whip him in public, as a corrupter of youth. When, however, the director of the school had recognized his innocence, he publicly and on his knees asked pardon of the Saint, and praised, in the highest terms, his zeal in leading souls in the path of salvation. To speak of God and of heavenly things had become a second nature to him, so that those who knew not his name, called him the man of spiritual conversation, or the man who was constantly looking up to heaven. He reformed a convent near Barcelona, the inmates of which stood in very ill repute. This drew upon him the vengeance of certain persons, who had been, at his suggestion, excluded from the house, and who, one day, lay in wait for him and beat him most unmercifully, threatening to treat him still worse, if he did not cease preaching at the convent. Ignatius was not in the least deterred by this from his good work. His enemies then hired two ruffians to kill him. These set upon him and treated him in a most brutal manner, whilst the Saint, with eyes raised to heaven, prayed God to forgive them. They left him weltering in his blood, supposing they had killed him. He, however, recovered, and no sooner were his wounds healed, than he again went to the convent in order to strengthen the nuns to perseverance in virtue. When someone tried to dissuade him from going, on account of the danger, he said: "What can be more pleasing to me than to die for love of Christ and my neighbors?" Not satisfied with his personal labors for the salvation of souls, he resolved to seek such men as would join him with all the power of their minds, to labor for the same object. He succeeded in uniting to himself nine students of the University of Paris, all of whom possessed great knowledge and were eminent for their talents. Among them was Francis Xavier, afterwards so celebrated as the Apostle of the Indies. Ignatius, by his Spiritual Exercises, led them all to virtue and sanctity, and inspired them with the fervent desire to devote themselves to the salvation of souls and to the honor of God.

In 1534, on the feast of the Assumption of our Lady, Ignatius and his companions went to a Chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, on Montmartre, near Paris, and after they had received holy communion, they all made a vow to renounce the world and go to Jerusalem to convert the heathen. If, however, they were unable, after waiting one year, to make their way to Palestine, they vowed that they would go to Rome, throw themselves at the feet of the Holy Father, and offer their services in whatever he might deem most beneficial for the salvation of souls. On account of a war between the Turks and the Venetians, they were unable to make their pilgrimage to Palestine; and hence, in fulfillment of their vow, they went to Rome. When Ignatius and the two companions who were with him had reached a place called La Storta, near Rome, the Saint went into a chapel nearby to say his prayers. His fervor was such that, in an ecstasy, he saw the Heavenly Father and beside Him His Son bearing the Cross. He heard the Heavenly Father commend him with loving words to His Son, putting him and his companions under His protection. The Divine Son manifested His pleasure at this Divine command, and turning to Ignatius, said: "I will favor you at Rome." With this the vision ended, but the inner comfort which Ignatius and his companions, to whom he related it, derived from it, departed not, but remained in their hearts.


As soon as Ignatius had arrived in Rome, he threw himself at the feet of the Holy Father and offered the services of himself and his companions, for such spiritual labor as he might wish them to do in any part of the world. The Pope received them with pleasure, and having had sufficient proofs of their virtue and learning, he sent some of them to those places where he thought they would do the most good. Ignatius remained with the rest at Rome, and at first instructed young and old in the Christian doctrine; but later, he began to preach for the reformation of morals and exhorted the people to a more frequent use of the holy Sacraments. It cannot be denied that the custom of instructing children in the Christian doctrine, and also the frequent reception of the holy Eucharist, which was at that period greatly neglected, were again revived, or at least increased by St. Ignatius and his companions. To preserve this improvement and these advantages for future times, and to increase them still more, St. Ignatius resolved to found a new Order, whose members should labor for the spiritual well-being of men. He disclosed his intentions to the Pope, and having written, by his permission, certain rules, presented them to his Holiness for approval. After many difficulties, the holy desires of Ignatius were at length fulfilled, and thus was founded a new Order, under the name of the Society of Jesus, which in the year 1540 was first sanctioned by Paul III., afterwards by several other Popes, and was also confirmed by the Council of Trent. This Order demands of its members, besides the usual three vows of perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience, a vow to instruct youth, and requires of the Professed another vow, of special obedience to the Pope, by which they are bound to go, even without money, whithersoever the Pope may send them to labor for the salvation of souls. Ignatius was chosen as General by the members of the new Order, but he did not accept the office until he was commanded to do so by his confessor after having long consulted with God in prayer. He administered his office with admirable wisdom and strength of character, and to the immeasurable benefit of the entire Christian world, until his death.

Although remaining at Rome, he sent his disciples into other cities and lands, after having instructed them carefully in all that pertained to the salvation of souls and to the manner of leading them to God. Above all, he recommended entire self-abnegation, after the example of Christ, Who has said: "Whoever will follow me, must deny himself." Hence he often said these important words: "Conquer thyself." St. Francis Xavier, who frequently made use of this expression, was asked why he did so? He answered: "Because I learned it from our Father Ignatius." Ignatius further endeavored to lead his disciples to acquire true virtue, especially a fervent love of God and of their neighbors. In this, as in all other virtues, he was a shining example to them all. According to the testimony of the Apostolic See, he had acquired the most perfect control over his inclinations. He also taught the members of the Order to be solicitous for the cleanliness and beauty of the house of God, for the conversion of heretics and heathens, for the promotion of virtue among Catholics, for the instruction of the ignorant, especially of children in the mysteries of the faith; for the frequent use of the Sacraments; for the increase of the veneration of the Blessed Virgin; and, in a word, for everything that could advance the honor of God and the salvation of souls.

The members of the Order faithfully obeyed his directions. The fame of the great good that these holy men did, induced many kings and princes to invite them into their states. Among these, the first was John III., King of Portugal, who, through his Ambassadors at Rome, demanded seven of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. At this request, Ignatius sighed deeply and said: "If the king requires seven of my brethren, how many will remain for other countries? " These words show how zealous he was in his thoughts and wishes. As the number of his religious was small, at that time, and as he would, moreover, send none who were not well-grounded in learning and virtue, instead of seven, he sent but two; but those two did more than could have been expected of seven.

They were Simon Rodriguez and Francis Xavier, the latter of whom, on account of his having converted many thousands of heathens and performed many miracles, is known and honored all over the Christian world. The good which was done by the holy efforts of these two men, induced the king to found the first college for the Society of Jesus, at Goa, the capital of India, and soon after, another at Coimbra in Portugal, which, in the course of time, supplied many places with apostolic laborers. While thus the disciples of St. Ignatius untiringly labored to win souls for Heaven in Portugal, India, and other countries, the Holy Father employed equally well those who were with him in Rome. All that he had taught his companions about decorating the house of God, converting the heretics, and instructing the Catholics, as before related, he practiced at Rome, without abating his zeal. "The world seemed too small for him," said Gregory XV. No labor, no danger, could deter him, where the salvation of even a single soul was concerned. "If I could die a thousand deaths in one day," said he on one occasion, "I would willingly do so to save a single soul." At another time he was heard to say, that if he had the choice either to die immediately with the assurance of his salvation, or without this assurance to live and to have an opportunity to gain a soul for Heaven, he would rather remain upon earth and save that soul than die immediately and go to Heaven. These words display the love of St. Ignatius towards his neighbor and his zeal for the spiritual welfare of men.

No less was this manifested in his works; and it can be truly said that there was no man, whatever his race or station, for whose welfare he did not labor either personally or through the members of his order. With the greatest love and solicitude, he instructed children in the Christian doctrine, even when he was general of the order, and bound all its members to do the same. He founded public schools in various places, where youth was instructed in virtue and learning without any compensation. People of all ages and conditions were animated by his pious discourses, and especially by his Spiritual Exercises, to fervor in the service of God, and were led not only to repentance for their sins, but to the practice of the highest virtue. For the welfare of orphans and of children who had been abandoned by their parents, he established in Rome two houses where they were taken care of and instructed until they were able to take care of themselves. For single women, who on account of their poverty were in danger of sin, he founded the Asylum of St. Catharine, where they had a home until they either entered a convent or were provided with a dower. Another house was founded for women who were willing to abandon their wicked life and do penance. In it they were maintained and instructed. God only knows how many sins the holy man prevented by the foundation of these houses, and how much good he thus occasioned. It is true that some who had been reclaimed, returned to their old course of life, and the Saint was told that he should not waste his efforts upon them. But he answered: "It does not seem to me that my care and labor have been lost, even if such persons return to their former vices. It is much if I prevent them from offending God only for a single night."

His solicitude extended even to the hardened Jews; their conversion was an object of great concern to him, and God blessed his efforts in their behalf with such signal success that he baptized forty of them in one year. He also established a house where those who had renounced Judaism were received and kept until they were thoroughly instructed in the Christian religion and baptized. The solicitude which the Saint manifested toward Germany, which was at that time in great danger of entirely forsaking the true faith, must not be forgotten. For the salvation of that country, he not only offered many prayers, penances and masses, but also ordered that all the priests of the Society should offer the holy sacrifice once every month, and all those who were not priests, should say certain prayers for the same intention. This ordinance is still kept. Besides this, he instituted, amidst infinite difficulties, the German College, which is still in existence in Rome, and in which young Germans are educated for the priesthood and prepared for the missions, in order that when their education is completed and they return to their homes, they may be able to protect the Catholic religion, convert the heretics, and by their good example, induce all to live virtuously. Martin Chemnitz, a well known Lutheran, wrote in regard to this College, that if the Society of Jesus had done but this, it could be called the destroyer of the reformed religion. St. Ignatius further manifested his sympathy with oppressed Germany, by sending several apostolic men to Cologne, Mayence, and other cities, who bravely opposed the heretics, and animated the Catholics to fidelity to their church. Melancthon, the assistant of Luther, said himself, that by the power of these men, the dissemination of the new Gospel was greatly hindered. When he perceived that the number of the Society daily increased, he cried out with grief: "Oh ! wo, wo! How will it be with the new gospel? The whole world will be filled with Jesuits!"

The Evil One, the founder and protector of all heresies, seemed to think the same; for he used his utmost endeavors to interfere with St. Ignatius in his most holy efforts. He instigated some to accuse, not only the Saint, but the whole Society, of the most hideous vices, and to persecute them whenever there was the slightest opportunity. There is not to be found an Order which, during its whole existence, has had to suffer such bitter persecution, and has been so slandered, so unjustly dealt with by the heretics, and even by some who called themselves Catholics, as the Order founded by St. Ignatius. But never was the Saint seen depressed about his personal persecutions; and the attacks which were directed against the whole Order he bore with great cheerfulness, as he concluded that as Satan was the author of them, he must have suffered some severe loss through the labors of the Society. On the contrary, when one day he was told that in a certain country, the members of his Order had nothing to suffer, he became very thoughtful, and said that he feared they were negligent in doing their duty, since they were not persecuted. He also prophesied that the Society of Jesus would always have the glory of being persecuted by the enemies of Christ and of the holy church. He frequently recalled the words of Christ: "If they have persecuted Me, they will persecute you."

The greater and more frequent the persecutions were, the more the Society increased, and the more extended was its usefulness among the faithful, the heretics and the heathens, to the indescribable consolation of its founder. Pope Marcellus II. said that, since the days of the Apostles, he had never read of any one whose labors God had blessed with such abundant fruit during his life time, as those of St. Ignatius. The holy founder lived long enough to see his Order spread in all parts of the world, divided into twelve provinces, with more than one hundred colleges and houses. He heard how, by the unwearying labors of the Fathers, whole nations were converted from their idolatry to the true faith, numberless heretics brought back to the Church, and everywhere Catholics were strengthened in that faith, without which there is no salvation. He himself heard and saw how youth was carefully instructed in the Catholic religion, in the fear of God, and in all branches of knowledge; and how the people in general were animated to greater piety, to the more frequent use of the Holy Sacraments and all Christian virtues. He heard of the many miracles wrought by St. Francis Xavier, and other Apostolic men, in testimony to the true faith. He had the happiness of hearing that some members of his Order had heroically given their blood for the faith of Christ; and from every land he received news of the good which his children were incessantly doing for the honor of God and the salvation of souls. All this filled the heart of the holy man with inexpressible joy, as he desired nothing more fervently than that the Almighty might be known and honored by all men. He was frequently heard to exclaim: "Oh God! that all men might know and love Thee."

Meanwhile his own soul burned with the desire to see, face to face, the God Whom he loved as his highest good. This desire grew to such an extent that the mere thought of death, or a glance at heaven, drew tears from his eyes, and made him disgusted with the whole world. Often, while looking up at the sky, he would cry out: "Oh! how I despise the world, when I look up to Heaven." He begged God to free his soul from the fetters of mortality. God heard his prayer. A fever seized him, and although the physicians pronounced it not dangerous, Ignatius knew that it was a messenger to call him away. He asked for the last Sacraments and devoutly received them. When evening came, he called one of the oldest Fathers of the Order, and sent him to ask for the Holy Father's last blessing and a plenary indulgence. He passed the night in an almost continual ecstasy, until an hour after sunrise, when, with eyes raised to heaven, and with the sacred names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, he ended his life, on July 31st, 1556, in the 64th year of his age. At the same hour when this took place, the Saint, arrayed in bright, shining light, appeared to a pious widow, named Margaret Gigli, at Bologna, and announced to her his death. The unexpected death of the great founder filled Rome with mourning, and everywhere was heard the lamentation: "The holy man is dead." Many did not hesitate to honor him as a Saint immediately, and ask his intercession with the Almighty. The resting place of his holy relics was twice changed. At the first interment, an eminent servant of the Almighty heard heavenly music during two days; at the second, many saw bright stars upon his shrine.

Holy men and women, who lived at the time of St. Ignatius, admired and praised the Saint and the Society he founded. St. Philip Neri, who lived at Rome, said that he had seen the countenance of Ignatius, several times, resplendent with a heavenly light. In all doubts and fears, he resorted to St. Ignatius for counsel and comfort. To two members of the Society, whom he met one day, he said: "You are sons of a great father, to whom I owe much; he taught me the science of prayer." After the Saint's death, Philip sent to the tomb to commend to him his cares, and according to his own words, received marvellous comfort and assistance. St. Francis Xavier esteemed the Saint so highly while he still lived, that he called him the beloved father of his soul, and a Saint. He cut the name of St. Ignatius from a letter which he had received from him, placed it in a reliquary and carried it about him, and wrought many miracles with it. He always wrote to him on his knees, as a sign of great reverence for him, and read the letters he received from him in the same manner. I must omit the praise bestowed on St. Ignatius by other Saints, as, St. Francis of Sales, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Cajetan, St. Andrew Avellino, St. Thomas of Villanova, St. Teresa, St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, and many others. The pious Louis of Granada, a Dominican, who lived at the time that St. Ignatius and his order were bitterly persecuted, showed himself a warm friend and powerful protector and admirer of both until his death. Neither shall I mention here what many Popes, bishops and other high dignitaries of the Church have said in praise of the Society of Jesus, nor repeat the high commendations given by crowned heads and great statesmen, although it might add greatly to the glory of the holy founder.

We will only consider somewhat more attentively the words of the Roman Calendar of the Saints. It states that the Saint was remarkable for holiness and miracles. Much is contained in these few words. Ignatius was remarkable for his holiness. The heroic virtues, which so brilliantly shone in him, are a proof of this; his firm and intense faith, his unwavering trust in God; his fervent love of the Saviour and of his neighbor; his tender affection for the passion and death of Christ; his filial devotion to the Virgin Mother; his constant self-abnegation; his perfect resignation to the Divine Will; his invincible patience, admirable meekness, deep humility, and insatiable zeal to labor for the honor of the Most High, and to save souls for Heaven. Especial instances of all these virtues are to be found in the book which treats of the devotion of the Ten Wednesdays in honor of St. Ignatius.

Ignatius was also remarkable for his miracles. God worked many wonders through him during his life-time. One of his disciples who was dangerously sick, was healed by embracing him; another was cured of epilepsy. He relieved a noble matron from the Evil Spirit of whom she had been possessed four years, and healed several others of different maladies. He even restored life to a young man in Barcelona who had hung himself in despair and who was pronounced dead by all who saw him. God wrought still more miracles at the intercession of his faithful servant, after his death. In the process of his canonization we find two hundred miracles, which were tested by the ecclesiastical authorities and were found to rest on the authority of incontestable witnesses under oath. After the canonization their number was still increased. During his life also many other gifts and graces were granted him by God, such as the gift of tears; the gift of reading the hearts of others ; the spirit of prayer which he possessed in so eminent a degree, that he often fell into ecstasies which lasted several days, and finally the gift of prophecy and revelations. It is known that he said to a youth at Barcelona, who desired to follow him and live in poverty: "You will remain in the world and become a lawyer, and the father of several children, one of whom will, in your place, enter the Order which God will found through me, His unworthy servant." At Antwerp he said to a merchant: "There will come a time when you will found a College in your country for the members of the Order which God will establish through me, His unworthy servant." All this took place exactly as he had foretold. The number of the revelations and visions with which he was blessed is very large.

Besides the visit of St. Peter, the Blessed Virgin and our Lord, mentioned in the above pages, it is known that Christ appeared several times to him, at Manresa, during his year of penance; and also later during his holy life. The Blessed Virgin also appeared to him in like manner, especially at the time when he wrote his book of the Spiritual Exercises. The Roman Breviary asserts that he was so enlightened by the grace of God, that he used to say, that if there were no gospel, he would be ready to die for his faith on the evidences which the Almighty had revealed him at Manresa. In one of his ecstacies, so much was revealed to him of the incomprehensible mystery of the Holy Trinity, that he wrote a book which excited the most profound astonishment of all learned men. At another time, the happy death of two of his companions was revealed to him. The first was made known to him whilst he was at Monte Cassino, where, during his prayers, he saw the soul of Father Hozes, surrounded by a heavenly splendor, carried by angels into Heaven. The second was when on his way to say mass for his sick disciple at St. Peter's Church, in Rome, suddenly stopping in his walk, he looked fixedly up to Heaven, then turning to go home, he said: "Let us go home, for our Father Coduri has departed." From this it was concluded that he had seen the soul of the dead ascending to heaven.

To the visions which St. Ignatius had of others, I will add one that another had of him. At Cologne, on the Rhine, lived Leonard Kessel, a priest of the Society of Jesus, who had an intense desire to see St. Ignatius, who at that time resided at Rome. He begged permission to go, for this purpose, to Rome, which, however, was not granted him. While one day praying in his room, his holy Father Ignatius suddenly stood before him, and after having for some time kindly discoursed with him, as suddenly disappeared. All this proves that Ignatius was indeed remarkable for holiness, miracles and other divine gifts. In conclusion, I will explain why St. Ignatius is always represented in priestly robes, with the most holy name of Jesus on his breast and a book in his hand. His priestly robes denote that he was, in his time, an ornament to the priesthood, and eminently sanctified this dignity. It is further a sign of the great devotion with which the Saint said mass. He offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for the first time on Christmas-night, at Rome, before the manger of Our Lord, after eighteen months of preparation. It was on that occasion and frequently afterwards, that during Holy Mass, bright rays of light surrounded him, that he was raised from the ground, and his face suffused with tears of devotion. The more to satisfy his ardor, he generally said Mass in the chapel of the house, passing a whole hour in the act, during which he frequently fell into ecstacy, and had the grace of seeing Christ visible in the Host. The rapture was so intense, that it was feared his veins would burst, and he had often to be carried to his room in a state of exhaustion. He passed two hours in prayer before and after mass, whenever the duties of his office permitted.

The name of Jesus on his breast, is an evidence of the great love he bore for the Saviour. This and no other name would he give to his order, that its members might never forget how Christ labored and suffered, and be thus encouraged to shrink from no labor for the Most High, to fear no danger, no persecution nor even death in the pursuance of that which had become their sacred duty. The Saint used to say that nothing could more effectually give us courage to endure, than the remembrance of this holy name. By the book which he holds in his hand, are designated the Rules which he wrote for his society, and which have been pronounced, by those able to judge, a most perfect piece of human wisdom. While he was writing this book, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him several times, and almost dictated what he wrote. The Council of Trent called it a pious Institution, approved by the Apostolic See, in which there was nothing to be altered. Pope Julius III. said, in a Bull, that there was nothing in the Institute of the Society of Jesus, that was not pious and holy. Pope Paul III. who was the first to approve and confirm the Society, when he was informed of the praiseworthy deeds which its members, in accordance with its rules, had performed, exclaimed: "The finger of God is here!" The words: "To the greater glory of God," which are read in the book, are those which St. Ignatius was wont to use, and they express the whole aim of his Rules which is no other than the advancement of the honor of God and the salvation of souls.

Practical Considerations

You will find much in the life of St. Ignatius which may serve you for instruction and example; and I will, in a few words, aid you to find some of the principal points.

I. The reform and holiness of the Saint began by reading a devout book, the Lives of the Saints. As I told you elsewhere, the reading of pious books, especially the Lives of the Saints, is of very great spiritual benefit; while the reading of a wicked work does intense harm. The vices and consequent damnation of many are the effects of reading dangerous books; while the holiness and final salvation of others, had their beginning in the lessons received while reading pious books. Judge from this in which direction your duty lies.

II. The purpose of all the actions of St. Ignatius was to promote the glory of God and the salvation of souls, and as he sought in everything only the glory of God, he always selected what was agreeable, nay most agreeable to Him. To do that which is always most pleasing to the Almighty, has always been the aim and distinguishing feature of all great saints on earth. To do only what is pleasing to God and to avoid that which is displeasing to Him, is the duty of every Christian. To avoid only mortal sin, is the sign of a very indifferent man, who neither loves God, nor is concerned about his salvation. Among which of these will you be ranked? Endeavor to have a place among the first, and do nothing except what you are convinced is pleasing to the Almighty, and avoid all that you know is displeasing to His Majesty. Perform all your works for the honor of God and the salvation of your soul.

III. St. Ignatius was called the man who always spoke of God and looked constantly to Heaven. Of that of which the heart is full, the mouth will always speak, while the eyes will ever glance towards it. Where do you turn your eyes, your thoughts, and what is inferred from your words? What is the object of your love, your desires? Examine yourself and correct where correction is needed. Finally, often pronounce these words of St. Ignatius: "Conquer thyself." He himself tried, from the moment of his conversion till his end, to conquer himself internally and externally. In this way he became holy. He impressed upon every one whom he tried to lead to a devout life, the maxim "Conquer thyself." He considered this not only useful, but necessary to salvation. And so it is. The world is full of care and misery, because Adam could not overcome himself and refrain from partaking of the forbidden fruit. Hell is full of souls who, because they could not control themselves, went to endless destruction; while heaven is filled with those who practiced self-abnegation, and thus worked out their salvation. If you will escape Hell and gain Heaven, conquer yourself; first, wherever this is demanded by a law of God of the Church; and secondly, in things which depend on your own will. 

You have daily opportunities for this. Overcome yourself in speaking, hearing and seeing; in eating and drinking; in amusements; in dressing; in working; in praying; in visiting the churches; in confession; in avoiding occasions and persons dangerous to your spiritual welfare. Conquer yourself when your anger is aroused; when you are wronged; when Satan tempts you to sin; when men tempt you. In one word, conquer yourself in all things. How can you do this? Ask your confessor and he will tell you. This is the road in which the saints walked and in which you too must walk if you would enter Heaven. Therefore, let this maxim of St. Ignatius be your constant companion: "Conquer thyself." There is no other way to become holy than to be dead to oneself. Hence, St. Ignatius says further: "Take courage and strive manfully. One heroic act of self-abnegation is more pleasing to the Almighty than many other good works." (As found at: St. Ignatius of Loyola.)

Unlike the late lay Jesuit, Bergoglio, Saint Peter Canisius, who in 1543 became the first Dutch member of the Society of Jesus, worked assiduously to win back Protestants to the true Faith in Germany and Vienna and Switzerland. Unlike the scions of the counterfeit church of conciliarism, Saint Peter Canisius, although kind and gentle of spirit, did sought the return of Protestants to the true Faith. The late Joseph Alois Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, who was shaped in large measure by a priest who left the Society of Jesus in 1950, Father Hans Urs von Balthasar, rejected what he called disparagingly as the "ecumenism of the return." And Saint Robert Bellarmine, S.J., was himself a strong force in refuting the errors of Luther and Calvin and in leading the charge of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Blessed Edmund Campion, S.J., courageously defended the Faith as he served souls as the hero of God's underground during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. 

Saint Francis Xavier converted the entire community of Goa in India, traveling also to Japan, where he made nota single convert, and to China, where he died. Why? For the sake of the souls for whom Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood. For the greater honor and glory of God, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. Unlike the currently reigning false "pontiff," who wrote in God and the World eight years ago that there were "in fact Christian hotheads and fanatics who destroyed temples, who were unable to see paganism as anything more than idolatry that had to be radically eliminated," Saint Francis Xavier wanted to see all vestiges of paganism destroyed, as he wrote to his Father-General, the man who convinced him to give up a carefree life of partying to become one of the first members of the Society of Jesus, Saint Ignatius of Loyola himself, with whom he, Saint Francis Xavier would be canonized by Pope Gregory XII on March 12, 1622:

As to the numbers who become Christians, you may understand them from this, that it often happens to me to be hardly able to use my hands from the fatigue of baptizing: often in a single day I have baptized whole villages. Sometimes I have lost my voice and strength altogether with repeating again and again the Credo and the other forms. The fruit that is reaped by the baptism of infants, as well as by the instruction of children and others, is quite incredible. These children, I trust heartily, by the grace of God, will be much better than their fathers. They show an ardent love for the Divine law, and an extraordinary zeal for learning our holy religion and imparting it to others. Their hatred for idolatry is marvellous. They get into feuds with the heathen about it, and whenever their own parents practise it, they reproach them and come off to tell me at once. Whenever I hear of any act of idolatrous worship, I go to the place with a large band of these children, who very soon load the devil with a greater amount of insult and abuse than he has lately received of honor and worship from their parents, relations, and acquaintances. The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in short heap on them every possible outrage. (St. Francis Xavier: Letter from India, to the Society of Jesus at Rome, 1543.) 

Do you realize that it was just a a half century later, in 1597, that Saint Paul Miki was crucified by the very Japanese pagans whom Saint Francis Xavier attempted to convert? The place of Saint Paul Miki's martyrdom? Nagasaki, where the Catholics he helped to convert to the true Faith would live in the catacombs without any Sacrament other than Baptism and Holy Matrimony for the next two and one-half centuries. Unlike the Modernists who go by the name Jesuit today, Saint Paul Miki was willing to give up his life to convert pagans to the true Faith, forgiving his executioners from his cross as the Divine Master forgave His executioners, namely, each one of us, on His Holy Cross.

It was just ninety-nine years after that letter of Saint Francis Xavier to Saint Ignatius of Loyola that the first of the eight sons of the Society of Jesus to be killed between 1642 and 1649 in Canada and what is now upstate New York was put to death in what is now Auriesville, New York, at the hands of the savage Iroquois on September 23, 1642. Saint Rene Goupil, a lay Jesuit missionary, desired to assist the Jesuit Fathers in their work of converting the natives of the northern reaches of North America to the true Faith. Each of the North American Martyrs (Saints Isaac Jogues and Saint Jean Lalande, both killed in Auriesville on October 18, 1646, Anthony Daniel, killed on July 4, 1862, Saint John de Brebeuf, killed on March 16, 1649, Gabriel Lalemant, killed the next day, March 17, 1649, Charles Garnier, killed on December 7, 1649, and Noel Chabanel, killed on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1649) wanted to bring savages out of their imprisonment to Satan and into the light of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They desired to establish in the northern reaches of the North American continent what had been established in its southern reaches and in all of South America: a new Christendom, one that arose from the missionary work of Catholic priests, aided in no small measure by the appearance of Our Lady herself to Juan Diego in Tepeyac Hill on December 9, 1531, replacing almost person for person the number of souls lost to the Faith in Europe as a result of the Protestant Revolt.

Another son of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Peter Claver, S.J., worked contemporaneously in Columbia to baptize the poor souls from Africa who were sent to the Americas to work in cruel slavery. Saint Peter Claver baptized over 300,000 human beings with his own hands between 1610 and the time of his death in 1654, serving also the corporal needs of men and women who were considered to be sub-humans by, yes, many of his own fellow Catholics at the time. Saint Peter Claver saw in each human being the Divine impress, seeking to serve that person as he would serve Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself.

Father Jacques Marquette, S.J., came to Canada from France to serve souls, exploring large parts of what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and much of the Mississippi River, coming within 400 miles of the Gulf of Mexico before turning back to the Illinois territory. Father Marquette served countless numbers of souls in just nine years, between 1666 and 1675. Oh, yes, my friends, vast expanses of what is now the United States of America were Catholic, and they were Catholic as a result of the missionary work of the "Black Robes," the Fathers of the Society of Jesus.

Although the the Society of Jesus was suppressed in all parts of the world save for Prussia and Russia between 1773 and 1814, the sons of Saint Ignatius of Loyola continued to do their work in behalf of souls as they worked as diocesan priests. One can fault Archbishop John Carroll, ordained as a Jesuit, for many reasons as the quintessential Americanist who sought to accommodate the Faith to the false, naturalistic, religiously indifferentist and semi-Pelagian principles of the American founding. Archbishop Carroll did, however, have a great solicitude for the welfare of souls, working closely with the foundress of the Sisters of Charity, the Venerable Elizabeth Ann Seton, to establish Catholic schools. (The founding of Georgetown College, on the other hand, is not such a triumph as theology was compartmentalized in one "department;" Catholicism did not permeated the secular sciences, which was to plant the seeds for future problems, as has been discussed on this site in the past.)

The Black Robes, as the Jesuit Fathers were called by the Indians of the West, explored parts of New France long before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J., spent himself tirelessly in behalf of the souls of Indians after he came to this country from his native Belgium to study for the priesthood in the Jesuit province of Maryland. He worked with the Venerable Rose Philippine Duchesne in Louisiana, riding a trail from Saint Charles parish in Grand Couteau to Sister Philippine's convent at the Academy of the Sacred Heart where Saint John Berchmans, S.J., would appear some years later to cure Sister Mary Wilson, a novice in the order. Father De Smet wanted only to be of service to souls, to convert those of outside of the true Church to her maternal bosom:

On January 26, 1838, he wrote to the Carmelites of Termonde: "New priests are to be added to the Potawatomi Mission, and my Superior, Father Verhaegen, gives me hope that I will be sent. How happy I would be could I spend myself for the salvation of so many souls, who are lost because they have never known the truth! My good Sisters, I beg you to pray for this intention. Implore the divine Pastor to deign to look upon the most unworthy of His servants, who longs to work for His glory. I tremble when I think of the great qualities an apostolate to the Indian demands. We must make men before making Christians, and such work requires unlimited patience and solid virtue, and you know what I am. Nevertheless, I am not discouraged. God's strength is greater than my weakness, and He can bring forth from stones children of Abraham."

Zeal for the salvation of souls and profound humility (God could not resist his supplications) were the distinguishing traits of our missionary, and a few weeks later he was appointed to the Potawatomi Mission. Father De Smet left St. Louis May 10th, Father Verrydt and Brother Mazelli joining him at Leavenworth. In going up the Missouri he greatly admired the vast river, dotted with its many islands; the villages that rose one above the other on its banks, the towering rocks, the caves, the forests, and the immense prairies, all of which lent infinite variety to the aspect. But the scenic beauty failed to render agreeable a journey fraught with many dangers.

"I would rather cross the ocean," he writes, "than ascend the Missouri River. The current is so swift that in order to get up the river the boat must be heavily loaded and the steam at full pressure. Hence, the traveler is in imminent danger of being shot up into the air by an explosion, and coming down perhaps in bits. Added to this, we run upon sand-bars every day--a dangerous proceeding. Lastly, the river bristles with snags which tear a boat open, and are the terror of pilots and travelers. More than once we were in great peril from them."

Crowds of Indians came to the landing to greet the missionaries, and whenever the boat stopped for fuel the priests went ashore to visit the different villages. The chief of the Iowas, an old pupil of Father De Smet's at Florissant, wished to keep him with his tribe. An Indian convert, eighty-four years of age, prepared himself for death by confession, shedding, meanwhile, tears of repentance. everywhere they were most cordially received.. . . .

Formerly the Coeur d'Alenes were considered the most barbarous and degraded of the mountain tribes; they adored animals, and lived in complete ignorance of God, the souls, and a future life. even the precepts of natural law were but vaguely understood and pretty generally offended against in practice. About 1830, an Iroquois Catholic, it is supposed, taught them the first elements of Christianity. Shortly after this date, the tribe suffered the ravages of a violent epidemic. When the plague was at its height, a dying man heard a voice saying: "Leave your idols, adore Jesus Christ, and you will be cured." He obeyed, and was restored to health. Then, making a tour of the camp, the restored man related what had taken place and entreated his stricken brethren to follow his example. They did so and all likewise were cured. This event produced a profound impression on the Coeur d'Alenes, but without a priest to further instruct them, a few of the tribe returned to the worship of idols; the conduct of many, however, since the revelation of the true God, had remained irreproachable.

Such was the condition of the Coeur d'Alenes when Father De Smet visited the tribe in 1842: "I was conducted in triumph to the lodge of the chief," he tells us, "and there, as in every other Indian camp, the calumet was brought forth. After it had been handed around several times and smoked in solemn silence the chief addressed me in the following words:

"'Black Robe, welcome to our country. Long have we desired to see you and be enlightened by your words. Our fathers worshiped the earth and the sun. I remember directly the day we first heard of the one and only true God. since then it is to Him we have addressed our prayers and supplications, and yet we are much to be pitied. We do not know the teachings of the Great Spirit, and we sit in darkness. But now I hope you have come to bring us light. I have finished. Speak, Black Robe! Every ear is open and eager to hear your words.

"During the two hours in which I spoke to them of salvation and the end of man, absolute silence and stillness reigned. The sun was just setting, and I recited the prayer I had some days before translated into their tongue. Refreshments were then offered, consisting of scraps of dried meat, a black moss cake that tasted like soap, and a glass river water, all of which were as nectar and ambrosia to a man who had not tasted food since sunrise. The chiefs expressing a desire to hear me again, I continued to instruct the tribe until far into the night, pausing every half-hour to hand around the calumet and give time for reflection. During these pauses the chiefs conversed about what they had just heard, explaining it to their subordinates.

"Upon awakening in the morning I found my tent invaded by Indians who had slipped in before dawn. Getting up at once, I knelt down, the Indians following my example, and together we offered our day and our hearts to God. 'Black Robe,' said the chief, 'we came here early this morning to watch you and imitate you. Your prayer is good, and we wish to adopt it. But you will stay here only two nights, and we have no one to teach it to us.' I rang the bell for morning prayers, and promised the chief they all would know the prayer before my departure."

Then it was that Father De Smet laid down the method that would henceforth be used for teaching the tribes their prayers. He assembled the Indians, ranging the children in a circle, with instructions to keep the same place at every reunion. Then each one was made to learn a phrase of the prayer by heart. Two children repeated the Hail Mary, seven the Our Father, ten the Commandments, and twelve the Apostles' Creed. After repeating to each child his particular phrase until he knew it by heart, the missionary then made them recite the phrases each in turn. This made a continued prayer, which the tribe listened to night and morning. After a few days one of the chiefs knew all the prayers by heart, and from that time he recited them for the tribe.

Two days after his arrival at the Coeur d'Alene camp, Father De Smet baptized the children, the sick, and the old men and women of the tribe. It seemed as though God had only kept these last on earth to accord them this supreme favor. In listening to their expressions of joy and gratitude one seemed to hear again Simeon's praises to the Lord.

Torn with regret, the missionary took leave of his new Christians, promising to send them a priest to complete their instruction. "Never has a visit to the Indians given me so much consolation, and nowhere have I seen such mistakable proof of true conversion, not even excepting the Flatheads in 1840." The future but confirmed his judgment, for the Coeur d'Alenes remained the most industrious and Christian of the mountain tribes. (Father E Laveille, S.J., The Life of Father De Smet, S.J.) 

The legacy of the truly Catholic seminaries and universities and colleges and secondary schools established by the Society of Jesus was something that angered the devil quite a bit, which is why our ancient adversary, who hates our immortal souls because they are made in the image and the likeness of the One he hates, God--Father, Son and Holy Ghost, worked most insidiously to undermine the Society of Jesus and to make many of its priests instruments in the destruction of souls as veritable revolutions were launched that undermined the work of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier and the North American Martyrs while it made a mockery of the angelic purity of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga and Saint John Berchmans and Saint Stanislaus Kostka. Jesuit turncoats have included the likes of Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the aforementioned Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, Augustin Cardinal Bea, Robert Drinan, Walter Burghardt, Richard McCormick, John Courtney Murray, and so many others who have been responsible for propagating such heresies as "proportionalism" and "religious liberty" and a concept of dogmatic truth that makes of God nothing other than a pantheistic projection of the human mind.

The devil relishes in corrupting the best, and he managed to corrupt the Society of Jesus to such an extent in the years before the "Second" Vatican Council that it was frequently the case that Jesuit Fathers who remained faithful to the Faith were persecuted mercilessly in the name of "obedience" (Father Vincent Miceli comes to mind here). Even some of those "conservative" Jesuits who are hated by their more progressive brethren these days are disciples of Rahner and von Balthasar and other proponents of the "New Theology." Conciliarism corrupts everything that it touches. Everything. It is from the devil. It is bound to corrupt everything that it touches.

Nevertheless, of course, we express our gratitude on this day, the Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, for the fidelity of so many thousands upon thousands of Jesuit Fathers over the course of the past nearly five centuries. My own late father, Dr. Albert Henry Martin Droleskey, and his own late brother Edward were trained by the Jesuit Fathers at the now defunct Brooklyn Preparatory School, learning the Faith very well. Indeed, the valedictorian's address on the occasion of my father's graduation from Brooklyn Prep in February of 1938 (my father lost six months in his studies as a result of a bout with pneumonia) was "The Social Reign of Christ the King in Theory" while the salutatorian's address was "The Social Reign of Christ the King in Practice."

I have been privileged to know and work with believing Jesuits, some of whom tried to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that is conciliarism, others of whom, like Fathers Vincent Miceli and Frederick Schell, were fierce defenders of the Faith who fought the Modernists as best as they knew how. And I am forever grateful for the spiritual direction given to me by a truly wonderful son of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the late Father Thomas Egan, S.J., who was the retreat master at the Auriesville Shrine of Our Lady of the North American Martyrs during the years I was pursuing my doctorate at the State University of New York at Albany (January 1974 to May 1977) and had entered into my full-time teaching career at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York (1976-1977). Moreover, believing Catholics continued to be inspired by the works of Father Edward Cahill, S.J., Father Edward Leen, S.J., and Father Maurice Meschler, S.J., Father Francis X, Weninger, S.J, and the very much aluve Father Kenneth Baker, S.J., among so many others.

One can get an appreciation for all of the years of anonymous service of so many of the Jesuit Fathers by walking through a cemetery containing their mortal remains. We have done this during each of our visits to Mount Saint Michael's Church and Academy in Spokane, Washington. Mount Saint Michael's was once the Scholasticate of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus. It is truly bone-chilling to walk through that cemetery and to pray for the souls of the priests who served for the greater honor of God.

Once again, none of the infidelity of the present moment, which now includes a Jesuit revolutionary as the head of the counterfeit church of conciliarism at a time that sees sees so many Jesuits promoting such abominations as the New Age movement and the "inculturation" of the Gospel and making excuses for Catholics in public life who support various moral evils, including the surgical and chemical assassination of children in their mothers' wombs and unrepentant sins of perversity in violation of the Sixth and Ninth Commandments, can blot out the work begun by the saint we commemorate today, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who laid down his military arms at the feet of Our Lady of Montserrat to serve her Divine Son as his solider.

Dom Prosper Gueranger offered a very potent comparison between an anti-Christ of the Sixteenth Century, Martin Luther, and a Soldier in the Army of Christ, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, S.J.:

Although the cycle of the time after Pentecost has shown us many times already the solicitude of the Holy Spirit for the defence of the Church, yet to-day the teaching shines forth with a new lustre. In the sixteenth century Satan made a formidable attack upon the Holy City, by means of a man who, like himself, have fallen from the height of heaven, a man prevented in his early years by the choice graces which lead to perfection, yet unable in an evil day to resist the spirit of revolt. As Lucifer aimed at being equal to God, Luther set himself up against the Vicar of God, on the mountain of the covenant; and soon, falling from abyss to abyss, he drew after him the third part of the stars of the firmament of Holy Church. How terrible is that mysterious law whereby the fallen creature, be he man or angel, is allowed to keep the same ruling power for evil which he would otherwise have exercised for good. But the designs of Eternal Wisdom are never frustrated: against the misused liberty of the angel or man is set up that other merciful law of substitution, by which St. Michael was the first to benefit.

The development of Ignatius' vocation to holiness followed step by step the defections of Luther. In the spring of 1521 Luther had just quitted Worms, and was defying the world from the Castle of Wartburg, when Ignatius received at Pampeluna the wound which was the occasion of his leaving the world and retiring to Manresa. Valiant as his noble ancestors, he felt within him from his earliest years warlike ardour which they had shown on the battlefields of Spain. But the campaign against the Moors close at the very time of his birth. Were his chivalrous instincts to be satisfied with petty political quarrels? The only true King worth of his great soul revealed Himself to him in the trial which put a stop to worldly projects: a new warfare was opened out to his ambition; another crusade was begun; and in the year 1522, from the mountains of Catalonia to those of Thuringia, was developed that divine strategy of which the angels alone know the secret.

In this wonderful campaign it seemed that hell was allowed to take the initiative while heaven was content to look on, only taking care to make grace abound the more where iniquity strove to abound. As in the previous year Ignatius received his first call three weeks after Luther had completed his rebellion, so in this year, at three weeks' distance, the rival camps of hell and heaven each chose and equipped its leader. Ten months of diabolical manifestations prepared Satan's lieutenant., in the place of his forced retreat, which he called his Patmos; and on March 5 the deserter of the altar and of the cloister left Wartburg.

On the 25th of that same month, the glorious night of the Incarnation, the brilliant soldier in the armies of the Catholic kingdom, the descendant of the families of Ognes and Loyola, clad in sackcloth, the uniform of poverty, to indicate his new projects, watched his arms in prayer at Montserrat; then hanging up his trusty sword at Marty's altar, he went forth to make trial of his future combats by a merciless war against himself.

In opposition to the already proudly floating standard of free-thinkers, he displayed upon his own this simple device: To the greater glory of God! At Paris, where Calvin was secretly recruiting the future Huguenots, Ignatius, in the name of that God of armies, organized his vanguard, which he destined to cover the march of the Christian army, to lead the way, to bear the brunt, to deal the first blows. On August 15, 1534, five months after the rupture of England from the Holy See, these first soldiers sealed at Montmartre the definitive engagement which they were afterwards solemnly to renew at St. Paul's outside the walls. For Rome was to be the rallying place of the little troop which was soon to increase so wonderfully and which was, by its special profession, to be ever in readiness, at the least sign from the Head of the Church, to exercise its zeal in whatever part of the world he should think fit in the defence or propagation of the faith, or for the progress of souls in doctrine and Christian life.

An illustrious speaker of our own day [Cardinal Pie] has said: 'What strikes us at once in the history of the Society of Jesus is that it was matured at its very first formation. Whosoever knows the first founders of the Company knows the whole Company, in its spirit, its aim, its enterprises, its proceedings, its methods. What a generation was that which gave it birth. What union of science and activity, of interior life and military life! One may say they were universal men, men of a giant race, compared with whom we are but insects: de genere giganteo quibus comparati quasi locusta videbamur.

All the more touching, then, was the charming simplicity of these first Fathers of the Society, making their way to Rome on foot, fasting and weary, but their hearts overflowing with oy, singing with a low voice the Psalms of David. When it became necessary, on account of the urgency of the times, for the new institute to abandon the great traditions of public prayer, it was a sacrifice to several of these souls; Mary could not give way to Martha without a struggle; for so many centuries the solemn celebration of the Divine Office had been the indispensable duty of every religious family, its primary social debt, and the principal nourishment of the individual holiness of its members.

But new times had come, times of decadence and ruin, calling for an exception as extraordinary as it was grievous to the brave company that was risking its existence amid ceaseless alarms and continual sallies upon hostile territory. Ignatius understood this; and to the special aim imposed upon him, he sacrificed his personal attraction to the sacred chants; nevertheless, to the end of his life, the least note of psalmody falling on his ears drew tears of ecstasy form his eyes.

After his death, the Church, which had never known any interest to outbalance the splendor of worship due her Souse, wished to return from a derogation which so deeply wounded the dearest instincts of her bridal heart; Paul IV revoked it absolutely, but St. Pius V, after combatting it for a long time, was at least obliged to give in. In the latter ages so full of snares, the time had come for the Church to organize special armies. But while it became more and more impossible to expect from these worthy troops, continually taken up with outside combats, the habits of those who dwelt in security, protected by the ancient towers of the Holy City, at the same time Ignatius repudiated the strange misconception which would try to reform the Christian people according to this enforced but abnormal way of life. The third of the eighteen rules which he gives as the crowning of the Spiritual Exercises, to have in us the true sentiments of the orthodox Church, recommends to the faithful the chants of the Church, the Psalms, and the different Canonical Hours at their appointed times. And at the beginning of this book, which is the treasure of the Society of Jesus, where he mentions the conditions for drawing the greatest fruit from the Exercises, he ordains in his twentieth annotation who can do so should for the time of his retreat a dwelling from whence he can easily go to Matins and Vespers as well to the holy Sacrifice. What was our saint here doing but advising that the Exercises should be practice in that same spirit in which they were composed in that blessed retreat of Manresa, where the daily attendance at solemn Mass and the evening offices had been to him the source of heavenly delights. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Volume XIII, Time After Pentecost: Book IV, pp. 220-224.)

Saint Ignatius of Loyola was indeed a valiant soldier of Christ the King. True to this valor exhibited by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Father Miguel Augustin Pro, S.J., laid down his very life for Christ the King as he was martyred at the hands of the Masonic revolutionaries in Mexico on November 23, 1927. Father Pro exclaimed "Viva Cristo Rey!" as the bullets pierced his flesh. Can we do any less as we seek to do what the conciliar "bishops" of the United States of America have said that they oppose, a Catholic States of America? We would dishonor the memory of the Jesuit martyrs of North America, who were so dedicated to the patronage of the Mother God, who appeared to Juan Diego to effect the conversion of the Americans to the true Faith, if we did anything less than to pray and to work the very reason that Saint Ignatius left the world and founded the Society of Jesus: for the honor and glory of God as soldiers in the Army of Christ the King.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola's great spiritual masterpiece, The Spiritual Exercises, is used yet today by true priests when they serve as retreat masters. There is nothing better for the soul than an Ignatian Retreat. Here some excerpts from this masterpiece as found in Lives of Saints, which was edited by Father Joseph Vann and published in 1954 by John J. Crawley & Company, starting with the basic purpose of the exercises, which is to know, to love, and to serve the true God of Divine Revelation as He has reveald Himself to us exclusively through His true Church, the Catholic Church.

Principle and Foundation

Man was created to praise, to do reverence to and serve God our Lord, and thereby to save his soul, and the other things on the face of earth were created for man’s sake and to help him in the following out of the end for which he was created. Hence it follows that man should make use of creatures so as they do help him towards his end, and should withdraw from them so far as they are a hindrance to him with respect to that end. Wherefore it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent toward all created things, in whatever is left to the liberty of our free choice and is not forbidden, so that we on our part should not wish for health rather than sickness, for riches rather than poverty, for honor rather than ignominy, for a long life rather than a short life, and in all other matters should desire and choose solely those things which may better lead us to the end for which we were created.

First Week, Second Exercise:

. . . The first point is the indictment of sins, that is to say, to bring to mind all the sins of my life, looking through it year by year or period by period. For this purpose three things are helpful; the first to look at the place and house where I have lived; the second at our dealings I have had with others; the third at the calling in which I have lived.

The second point is to weigh the sins, looking at the foulness and malice that any mortal sin committed has in itself, even though it was not forbidden.

The third, is to see who I am, belittling myself by examples; first, what am I in comparison to all mankind; second what are all mankind in comparison with all the Angels and Saints in paradise; thirdly, to see what all creation is in comparison with God,—and therefore in myself alone, what can I be? Fourthly, to see all my corruption and foulness of body; fifthly, to look at myself as a sort of ulcer and abscess, from which have sprung so many sins and so many wickednesses and most hideous venom.

The fourth is consider who God is against whom I have sinned, according to His attributes, comparing them with their contraries in me—His wisdom with my ignorance, His omnipotence with my weakness, His justice with my iniquity, His goodness with my malice.

The fifth is a cry of wonder with a flood of emotion, ranging in thought through all creatures, how they have suffered me to live and have preserved me in life—how the Angels, being the sword of divine justice, have borne with me and guarded and prayed for me, how the Saints have interceded and prayed for me, and the heavens, the sun, moon, stars and elements, fruits, birds, fishes and animals .  .  . and the earth, how it has not opened to swallow me up, creating new hells for my eternal torment therein.

To conclude with a colloquy on mercy, casting a reckoning and giving thanks to God that He has granted me life hitherto, proposing amendment for the time to come with His Grace. Pater Noster.

Fourth Week, A Contemplation to Obatain Love

. . . The usual prayer.

First prelude is a composition, which is here to see how I stand before God our Lord, the Angels, and the Saints interceding for me.

The second, to ask for what I want; it will be here to ask for an inward knowledge of the great good received, in order that I, being fully grateful for the same, may in all things love and serve His Divine Majesty.

The first point is to recall to memory the benefits received of creation, redemption and particular gifts, pondering with deep affection how much God our Lord has done for me, and how much He has given me of what He has, and further, how the same Lord desires to give Himself to me so far as He can, according to His divine ordinance; and therewithal to reflect within myself, considering with much reason and justice what I on my part ought to offer for them, as one who offers with deep affection: Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and all my will, all I have and possess; you have given it to me; to you, Lord, I return it; all is yours, dispose of it entirely according to your will. Give me your love and grace, because that is enough for me. . . .  (Spiritual Exercises, translated by Father Rickaby, S.J., as found in Father Joseph Vann, ed.,  Lives of Saints, published in 1954 by John J. Crawley & Co.,  pp. 354-356; 357.)

In order to love God, therefore, we must quit our sins and do penance for them, not to persist in or--worse yet--to celebrate them as the anti-Saint Ignatius, Bergoglio, invited people of all ages, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, to do by word and by diabolically-inspired examples.

We should make Dom Prosper Gueranger’s prayer to Saint Ignatius of Loyola our own on this his feast day:

From the throne you have won by so many valiant deeds, watch over the fruits of your works, and prove yourself always God’s soldier. In the midst of the contradictions which are never wanting to them, uphold your sons in their position of honour and prowess which makes them the vanguard of the Church. May they be faithful to the spirit of their glorious Father, “having unceasingly before their eyes: first, God. Next, as the way leading to Him, the form of their institute, consecrating all their powers to attain this end marked out for them by God, yet each following the measure of grace he has received from the Holy Ghost, and the particular degree of his vocation.” Lastly, O head of such a noble lineage, extend your love to all religious families whose lot in these times of persecution is so closely allied with that of your own sons. Bless, especially, the monastic Order whose ancient branches overshadowed your first steps in the perfect life, and the birth of that illustrious Society which will be your everlasting crown in Heaven.

Have pity on France, on Paris, whose University furnished you with foundations for the strong, unshaken building raised by you to the glory of the Most High. May every Christian learn of you to fight for the Lord, and never to betray His standard. May all men, under your guidance, return to God, their beginning and their end. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, July 31.)

As we pray our Rosaries today, let us remember the work of the Society of Jesus and to pray that its true spirit, corrupted by the conciliarists, including Robert Francis Prevost/Leo XIV, will inspire us to lay down our "arms" of this passing world at the feet of Our Lady as we serve her Divine Son through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, imploring the help of Blessed Claude de la Colombiere, who was chosen by Our Lord to assist Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in the spreading of devotion to His Most Sacred Heart, to seek shelter in that Sacred Heart of Jesus through the same Immaculate Heart of Mary.

We pray to Saint Ignatius of Loyola--and all of the saints of the Society of Jesus--to enjoy their blessed company in the glory of the Beatific Vision of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the presence of Holy Mary and Saint Joseph and all of the angels and saints, for all eternity as we pray in this life: Ad majorem Dei gloriam!

Vivat Christus Rex! Viva Cristo Rey!

Our Lady of the North American Martyrs, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.

Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, pray for us.

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, pray for us.

Saint John Berchmans, pray for us.

Saint Robert Bellarmine, pray for us.

Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us.

Saint Rene Goupil, pray for us.

Saint Jean Lalande, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel Lallemant, pray for us.

Saint Noel Chabanel, pray for us.

Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us.

Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us.