Year of Dreams: My Adventures Abroad: Inspired by Ignacio

Hello Everyone,

So as I mentioned in my previous post, one of the main points of this pilgrimage retreat was to learn about the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola and see some of the sites significant to his life. Well...the more I learned about Ignatius, the more inspired I became by his witness.

Some facts about Ignatius' life (for those who are unfamiliar with this great saint):
1. Born in 1491 in Loyola, Spain.
2. Upper class - noble
3. His mother died when he was very young and his brother's wife essentially became a mother to him.
4. He was sent to learn to be a page...this is what young noble boys were supposed to do.
5. He served in the army and a canon hit his legs, causing them both to be shattered.
6. Even though the battle was against the French and Ignatius had been the one encouraging the Spanish army not to surrender, the French had pity on him after the battle was over and had 8 men carry him all the way back to Loyola to recuperate.
7. He had to have many surgeries...some simply because he was vain and wanted to keep up his appearance even if it meant another operation.
8. While he was recuperating, he was super bored and so asked for a book about knights and chivalry and winning the noble lady, but the only books in the house were "The Lives of the Saints" and "The Life of Jesus Christ."
9. Eventually he got bored enough to read these books and was inspired reading about the saints and decided he wanted to make a difference too.
10. He got better after about a year and set off to preach (against his family's wishes).
11. You could not preach without a degree, so he was thrown in jail.
12. After he got out, he went to school and there met up with the "first companions"
13. These men would later form the Jesuits with him and reject worldly riches. They finally got approval from the Pope (which was hard because orders like that at that time were supposed to live a more cloistered life and not beg).
14. Ignatius stayed in Rome the rest of his life.

I think that's about how it goes...skipped a few details and am not 100% sure all my facts are correct, but you get the gist. The more I learned about Ignatius' desire to make a difference and his willingness to defy the odds by rejecting material things, changing the stereotypical life of a religious order in the Catholic Church, and going against his family's plans for him, the more I admired his courage, determination, and faith.

Anyhow...so during the weekend, we were able to visit...
1. The house where Ignatius was born/grew up
2. The place where Ignatius stayed at one point when he was at home and working at a hospital (wasn't sure where this was in the storyline...so I skipped it)
3. The church where Ignatius was baptized (and the font)
4. The Cathedral named for him (see last post)
5. The room where Ignatius first encountered God during the long days of his recovery. It has been converted into a chapel and we actually were able to have mass there...so beautiful!

See my photos of these adventures below (again, coming soon):

St. Ignatius' house

The whole Loyola Retreat crew

This is where Ignatius was born

in 1491

On this shelf are copies of the books Ignatius read when he was recovering...The Life of Christ and The Life of the Saints

I felt like a queen :)

This is capilla de la conversion...aka the room where Ignatius encountered God that has now been converted into a chapel

This sign says (In Spanish and Euskera - Basque) that this is the place where Ignatius encountered God

Church where Ignatius was baptized

The baptismal font (yup - the same one where Ignatius was baptized...only the top part and all the wood was added. The original was just the stone part)