Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Today, 31st of July, we celebrate the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. The Jesuits are known for their commitment to education. Yet again, I find two of my great loves overlapping, the saints and books! A few years ago, I also wrote a post about books and saints, you can read it here, if y ou wish. Books played a huge part in the conversion of Saint Ignatius. At the age of 30 in May of 1521 as an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the French, who claimed the territory as their own against Spain. During the battle a cannon ball struck Ignatius, wounding one leg and breaking the other. Because they admired his courage, the French soldiers carried him back to recuperate at his home, the castle of Loyola, rather than to prison. During the long weeks of his recuperation, he was extremely bored and asked for some romance novels to pass the time.The reading which was given to us in the Office of Readings goes like thi...

St. Ignatius of Loyola St. Josemaria Escriva, Founder of Opus Dei, once said: “Reading has made many saints!” This is what came to mind today as I reflected on the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola and how a book changed his life. Ignatius was a solider in the Spanish army fighting against the French when a cannon ball and a series of bad operations ended his military career in 1521 and left him confined to bed for a long recovery period.  It was not pain that brought him suffering, it was the boredom. During his days of recovery he asked for books on chivalry, his favourite reading, but there were no such romances in the Loyola castle. So instead he was given the only books in the house -- one was a Life of Christ by Ludolph, a Carthusian monk, and the other was Flos sanctorum , a collection of lives of the saints. Iñigo set about reading them, and as it happened, this was the most important reading he would ever do. During his convalescence Iñigo reflected on the books he read ...