St. Ignatius was born on December 24th, 1491 at the castle of Loyola in Guipuzcoa, Spain. In 1506, he became a page in the service of a distinguished noble. The following year he joined the army and, while defending the small town of Pamplona, was severely injured by a cannonball. During his long recovery, Ignatius read numerous texts on the life of Christ and the lives of the Saints. Moved by their heroic deeds, he underwent a profound spiritual conversion. In 1522, he traveled to the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat where he left his sword on the altar of Mary in dedication to her. Emulating Francis of Assisi, he then spent months in a cave near the town of Manresa and began his famed Spiritual Exercises.
In 1523, he went to Rome and then to Jerusalem but returned to Barcelona to study. He spent the next eleven years studying at Alcala, Salamanca, and Paris, and it was during this time that he met companions, including Francis Xavier, who would be the core of his group, known today as the Jesuits. They took vows of poverty and chastity, with the hope of doing missionary pilgrimages to the Holy Land but with the promise of special service to the Pope. In 1537, they traveled to Italy to be ordained.
Pope Paul III officially recognized their society, the Society of Jesus, in 1540. Ignatius was elected the first Superior General of the order and received the first solemn profession on April 22, 1541. He wrote the Jesuit Constitutions and spent the rest of his life working for the Society, caring for the sick and the poor, and founding colleges and universities to educate the clergy as well as the laity. He founded the famous Gregorian College in Rome. From 1553 to 1555, Ignatius dictated his life story to his secretary which is a valuable key for understanding the Spiritual Exercises. He died in Rome on July 31, 1556.