St. Ignatius was born in 1491 in the Basque Region of Spain. After being injured in a battle against the French which broke his leg, he decided to devote himself to religion and went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He then returned to school to learn Latin so he could better serve the Church, eventually attending the University of Paris. By the time of his death in Rome in 1556 from malaria, he had founded the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuit Order, which had grown to include 1,000 members.
3. St. Ignatius was born in
the Basque Region of
Spain in 1491, the year
before Columbus
sailed the ocean blue.
He was the last of
thirteen children.
4. In 1521, Ignatius, a
soldier, was struck with
a cannon ball in a
battle with the French.
This broke his leg. A
French doctor tried to
fix it, but he just made
it worse.
He is then sent home
from battle.
5. After going home and
wanting to become
more
religious, Ignatius
decided to go on a
pilgrimage to the holy
land of Jerusalem. He
was then kicked out of
Jerusalem for
preaching his ideas
about Christianity.
6. In 1524 in Barcelona,
Ignatius, now 33,
decided to go back to
elementary school to
learn Latin with young
schoolboys.
He wanted to learn Latin
because it was the
official language of the
Church and he didn’t
have an education when
he was young because
he was to be a soldier.
7. Ignatius attended
college at the
University of Paris.
8. In the city of Rome in
1556, Ignatius dies of
“Roman Fever”, a type
of malaria.
By this time, there
were 1,000 Jesuits.
