Inigo Lopez de Loyola (sometimes erroneously called Inigo Lopez de Recalde) was born in the municipality of Azpeitia at the castle of Loyola in today's Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain. He was baptized Inigo, after St. Enecus (Innicus) (Basque: Eneko; Spanish: Inigo) Abbot of Ona, a medieval Basque name which perhaps means "My little one". It is not clear when he began using the Latin name "Ignatius" instead of his baptismal name "Inigo". It seems he did not intend to change his name, but rather adopted a name which he believed was a simple variant of his own, for use in France and Italy where it was better understood.

In 1539, with Saint Peter Faber and Saint Francis Xavier, Ignatius formed the Society of Jesus, which was approved in 1540 by Pope Paul III. Ignatius was chosen as the first Superior General of the order and invested with the title of Father General by the Jesuits.  Ignatius sent his companions as missionaries around Europe to create schools, colleges, and seminaries. Juan de Vega, the ambassador of Charles V at Rome, met Ignatius there. Esteeming Ignatius and the Jesuits, when Vega was appointed Viceroy of Sicily, he brought Jesuits with him. A Jesuit college was opened at Messina, which proved a success, and its rules and methods were afterwards copied in other colleges.  In 1548 Ignatius was briefly brought before the Roman Inquisition for examination of his book of Spiritual Exercises. But he was released and the book was finally given papal permission to be printed. It was published in a format such that the exercises were designed to be carried out over a period of 28-30 days.  Ignatius, along with the help of his personal secretary Juan Alfonso de Polanco wrote the Jesuit Constitutions, adopted in 1553. It created a centralized organization for the order, and stressed absolute self-denial and obedience to the Pope and to superiors in the Church hierarchy, using the motto perinde ac cadaver - "as if a dead body", i.e. that the good Jesuit should be as well-disciplined as a corpse. But his main principle became the Jesuit motto: Ad maiorem Dei gloriam ("for the greater glory of God").  During the years 1553-1555, Ignatius dictated his autobiography to his secretary, Father Goncalves da Camara. This autobiography ("Autobiografia de San Ignacio de Loyola" in Wikisource in Spanish) is a valuable key for understanding his Spiritual Exercises. It was kept in the archives of the Jesuit order for about 150 years, until the Bollandists published the text in Acta Sanctorum.

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