The Cannonball Jubilee Rev. Terrance A. Baum, SJ
On May 20, 1521 in Pamplona, Spain, a military career and a leg were both shattered by a cannonball in a battle with the French. The wounded Iñigo Lopez de Loyola, in excruciating pain, was transported 70 miles to the family home in Azpeitia in the Basque region of northern Spain to recuperate. The convalescence took nine months. What to do during the recovery? There were two books in the Loyola household: a life of Christ and a collection of lives of the saints. Iñigo would read passages from both and during times of reflection would imagine himself following Christ and engaging in deeds not unlike those of St. Francis and St. Dominic. During those times, a sweetness would enter his soul. Over this nine-month period, Iñigo experienced the fire of conversion and dedicated himself to the Lord and His service. A grand adventure followed that took him to Manresa and its cave, the Holy Land, and several cities in Spain to obtain an education. In 1528, he traveled to Paris to receive the best theological education available in Europe. It is there that Iñigo became Ignatius. It is also there that he gathered around himself a group of companions with whom he shared his spiritual insights, Francis Xavier among them.
In 1540, that group of companions became the Society of Jesus with full approval from the Holy Father. Ignatius Loyola spent the next sixteen years of his life in Rome as superior general, effectively “chained to his desk” leading this community of men dedicated to the service of God and His people. While in Rome, Ignatius’ dear friend Francis Xavier was sent on his grand adventure as a missionary leading him to India and Japan. The reports he sent back home to Ignatius and his Jesuit brothers of his ministry in Asia captured the imaginations of many young Jesuits who desired to follow his example and become missionaries. Both men achieved sanctity in serving God in very different ways. And both were honored by the Church on March 12, 1622 when they were canonized saints. From May 20, 2021 until July 31, 2022 (the feast day of St. Ignatius), the Society of Jesus celebrates a Jubilee. Let all those who love the Jesuits join them in remembering these two great saints and how they continue to inspire. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
Summer 2021
St. Xavier High School Magazine
7
