Ignatius of Loyola - Early Life

Early Life

Iñigo Loiolakoa (sometimes erroneously called Íñigo López de Recalde) was born in the municipality of Azpeitia at the castle of Loyola in today's Basque Country of Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain, formerly in the Kingdom of Navarra by then absorbed into the Kingdom of Castile soon to be merged with the Kingdom of Aragon He was baptized Íñigo, after St. Enecus (Innicus), Abbot of Oña, a mediaeval Basque name arguably meaning "My little". It is unclear when he started using Ignatius instead of his baptismal name "Íñigo" (Latin: Enecus; Basque: Eneko; Spanish: Íñigo). Ignatius did not intend to change his name but rather adopted for France and Italy a name which he believed was a simple variant of his own, and which was more acceptable among foreigners.

The youngest of 13 children, Íñigo López was brought up by María de Garín, the local blacksmith's wife, after his own mother died soon after his birth. Íñigo adopted the last name "de Loyola" in reference of the Basque village of Loyola where he was born. He later became a page in the service of a relative, Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, treasurer (contador mayor) of the kingdom of Castile.

In 1509, Íñigo took up arms for Antonio Manrique de Lara, Duke of Nájera and Viceroy of Navarre. According to Thomas Rochford, S.J., his diplomacy and leadership qualities made him a gentilhombre very useful to the Duke. Under the Duke's leadership, he participated in many battles without injury to himself. But when the French army, supporting the Navarrese monarchy expelled in 1512, stormed Pamplona's fortress on May 20, 1521, a cannonball wounded one of his legs and broke the other. Heavily injured, Íñigo was returned to the castle. He was very concerned about the injuries on his leg and had several surgical operations, which were very painful in the days before anaesthetics.

During this time he read the De Vita Christi, by Ludolph of Saxony, in a Catalan edition. This work influenced his whole life. De Vita Christi is the result of forty years of work by Ludolph. It is a commentary on the life of Jesus Christ, a commentary on the Gospels borrowing extracts from the works of over sixty of the Fathers of the Church. Ludolph particularly quotes St Gregory the Great, St Basil, St Augustine and the Venerable Bede. Ludolph proposes to the reader that he place himself at the scene of the Gospel story; that he visualise the crib at the Nativity etc. etc. This is known as a method of prayer called Simple Contemplation and is the basis of the method that St. Ignatius sets out in his Spiritual Exercises.