IGNATIUS' TIMELINE

Early years (1491–1521): the wordly knight

1491: Born Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola in the Tower House of Loyola, the youngest of 13 children.
1506: Sent to Arévalo to serve as a page to Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, Treasurer of Castile. He learns the ways of the court: music, dance, fencing, and romantic ambition.
1517: Enters the service of the Duke of Nájera, Antonio Manrique de Lara. He participates in various military and diplomatic missions as a "gentleman soldier."
May 20, 1521: During the Battle of Pamplona, a French cannonball shatters his right leg and wounds his left. This is the "Cannonball Moment" that ends his military career.

Turning point (1521–1524): the birth of the pilgrim

June 1521 – March 1522: Convalescence in the Holy House of Loyola. He experiences his spiritual awakening while reading the Life of Christ and Lives of the Saints.
March 1522: Leaves Loyola. He stops at the Shrine of Our Lady of Olatz before traveling to Montserrat, where he hangs his sword at the altar of the Black Madonna.
1522–1523: Spends 10 months in a cave at Manresa. Here, he experiences profound mystical visions and begins drafting the Spiritual Exercises.
1523: Embarks on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He intends to stay forever but is ordered to leave by the Franciscan superior for his own safety.

The years of study (1524–1535): learning to serve

1524–1526: Realizing he needs an education to "help souls," he returns to Barcelona to study Latin grammar alongside young children.
1526–1527: Studies at the University of Alcalá. He is imprisoned by the Inquisition for preaching without a degree.
1528: Moves to Paris to study at the University (Collège de Montaigu and Collège Sainte-Barbe)
August 15, 1534: Ignatius and six companions (including Francis Xavier and Peter Faber) take vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris.
1535: Receives his Master of Arts degree. He begins to sign his name as "Ignatius" (after St. Ignatius of Antioch).

Founding of the Society of Jesus (1537–1556): serving through governance

June 24, 1537: Ordained a priest in Venice. Due to war, the group cannot sail to Jerusalem as planned.
November 1537: At the chapel of La Storta near Rome, Ignatius has a vision where God the Father "places him with His Son" carrying the cross.
September 27, 1540: Pope Paul III officially approves the Society of Jesus via the bull Regimini Militantis Ecclesiae.
1541: Ignatius is elected the first Superior General. He spends the rest of his life in Rome, writing over 6,000 letters and the Jesuit Constitutions.
In 1548 the first Jesuit school specifically for lay students is founded in Messina, Sicily.
July 31, 1556: Ignatius dies peacefully in Rome. At the time of his death, there are approximately 1,000 Jesuits working on four continents. By then there were 40 Jesuit schools and colleges.

The legacy:

July 27, 1609: Beatified by Pope Paul V.
March 12, 1622: Canonized as a Saint by Pope Gregory XV (alongside Francis Xavier and Teresa of Avila).
One century after Ignatius’ death the Jesuits had more than 500 schools including schools in Asia and the Americas.
Today, there are over 3100 Jesuit schools and institutions at primary, secondary and university level, serving over 2.5 million students worldwide.