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Ignatius of Loyola wounded in battle – May 20, 1521

Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Saint Ignatius of Loyola | Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Catholic priest who founded the Society of Jesus, who are also called the Jesuits, was wounded in battle.

As a soldier before his conversion, Loyola was part of a small Spanish garrison in Pamplona that tried to resist an assault from a superior French army.

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During the battle, a cannonball struck Loyola in the leg, badly damaging the limb. The French eventually won the battle and, as a courtesy, transported him back to his family’s castle to recover.

It was during his lengthy recuperation that Loyola began to read works about Jesus Christ and past saints, which inspired him to leave the military and to become a priest.

In a ceremony in 2021 marking the 500th anniversary of the battle that ended Loyola’s military career, Pope Francis remarked that “all Ignatius’ worldly dreams were shattered in an instant.”

“The cannonball that wounded him changed the course of his life, and the course of the world,” the pontiff added. “That cannonball also meant that Ignatius failed in the dreams he had for his life. But God had a bigger dream for him.”

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