St. Ignatius of Loyola giclée print

8” x 10” Giclée print on 100% cotton rag, acid free, archival, 230 gsm paper.

ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

The original was made for my father, who was bedridden for many months, due to a foot injury, diabetes and hospital complications.
Original art: Acrylic on cork, 2015.

St. Ignatius came from a family of minor nobility in Spain’s northern Basque region. One thing to know about Ignatius is that he was far from saintly during much of his young adult life. He was vain, with dreams of personal honor and fame. He gambled and was not above sword fighting. As some have noted, he might have been the only saint with a notarized police record: for taking part in a nighttime brawl.

All that began to change one day in the spring of 1521. Ignatius was 30 years old at the time, an officer in the Spanish army. Leading his fellow soldiers into a battle against the French that they were sure to lose, he was struck by a cannonball in the leg. During a difficult recovery (he limped for the rest of his life), the young man asked for books about chivalry — his favorite reading. There weren’t any at the family castle where he convalesced. He had to settle for a book about the life of Christ and biographies of the saints — which he found unexpectedly riveting. St. Ignatius had always dreamed of imitating heroic deeds, but now, the heroes had names like Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena. Ignatius also noticed something strange happening to him (THIS is the period depicted in the image). God, he realized, was working within him — prompting, guiding, inviting. As he traveled far and wide, he realized too that God was similarly at work in the lives of all people, in the everyday events of the world.

These experiences would prove to be the beginnings of Ignatian spirituality — and Jesuit ministry.
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