Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Feast Day: July 31
Patron Saint of: Retreats

The founder of the Jesuits and mystic St. Ignatius of Loyola initially had no intention of being a follower of Christ, preferring military success and fortune. But when he was bedridden after a cannonball shattered his leg, he read the life of Christ and the saints, was deeply moved, and began his long, painful conversion to Christ. Known for writing Spiritual Exercises, his spirituality can be summed up in the Jesuit motto, Ad majorem Dei gloriam—“For the greater glory of God.”