- Ignatius as a wounded soldier
Even the brother of Ignatius, Martin García de Loyola with a contingent of soldiers had come to assist at Pamplona but had turned back knowing the situation was futile. The citizens prepared to come to terms with the French commander when Miguel Herrera, mayor of the town, encouraged by Ignatius, who was prepared to die and had made his confession, decided to fight against all odds and at least save honor, if not the city of Pamplona. The French entered the town without much opposition and besieged the garrison bombarding the walls. The combat lasted six hours when a cannon shot struck Ignatius shattering his right knee and wounding his other leg. This was followed by a complete surrender to the French, occupying both the town and the fortress. That tragic event in the life of Ignatius happened May 21, 1521 the week of Pentecost.
- Map of return to the House of Loyola
The battle at Pamplona was a local affair that settled little in political terms, but for Ignatius it was decisive. Now wounded, and having lost to the French, his dreams of winning honors from the general, the king or winning the hand of the king's sister Catherine were destroyed. After convalescing for about two weeks at Pamplona, he was carried on a litter to his home town of Azpeitia.
- Ignatius convalescing at the House of Loyola
It seems infection had set in, the bones had to be reset; he lost the ability to take nourishment and by the end of June the doctors had given him up as lost. He received the "last sacraments" on the eve ...... of the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul. Almost miraculously, in a matter of a few days, he was pronounced out of danger. During the ensuing months Ignatius began asking himself how he might employ the long hours of recovery. Although that inner craving returned to the romantic novels of his youth, the matron of the house, María Magdalena was only able to present him with the "Life of Christ" by the Carthusian author Ludolph of Saxony ("Vita Christi" went through several editions and the 1502 Spanish edition was richly illustrated the opening page had Isabella and Ferdinand in prayer). The other book was the Lives of the Saints ("Flos Sanctorum" by Jacopo Verasse with the opening line: "A saint is a knight in service to his Lord"). With this reading and with much time for reflection, his earlier dreams of military victory, chivalrous gallantry and glory won by the sword, began to compete with the examples of the saints when Ignatius imagined himself joining a monastery, retiring to the desert in solitude, living a frugal life and even going to far off Jerusalem to make a pilgrimage ...
. Years later, Ignatius described this as the beginning of his transformation.
- Ignatius departing the House of Loyola
After nine months of recuperating his health and regaining his ability to walk, Ignatius began to seriously consider joining the monastery of Cuevas at Seville; he had even dispatched a servant to Burgos to inquire about the rule of St. Bruno at the famous Carthusian monastery of Miraflores ...... where all the Castilian monarchs were buried. But the design of going to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage took its strongest hold. So in February 1522, feeling healed of body and soul, he decided to make a complete break with his past life. Under pretext of visiting family relatives in Oñate and reclaiming back pay from the Duke of Navarra in Navarrete, Ignatius left the house of Loyola elegantly attired with his brother priest and two attendants along with a sizable notebook in his travelling bag.
- Road to Oñate and Arantzazu
Traveling through some of the most beautiful areas in Europe, Ignatius departed from his brother and sister at the town of Oñate (center of picture) and continued on to the pilgrimage site of Our Lady of Arantzazu ...... , a place held in reverence throughout the Basque country (at the mountains of extreme left). Here Ignatius made a vow of chastity to Our Lady and entrusted her to take him under her protection and patronage.
- Map of route from Loyola to Barcelona
Ignatius took this route to eventually arrive at Barcelona where he anticipated passage to the Holy Land.
- The Church at Navarrete - a return
Arriving at the town of Navarrete, he inquired about the possibility of back pay, but the Duke Antonio Manrique de Lara was not there; he needed all the money to stage a splendid reception in Nájera for the newly elected Pope, the former tutor of Charles V, now grand inquisitor and cardinal of Tortosa, Adrian Lorent who will be known in history as Adrian VI. The wife of the Duke said: "Money may be wanting for everything else, but debts to Loyola have to be paid." She also encouraged him to stay at Montserrat on his journey as the Duke himself had received his education there. After settling some old bills of his own, he left a sum to restore a picture of the Blessed Mother in the church and departed for Montserrat at one junction letting the horse to follow the Moor ...... , threatening his life, or to continue in another direction.
- Sixteenth century map to Montserrat
The Benedictine monastery of Montserrat, founded in the tenth century, had been a place of pilgrimage (and center of education) for centuries and with dawn of printing had published this pilgrim's map and guide to its spiritual offerings at the beginning of the 16th century. Arriving at the base of the mountain (probably at the town of Igualda) Ignatius resolved to put off his fine clothes, purchased a walking staff, sandals and some rough cloth to be made into a tunic for his journey to Jerusalem and proceeded to the monastery ...... at the top. It was March 21, 1522.
- View at the top of Montserrat
Living in one of the small hermitages ...... on the top of the mountain ...
... (since then all have been removed), Ignatius sought out a spiritual director. "After having prayed and talked with his confessor" Jean Chanones, a French Benedictine, he made a general confession in writing which took him three days. It is most probably that he used the monastery prayer book offered pilgrims entitled: "Exercises for the Spiritual Life", composed by Abbot Cisneros (cousin to C. Cisneros).
- Ignatius at altar of the Black Virgin of Montserrat
Before the statue of the famous Black Virgin of Montserrat, he spent a whole night vigil, where he surrendered his sword and dagger as an offering and took upon himself a fervent desire for Christian perfection as a soldier of Christ and to offer himself for a new and still mysterious destiny in which the gospel would be his only guide.
- Statue of Black Virgin ...
... in basilica ...... of Montserrat - today.
- Commemoration plaque at entrance to Basilica
Although the monastery that Ignatius knew was substantially destroyed by the armies of Napoleon in the 19th century, this event in the life of Ignatius is commemorated today by a plaque (on the floor) at the entrance to the modern basilica of the monastery with the statue of Ignatius (to the left) and the statue of Charles V a great benefactor to the monastery (to the right).
- Original entrance with famous historical persons listed, who passed through this door
Inside the present monastery you can find name of Ignatius listed at this door (eigth from the bottom).
- Manresa and the Cardoner
How Ignatius was diverted to the nearby town of Manresa remains obscure when his main goal was still the city of Jerusalem and to find passage on a boat leaving the port of Barcelona for that voyage. (Perhaps it was a suggestion from his confessor, the closure of the city gates of Barcelona because of the plague or the fear of running into the entourage of the newly elected Pope coming into Barcelona for passage to Rome). He intended to stay only a few days, but eventually he remains 10 months. From the first day, he adopted the practice of daily vespers and compline at the large central church of the town along the Cardoner River known as the Seo (center).
- St. Lucy's Hospital in Manresa
At Manresa, he begged for himself for the poor and the sick and worked at this hospital of St. Lucy (still existing). Falling ill himself he was taken in by generous people including the Canyelles and Amigant families .... A monastic cell was put at his disposal by the kindly Dominican fathers (church now destroyed) where he sought spiritual direction. It was here that he was introduced to the spiritual classic: "The Imitation of Christ" attributed to Thomas A'Kempis which remained for the rest of his life his dearest book.
- Ignatius writing his own Spiritual Exercises
During the latter part of his ten-month stay at Manresa Ignatius spent much of the time in prayer, penance and fasting along the banks of the Cardoner River ...... protected from the elements by the cave-like rock overhangings. This time can be characterized as one of severe interior struggle with doubts, anxieties, scruples, temptations and divine illuminations about his past and. future life. A careful entry of these experiences (many in military metaphor) were recorded into his notebook and through many later revisions eventually led to the book of the Spiritual Exercises for which Ignatius has become renown throughout the world. In these experiences Ignatius began to recognize God's purpose in his life, and to see life as a battleground of spirits and a necessity for their discernment, a call to God's kingdom and to serve the King who seeks persons to fight for the same goals in life and with a vivid feeling for the divine mysteries and for the Church. Many of the phrases of these journals are borrowed from the earlier books influencing Ignatius, but as a unity, as a project fulfillment, it derives from Ignatius alone.
- Vision of the Cardoner
It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of his mystical and transforming experiences on the banks of the Cardoner River. It was a turning point, a decisive hour and Ignatius relates the experiences at Manresa left him completely changed, both in his interior and exterior life. This is known as the Vision of the Cardoner.
- Modern Church at Manresa
Today, a 17th century church has been built over the original cave where Ignatius spent so many days and weeks and where the observer can easily see the nearby River of the Cardoner and the Seo church that still dominates the city skyline.
