(1491-1556)

Founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). During his convalescence from a war-wound in 1521 he read two popular inspiration works and thus began his conversion. Was mystically enlightened at Manressa and reduced his rebirth to a plan for spiritual discipline, which eventually became a military manual for soldiers in service to the pope, the Jesuits. Loyola believed that God and Satan are external to man, and man has the power to choose between them by the disciplined use of his imagination.

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Ignatius-Loyola, Jesuits, Jesus[/tags]