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He was born the year before Columbus discovered America. His contemporaries were larger-than-life figures like Michelangelo, St. Teresa of Avila, Martin Luther, and King Henry VIII. He was often described as a "soldier saint," but he bore arms for only a few months of his life. He was also called a "reformer," but he rarely spoke about the church’s need for change.
He was, however, a natural-born leader of men, a pastor, and one of the most flexible men of his time. His work the Spiritual Exercises, which embodies all three of these character traits, has led countless people to a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Clearly, Ignatius of Loyola was a heroic figure, both in his age and in the history of the church. He is revered throughout the Catholic world and by many Protestant traditions, but he has not always been well understood.
A Shift in Dreams. He was born Ignacio Lopez de Loyola in 1491. As a boy at his family castle in the Basque country of northern Spain, he had the traditional education of the nobility. He learned how to read and write, to dance, to duel, and to cut a fine figure at court. A romantic at heart,…
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