Defenders of the Faith Part II

Defenders of the Faith Part II

Bob and Penny Lord

Published by Bob and Penny Lord at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Bob and Penny Lord

Discover other titles by Bob and Penny Lord at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bobandpennylord

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Defenders of the Faith Part II

Table of Contents

Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Robert Bellarmine

Saint Charles Borromeo

Saint Teresa of Avila

Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Bob and Penny Lord

Published by Bob and Penny Lord at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Bob and Penny Lord

Discover other titles by Bob and Penny Lord at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bobandpennylord

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashword.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Soldier, Poet, Mystic, Author, Defender of the Faith

and Founder of the Society of Jesus

Saint Ignatius was born in 1491, the year before Christopher Columbus was commissioned by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to go to the New World, in thanksgiving for Spain having been liberated from the yoke of the Saracens. For nearly 700 years, Spaniards could not worship in Catholic Churches; they were deprived from receiving the Sacraments; religious and clergy were exiled, imprisoned or killed; all mention of Jesus was forbidden under the penalty of death. How did the people from whom our Saint comes, preserve their faith with this persecution going on for most of seven centuries? How did Spain and the Catholic Church raise up such powerful soldiers as the much maligned Catholic Queen Isabella, Saints like Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Paschal Baylon and Ignatius of Loyola to mention a few? We believe the answer lies in the stories of Saints and Martyrs, and others not yet proclaimed.

Spain had survived this scourge of physical and spiritual domination which had covered her plains from North to South and East to West; it was a time for rejoicing and thanksgiving. What they did not know was that another attack would be leveled at this faithful nation of Saints, a new attempt to destroy the Church which Jesus founded. But God, all-Omnipotent, He Who is, was and always will be, He Who is beyond time and space, He Who sees all and knows all, and upon knowing all, does all to save His Church, raised up a powerful army of Defenders of the Faith, to save this faithful nation and others which would fall under another type of tyranny.

As the enemy of God’s holy Church is raising up men who would bring about a revolution called the Reformation, God is calling forth soldiers to counteract this revolt, an army which will bring about a true Reformation, a Counter-Reformation. This is the story of one such Saint!

A child is born who will change the course of history!

History brings us to the part of Spain, known as the Basque country, to the Castle of Loyola in Guipuzocoa. A child is born; Ignatius (baptized Ignio) was of noble blood, his family from a long line of nobles. His father was Don Bertram Tañez, lord of Oñaz and Loyola and head of one of the oldest families of Spain. The lineage of his mother Doña Marina of the House of Saenz, equalled that of his father. God had blessed his parents with eight daughters and three sons, Ignatius being the youngest of the sons.

Right from the beginning, God had a plan for this child. Ignatius was sent to his aunt’s castle where he received a solid Christian education and was prepared to enter King Ferdinand’s service initially as a page. It is in the King’s castle that Ignatius would lend his services to a young lady of the court as her knight. A gentleman, he never mentions her name in the poetry he writes at this time, but refers to her as more than a Countess or Duchess. Some historians have conjectured that possibly the lady was the very young widow of King Ferdinand. Of course, marriage was out of the question, so our young knight loved from afar, serving in the noble way befitting his and her station. He wrote his most beautiful poetry at this time.

He was an avid reader, his taste leaning toward books on chivalry, knights and ladies of the court, recounting tales of glorious times of valor and honor. So, it is no surprise, we find him, in 1517, at twenty-six years of age, leaving to engage in his first battle, the defense of Navarre of which his uncle was Viceroy. The attack was suppressed by the Spaniards; but the French renewed their offensiveand this time captured Navarre, and laid siege on Pamplona. Ignatius and the other Spanish soldiers were in the garrison, heavily outnumbered. Victory was impossible; but Ignatius was able to convince the others to remain with him and defend the fort.

The walls of the fortress began to crumble beneath the furious battery of cannon balls striking at its ramparts, quickly tearing down the soldiers’ defenses and with that their hope of victory. Knowing the end was near and they would die, Ignatius turned to a good friend and asked him to hear his confession. He fought courageously, right up to the moment a heavy cannon ball pierced the wall where Ignatius was fighting, shattered the bone of his right leg and seriously injured the other. When he fell, the others surrendered and the French soldiers captured the fort. But seeing how bravely he had fought, the French carried him to his rooms in town and had their physicians attend him for close to fifteen days. When they realized they were limited, the French had a litter made to carry the brave little soldier home. His small frame bobbing up and down on the litter (Ignatius was barely 5’2"), his red hair matted by the sweat pouring down his face from the intense pain, Ignatius never let out a cry!

It is not known why the bones did not set properly. Was it that he had been moved too soon or was it the arduous trip back home? Back at the Castle of Loyola, the doctors decided that the bones had to be broken again. Again, brave and noble knight, he asked for no form of anesthetic and went through the operation with his hands and teeth clenched. He grew weaker and weaker. The doctors advised him he was dying. Ignatius called for a priest and asked to receive the Last Rites of the Church. Ignatius would not last the night.

But again, God had another plan. The eve of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, at midnight, Ignatius passed the crisis. Now, he had always had a devotion to St. Peter, and historians all agree that Ignatius had an apparition of St. Peter who told him he would be cured, and he was!

The physicians messed up the operation and a bone was left protruding from his leg. Ignatius had it removed. His friends marveled at the courage and strength shown by Ignatius throughout the operation, insisting they could not have endured the excruciating pain. The bones were straightened out at last, no bones protruding, but the operation left him with one leg shorter than the other.

His recovery was slow and arduous. Ignatius had an active mind, but it was locked up inside a body which was betraying him. But he could read! His mind and heart never left the young lady he had left behind. Now, he waited for the time when he would return and tell her how she had occupied his every thought in battle and as he was recuperating. He practiced over and over again what he would wear and what he would say. To prepare himself, he requested books on knighthood and ladies of the court. But (as God would plan it), in the Castle of Loyola there were only books on the life of Jesus and of the Saints!

Soon he found that contemplating things of the world gave him momentary pleasure, which soon faded away in the light of what he was reading about the graces from Above! Through the lives of Jesus and the Saints he was discovering a new world and a new battlefield! The Saints taught him he had to make a choice between the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God. Their lives became strategic maps revealing the great battles needed to be waged, in order to gain eternal victory. All the vain glory he had sought in the past went up like so much smoke, when he discovered the sweet fragrance that was his to give, the offering he was being called to make to God the Creator. He discovered there was only one true, lasting glory in that which makes the soul pure and like unto God.

He spent long hours grieving for the sins of his past, coupled with his deep resolve to lead a life resembling that of the Desert Fathers and the Saints. The struggles and battles, fought between powers and principalities, for his soul at this time, run through the pages of Ignatius’ book: Spiritual Exercises. Ignatius decided he would choose God and His ways; then God began to manifest Himself to him. One night, Ignatius was praying before the image of Our Lady, tears spilling from his eyes, pleading with God to show him He had accepted Ignatius, when a tremor shook the house, the walls began to crumble in his room; the window frames cracked. Ignatius rejoiced! He knew this was a sign - God was answering him and he would never be alone again; God was showing him that it was He Who was directing his life!

His Purgatory on earth coming to an end, Our Lady made an appearance and let him know how she had been interceding on his behalf. She was holding the Baby Jesus in Her arms; She said nothing; but Her presence filled his heart with a sweet peace unlike anything he had ever known. Before leaving, she bestowed another gift on him, one that would remain with him forever: He lost all desire for things and creatures of this world, as his soul was filled with the purity of the angels, and this gift would protect him, the rest of his life.

The Honeymoon begins between God and Ignatius

His days and nights were filled with grace upon grace from God; He was preparing Ignatius to share in His Passion, His rejection, His abandonment. Ignatius decided the only way he could know how to truly walk in Jesus’ Footsteps was to go to the Holy Land, to where He walked, lived and died. He believed with all his heart that this was the only path he could take, to prepare himself for a life of penance and mortification, by which he might make up for his sins and those of the world. Then he would enter the Carthusian Monastery in Seville upon his return.

Now, although he did not share his conversion and the thoughts that were going through his mind and heart, all around him sensed a tremendous change coming about. He raised his thoughts more and more to the eternal world. He later wrote, having