LOYOLA, SAINT IGNATIUS OF

born 1491, Loyola, Castile died July 31, 1556, Rome ; canonized March 12, 1622; feast day July 31 Spanish San Ignacio de Loyola, baptized Iigo Spanish theologian and one of the most influential figures in the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Paris in 1534. Additional reading The most authoritative life in English is P. Dudon, St. Ignace de Loyola (1949). Other excellent biographies are Francis Thompson, St. Ignatius Loyola, rev. and ed. by J.H. Pollen (1962); J. Brodrick, St. Ignatius of Loyola: The Pilgrim Years (1956); and T. Maynard, St. Ignatius and the Jesuits (1956), a simpler work. L. von Matt and H. Rahner, St. Ignatius of Loyola (1956), is a pictorial biography. Special aspects of Ignatius' thought are examined by H. Rahner, The Spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola (1953); and G.E. Ganss, St. Ignatius' Idea of a Jesuit University (1956).