The founder of what traditionally has been the largest male religious order in the Catholic Church — the Jesuits — came into the world in 1491 (a year before Columbus sailed) as Iñigo de Loyola. His ...

In 1522 Ignatius became a pilgrim, giving away all his clothes and possessions to the poor and devoting himself to prayer and contemplation. A 17th-century statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola by Spanish ...