St. Ignatius of Loyola

A Basque soldier who dreamed of military glory, Ignatius was struck down at the siege of Pamplona in 1521 — a cannonball shattered his leg. Bedridden through a long convalescence, he asked for romances of chivalry and was given lives of Christ and the saints instead. The reading reshaped his desires: he would become a knight not of an earthly king but of Christ.

He spent a year in a cave at Manresa, where he wrote the first draft of the Spiritual Exercises — a structured retreat that has since formed millions in discernment and prayer. With six companions at the Sorbonne (including Francis Xavier), he founded the Society of Jesus in 1540, sworn to go wherever the pope sent them.

Ignatius governed the Jesuits from Rome for fifteen years, sending men to schools, missions, and the courts of kings. He taught his followers to find God in all things and to act "as if everything depended on you, and pray as if everything depended on God."