Saint Ignatius, of Loyola

Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Paris in 1541 and served as its first Superior General. After a military career ended when he was wounded by a cannonball at the Battle of Pamplona in 1521, he experienced a religious conversion and devoted himself to spiritual life, developing the influential Spiritual Exercises method of prayer and discernment.