Loyola Day 2

 Today was an educational foundation of the life of St Ignatius as we learned more about the man whose pilgrimage we embarked on upon in earnest tomorrow. The ancestral home of the Loyolas is on the property we are staying at and was the birthplace of Ignio Loyola (later Ignatius). Fr Jose led us through stories on Ignatius’s early life as the 13th born child in the family and what that meant as to what his life would be. The Loyola’s were the primary landlords of the area and the life of priveledge awarded to Ignatius and also his desire to become famous. From various “internships” he eventually found himself attempting to defend Pampalona from the French et al, where he was gravely wounded and sent back home to die. We saw the rooms he convalesced in and even had Fr Jose deliver another mass to the 6 of us in what was the family chapel. The Loyola ancestral home was surrounded by a new structure built by the Jesuits. The Basilica of St Ignatius is a round structure and we spent some time learning the history as well as touring inside. We then took a short walk into Azpieta, the nearby town, for a trip to the Hermitage of Our Lady of Olay, a place where Ignatius could be far enough away from the Loyola home yet be able to practice his devotion to Christ (his family was against his transformation to follow Jesus. After lunch, we walked  back further into Azpietia and visited the Church of San Sebastián de Sourasunand were able to see and pray at the baptismal font where Ignatius was baptized and also learn a little bit about Ignatius’ potential role in the changes that occurred in Vatican 2. We wrapped up our visit with a trip to the Hospital and Hostel de la Madelena , where Ignatius recovered from an illness that occurred when he was in Rome and where he was first able to convince his hometown folks of his transformation and also where the first miracle as ascribed to him. About 8 miles covered today but tomorrow we head out walking to Aria after breakfast. I’ll post some pictures different from what Paul has posted and also have some musings in later posts.

Fred