From vanity to poverty

As soon as he regained his health, Iñigo left home on pilgrimage with a determination to serve Christ and the Virgin Mary.  Before the statue of the Black Madonna at the shrine of Montserrat, the pilgrim renounced his former ways with all its vanities and dedicated himself to his new Master.  From this time on he lived a simple lifestyle, embracing poverty.

From the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat high among the wild and jagged peaks, the pilgrim descended to the bustle of the nearby town of Manresa, and for ten months Iņigo learned to interpret the way in which God deals with the individual soul.  He first punished his body.  Reacting against his former tendency to vanity he gave away his fine clothes in exchange for rough sacking.  He cut neither hair nor nails and took no care of his appearance.  He begged daily for his meagre food.  During this time Iņigo suffered from scruples.  Sinner that he had been, he struggled to believe that the Lord had forgiven him.