David Birchall SJ shares the inspiration behind The Ignatian Year

November 30, 2021

Five Hundred Years of Conversion: 1521 - 2021

Religious groups typically celebrate the birth or death of their founder, and when significant numbers ending in zeros are reached, the celebrations generally take place with extra enthusiasm. But the Jesuits, and those who consider their foundation to be centred on St Ignatius of Loyola, celebrate this year neither a birth nor a death, but an event that began with a life-threatening war-wound.
This year, 2021, is 500 years since French troops with local Navarrese help attacked Pamplona, the capital of Navarre, held at that time by the Spanish Crown. Iñigo López de Loyola was the right-hand man of the Spanish Viceroy of Navarre who convinced the Spanish forces, against their better judgement, to try to hold out against a superior French force. In the process of the action, this rather hot-headed and determined Basque had one of his legs broken by a French cannon. And so began a great metanoia in the life of the man now known as St Ignatius Loyola.

The above excerpt is from an article by David Birchall SJ, Five Hundred Years of Conversion: 1521-2021, published in The Pastoral Review, Vol 17, Issue 4 (October/November/December2021), pg. 56-59. Click on the link below to read the article in full.

A pilgrimage to the UN's climate change conference

December 22, 2021

"Why take up the crazy idea of walking all the way to COP26? I guess the answer lies in my faith…"

Novena for the Canonization of Fr. Pedro Arrupe SJ to begin on November 5th

October 31, 2024

The life of Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ continues to inspire countless individuals

An update from Aleppo a month after the earthquake

March 6, 2023

Fr Tony O'Riordan of the Jesuit Refugee Service spoke with the BBC about the situation on the ground

Tackling housing injustice with kindness and hospitality

February 18, 2022

Please read this blog by Amy-Leigh Hatton, Accommodation Officer at Jesuit Refugee Service UK.