The Biography of Ignatius of Loyola

The biography of Ignatius of Loyola seems fictitious. To read it in this century, to read it in the West, observing what the West has become, its great cities, its concerns, is like putting oneself in front of an absurd narrative. It is amazing the simplicity with which stupefying facts are presented in this “Autobiography”, written by Father Luís Gonçalves da Câmara, who limited himself to transcribing what he heard from the mouth of Ignatius. A few times, we read that Ignatius risked his life during his trajectory, but the impression we get is that, since he left his father’s house, he was always under constant threat. Imprisonment, trials, persecution, sickness, incredible poverty… it is hard to imagine harsher conditions for this man reputed to be a saint. The mere fact that he passed the sixth decade of his life, as he did, already seems to us, unaccustomed men, a true miracle.