He had
been wounded and lamed for life and while he was in the hospital
he had seen a vision of the Holy Virgin and her Son, who
bade him give up the wickedness of his former life. He decided
to go to the Holy Land and finish the task of the Crusades.
But a visit to Jerusalem had shown him the impossibility
of the task and he returned west to help in the warfare
upon the heresies of the Lutherans.
In the year 1534 he was studying in Paris at the Sorbonne.
Together with seven other students he founded a fraternity.
The eight men promised each other that they would lead holy
lives, that they would not strive after riches but after righteousness,
and would devote themselves, body and soul, to the service
of the Church. A few years later this small fraternity
had grown into a regular organisation and was recognised by
Pope Paul III as the Society of Jesus.
Loyola had been a military man. He believed in discipline,
and absolute obedience to the orders of the superior dignitaries
became one of the main causes for the enormous success of the
Jesuits. They specialised in education. They gave their
teachers a most thorough-going education before they allowed
them to talk to a single pupil. They lived with their students
and they entered into their games. They watched them with
tender care. And as a result they raised a new generation of
faithful Catholics who took their religious duties as seriously
as the people of the early Middle Ages.
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