Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus
Dear members of the SLU community,
On this day in the year of Our Lord 1556, Ignatius Loyola died in Rome. When Ignatius was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622, July 31 was chosen as his feast day. And today, throughout the world in Jesuit communities and in Jesuit works, we celebrate the life of a visionary, a mystic and a person certainly graced by God.
St. Ignatius’ inspiration to cast aside a life of privilege and to take up a life of generous service for “the greater glory of God” has guided Saint Louis University for two centuries. It is unlikely that St. Ignatius could have imagined how his experience of conversion would result in an international Jesuit university that even has a campus in the nation of his birth!
During his life, St. Ignatius and his Jesuit companions helped lead the renewal of the Church, promoted the sharing of the Gospel with others near and far, established the foundation for what is today the largest system of private education in the world and exhorted Jesuits as well as nobles and common folk to care for and advocate for the poor and the marginalized. His Spiritual Exercises have given us a powerful method of prayer that encourages persons of faith to discern more deeply our relationship to God and our place in the beauty of God’s creation.
So many of you who are reading this message on this feast day have and continue to place yourselves at the service of others. We are grateful for the ways you live the example of St. Ignatius. To our benefactors, we are grateful for your generosity and prayerful support of Saint Louis University. We all walk in the footsteps of those who have come before us and, like St. Ignatius and his first companions, we, too, seek for justice, equity and opportunity for all whom we meet. Let us take inspiration from the example of St. Ignatius and continue as pilgrims on a journey guided by faith, filled with hope and inspired by love.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
Edward Feser, Ph.D.
President
David J. Suwalsky, S.J., Ph.D.
Vice President for Mission and Identity