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A cannonball breaks a soldier’s leg—and opens a question about what his life is for.
In The Autobiography of St. Ignatius, Ignatius of Loyola moves from nobleman and soldier to pilgrim and founder of the Jesuits. His account begins with a shattered leg and follows him through sickness, begging, prison and study. Along the way, his attention turns inward: how can he understand his changing moods and choose a direction?
Ignatius calls himself “the pilgrim” and tells his story in the third person, with a plain, almost reporting tone. The focus stays on his inner life rather than a full history of the Jesuits. From the hardships of Manresa to studies in Paris with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier, outward journeys meet the slow work of discernment.
What you’ll discover
- A soldier forced to stop Follow a proud man as injury interrupts his old life and gives him room to question.
- The lessons within daydreams Explore the early lessons of discernment that later shape the Spiritual Exercises.
- Hard days at Manresa Encounter a pilgrim who begs for food and lives with great severity.
- A return to learning Follow Ignatius back to school as his search for direction takes another demanding turn.
- Companions in Paris Meet Peter Faber and Francis Xavier as Ignatius studies and gathers companions.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like true stories of change, saints who are real people, and honest accounts of how a person learns to read his own moods.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A soldier's ambition meets a cannonball
- Thoughts reveal themselves by their aftereffects
- Old habits follow a new calling
- Inner struggle calls for careful judgment
- Trust must leave room for refusal
- Study becomes part of serving others
- A calling begins to gather companions
- Blocked plans open another way forward
- Self examination keeps the journey open
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The Autobiography of St. Ignatius
by Saint Ignatius of Loyola · 1731
A cannonball shatters a soldier's leg at Pamplona, and a sickbed with two borrowed books redirects his life.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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“One is enough for me.”
In short
Picture a young Basque soldier of twenty-six, proud of his name and ready to die for a fort that every other officer wants to give up. At Pamplona, a French cannonball breaks one of his legs and wounds the other.
The Autobiography of St. Ignatius at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h 25 min1 h 10 min fast, 1 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 20,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1731by Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A proud soldier falls at Pamplona
The book opens with a blunt judgment. Until the age of twenty-six, Ignatius was caught up in the vanities of the world. He loved military life and wanted to make a great name for himself.
The French besiege the citadel of Pamplona. The other officers agree that the place cannot hold out. Ignatius argues so well that the commander decides to fight on. Then the walls come down, and a cannonball breaks one of his legs and badly injures the other. The French admire his courage and send him on a litter to Loyola.
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Details
- First published
- 1731
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 40 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Ignatius of Loyola. The Autobiography of St. Ignatius. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-autobiography-of-st-ignatius.
Ignatius of Loyola. (2026). The autobiography of St. Ignatius. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-autobiography-of-st-ignatius (Original work published 1731)
Ignatius of Loyola. The Autobiography of St. Ignatius. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-autobiography-of-st-ignatius.
@book{ignatiusofloyola2026autobiography,
author = {Ignatius of Loyola},
title = {The Autobiography of St. Ignatius},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-autobiography-of-st-ignatius},
note = {First published 1731}
}
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What is The Autobiography of St. Ignatius about?
It tells how Ignatius of Loyola, a wounded Spanish soldier, changes his life through reading and prayer. It follows his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, his studies in Spain and Paris, and the gathering of the first companions.
Who wrote The Autobiography of St. Ignatius and when?
Ignatius dictated it to Father Gonzalez near the end of his life. The text itself says it was written in August 1555. He died in 1556, so the book comes from his final years.
Why does Ignatius call himself the pilgrim?
He tells the story in the third person and names himself the pilgrim, a word that fits his journeys to Rome, Jerusalem and Paris. The plain, objective tone lets him describe his own mistakes and faults frankly.
The author
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
1491–1556 · Spanish theologian and Jesuit founder
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish Catholic priest born in Loyola in 1491. He lived in Spain, studied in Paris, and later settled in Rome. He wrote the Spiritual Exercises and dictated an account of his life in the 1550s. He helped found the Society of Jesus in 1540 and died in Rome in 1556.
“One is enough for me.”
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