St. Ignatius was like many of us.

In 1506, he was just a boy, standing in front of a blacksmith shop, asking the world to make him famous knight.

Ignatius’s original name was Inigo, and he was born and raised in Spain. In those days, pre-American Idol, DWTS, or The Bachelor, one of the only routes to fame and fortune was the knighthood.   Good with a sword, great on the dance floor, and dashing knightly leggings (historical fact), Inigo chased and fulfilled his dream.

However, like many who find fame at a young age, he was a bit of a rakish cad.

It was noted by age 18, Inigo would eagerly duel anyone who even slightly opposed him. He would also walk around in a way that made his cape swing open so everyone could see just how good he looked in his leggings.  (A little hard to fault him on this point.) By all accounts, young, dashing Inigo seemed to feel he had his northern-Spanish, 16th-century world by the tail.

Enter the Battle of Pamplona.

At age 29, Inigo was gravely wounded by a cannon-ball-to-the-legs when the French stormed the fortress. His right leg was wounded and his left leg nearly shattered.

Inigo endured a series of surgeries which restored his ability to walk, albeit with a limp. This was pre-anesthesia. In 1521, surgeries were a horrific spectator sport for the patient and often did more harm than good. Medicine was primitive, risky, and painful.

When pressed by Inigo, the doctors admitted there was one more surgery they could do which would be the most painful surgery yet, and wouldn’t improve Inigo’s mobility at all. The brutal surgery would involve re-opening his wound, sawing off part of the bone, and stretching the leg with an iron machine.  While would not help Inigo’s mobility, it would make his leggings fit more evenly.

The doctors strongly advised against it.

Inigo went for it.

While recovering from this (cosmetic?) procedure, Inigo, a man of action, was lying in his hospital bed with nothing to do. Since the hospital was part of the church, and since it was 1521, the only reading materials available were the Holy Bible and Vita Christi.

A captive audience, Inigo read through both repeatedly, meditating on the life of Christ.

He was never the same.