St.Xavier's College

About Institution

The founder of the society of Jesus ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA, born in 1491, was the last child of a large Basque family in Spain. The name loyola came from the ancestral castle that was the family heritage. Ignatius was trained in arms and the etiquette of court life. He enlisted himself in the border wars with France and was badly wounded in a battle in 1521. As he lay convalescing at Loyola, he followed Christ by giving up all worldly ambitions and trappings of power and embracing a life of poverty, sacrifice and service after the example of his mentors. He began this new life at the age of 31. He spent a year of severe penance and intense prayer in a solitary cave on the banks of the river Cardoner near the town of Manresa in Spain.