On July 31, we celebrate the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. St. Ignatius was born in northern Spain in 1491. He became an officer in the Spanish army but was wounded in a battle and during his recovery, looking for something to read, he was given a book about the life of Christ and biographies of the saints. It led him to change his life. Adopting a life of poverty, he went to live in a cave where he began writing what would become the Spiritual Exercises, a series of meditations, prayers, and practices still embraced today. The history of the Jesuits in Maine dates to well before the diocese was founded. The first Jesuits, Father Pierre Biard and Father Ennemond Masse, arrived from France in 1611, landing in Nova Scotia and then joining an expedition down the Maine coast.
