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What kind of family did St. Ignatius of Loyola grow up in?
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St. Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish theologian who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1534. The Jesuit order received official papal approval in 1540 and became a key player in the Counter-Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries.
St. Ignatius of Loyola was born Iñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola into a noble and wealthy family. He was the youngest of 13 children and grew up in the ancestral castle of the Loyolas, located in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa.12
His early life was marked by the loss of his mother when he was seven years old. As a young man, he pursued a path typical of his social standing, serving as a page to a relative and later becoming a knight involved in military and diplomatic service. During this period, he described himself as a man focused on worldly vanities and the pursuit of renown through martial exercises.21