St. Ignatius of Loyola and Montserrat – Video

In this 8 minute video, Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Ph.D. (Dr. Italy) shares some inspiring history and some little-known facts about St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.  Filmed during his Spain & Lourdes pilgrimage, spring 2026.

During the ride to the mountaintop shrine of Montserrat in Spain, on our pilgrimage in spring of 2026, Dr. Italy shared some of the fascinating and fun background of the 16th century saint who reached a dramatic turning point in his life while visiting the same shrine – St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Born to a noble Basque family, St. Ignatius was the youngest of 13 children, and for the first part of his life was primarily interested in glory and battles.  But a serious battlefield injury laid him up for almost a year, and during that time he had only books on the life of Christ and the saints to read.  This experience set the stage for an amazing course correction in his life, which Dr. Italy relates in the video.

Image:  Grande spettacolo di teatro popolare by Rubin Pedrazzo Stefano.  CC-by-SA 4.0.

Above:  Shrine of Montserrat.  Photo by Dr. Italy, April 2026.

For more on St. Ignatius and his famous method for discernment, check out this post: St. Ignatius of Loyola and Discernment of Spirits.