The Pilgrim of Loyola

St. Ignatius’ Autobiography as a School of Spiritual Discernment

It is not easy to write an in-depth study of St. Ignatius of Loyola for a general readership. There are so many different sources that aspiring writers need to have read very deeply indeed to be sure of what they say. Pablo Cervera, the author of this commentary on the Autobiography of St. Ignatius of Loyola, shows that he has indeed read plenty of biographies of St. Ignatius, as well as studies about him and about the Autobiography itself.

What Cervera accomplishes in The Pilgrim of Loyola is not merely a biographical study of St. Ignatius based on the Autobiography, and still less a display of his own erudition. What drives him to write is his devotion to and love for St. Ignatius, and his understanding of what a canonized saint should be in the life of the Church: an example, an intercessor, and a help for the faithful of every age and in any setting, to improve their lives.