Scholars now concur that the text Ignatius Loyola dictated late in life should not be labeled an autobiography: the existing text does not cover Ignatius's entire life, and he did not write it. Jerónimo Nadal (1507-80), Ignatius's most trusted Jesuit collaborator, urged that the text be titled Acts as the word is used in Luke's Acts of the Apostles. Recent monographs by Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle and John W. O’Malley have characterized Ignatius's Acts as a “mirror of vainglory” and “a mirror of apostolic religious life” respectively. This study argues that an appreciation of the two Lukan New Tes ... More

Scholars now concur that the text Ignatius Loyola dictated late in life should not be labeled an autobiography: the existing text does not cover Ignatius's entire life, and he did not write it. Jerónimo Nadal (1507-80), Ignatius's most trusted Jesuit collaborator, urged that the text be titled Acts as the word is used in Luke's Acts of the Apostles. Recent monographs by Marjorie O’Rourke Boyle and John W. O’Malley have characterized Ignatius's Acts as a “mirror of vainglory” and “a mirror of apostolic religious life” respectively. This study argues that an appreciation of the two Lukan New Testament writings likewise helps interpret the theological perspectives of Ignatius. The geography of Luke's two writings and the theology that inspired Luke's redactional innovation assisted Ignatius in remembering and understanding the crucial acts of God in his own life. It also argues that one only appreciates the book by moving forward to Ignatius and his times through the Renaissance, not by viewing backwards through the Reformation. The world-affirming style of holiness to which Ignatius discerned God calling him had much in common with directions born in Italy during the Renaissance. Ignatius's commitment to education, appreciation for the Incarnation and desire for rebirth of the apostolic age reveal a dialogue with the world of Renaissance humanism. The meaning of Ignatius's Acts is best appreciated, then, in the context of the language that he dictated, the events that he chose to include or not include, and the cultures that helped to shape his expression and understanding.