Our Patrons are St. Paul and St. Ignatius
Before Paul met Jesus, he had been called Saul. He was a short man, full of energy and emotion. He always acted with great intensity and held his beliefs very strongly. At first he hated Jesus and persecuted the Christians. One day while riding on a horse he was knocked to the ground by what seemed like a lightning bolt. During the next few days he began to believe in Jesus, he was baptized, and his name was changed to Paul. He went from city to city telling everyone Jesus was Lord. Wherever Paul went, he started new communities of Christians. He treated each community like a large family that belonged to Jesus. Paul's love for Jesus was like a fire that burned in his heart. In Rome, Paul's enemies put him in prison where he continued to make converts until the soldiers put him to death by cutting off his head. Feast of St. Paul is June 29th.
In 1521, Ignatius Loyola, as a soldier had his knee wounded in battle. While he was recovering from his wound, he began reading about Christ and the saints. "I can do what they did," he said to himself. Ignatius pictured the world as a battlefield, so he decided to become a "soldier of Christ." While at the University of Paris, Ignatius began to gather friends who wanted to serve with him under the banner of Christ. These young men called themselves the Companions of Jesus. People nicknamed them the Jesuits, and the order became known as the Society of Jesus. "The companions were ready to do any work or go anywhere in the world for God's greater glory", Ignatius said. The Jesuits became famous as teachers and missionaries. Amid all their fame, they chose to live among the poor and to teach the catechism to children. Feast of St. Ignatius is July 31st.