The Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola

     I was really excited to be able to see the church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola today because I've heard so much about Saint Ignatius himself.  Ignatius was a Spanish knight who underwent a conversion while resting after being badly wounded in battle.  This occurred in the 1520's right around the counter-reformation of the Catholic church.  He went on to found the religious order called the Jesuits which stands for the Society of Jesus.  Ignatius and his followers vowed themselves to poverty, chastity, and obedience.  Saint Ignatius is also the patron saint of soldiers.

     The Church of Saint Ignatius is a baroque style church with artwork inside reflecting that period of time.  What is unique about this church is the large fresco painted on the ceiling of the nave.  It is a colorful representation of Ignatius of Loyola's ascension into heaven.  Other saints surround him in the sky as if they are all ascending together, however, people lower to the ground are seeing as being rejected from heaven.  This judgement scene is commonly depicted in Baroque art because it represents the need to understand what salvation means and what could happen if you do not live your life following Jesus.  However, this scene isn't as dark or scary as other last judgement artworks.  It was common in the Baroque period to capture a happy death, meaning one must live well to die well.  Death will not be tragic and miserable knowing you lived a good life and will be accepted into heaven.

    The fresco itself has a lot going on Ignatius is shown going up into Heaven with Jesus shining a beam of light that reflect into Jesus' heart.  The idea is that Jesus' light reflecting into Ignatius is spread from Ignatius to others.  Also on the fresco there are different representations of the continents of the world.  The purpose is to show that Jesuits went to the four corners of the earth to spread the gospel.  We learned in class Jesuits truly valued knowledge and education and wanted to share that with others. Their mission trips to Asia were most successful with Matteo Ricci who tried to assimilate and educate those inhabitants without imposing on their culture and present beliefs.  This church overall represents the active spirit of Jesuits in the world striving to make it a better place by helping and educating people.