Saint Ignatius of Loyola Feast Day

The feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola is coming up, July 31st!! Saint Ignatius is one of our favorite saints and we even named our fifth child Ignatius. Here are some ways we celebrate Saint Ignatius’ feast day.

First here are a few facts on Saint Ignatius

• The youngest of 13 kids
• Born in a small village named Loyola which is in Azpeitia in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in northern Spain. 
• Mother died when he was only 7 years old
• Was a soldier but was injured; during his recovery, he converted after reading the lives of the saints
• Founded the Society of Jesus; Jesuits
• Spiritual exercises
• died in Rome on 31 July 1556 from Roman Fever

Go forth and set the world on fire.

Books:

• Ignatius of Loyola – comic book style 

• Saint Ignatius of Loyola: Leading the Way – graphic novel for children ages 8-10 

• Saint Ignatius and the Company of Jesus – Chapter book by vision books 9 – 15 years old 

• Saint Ignatius Loyola – Encounter the Saints Series ages 9 – 12 years old

• Boy Saints for Little Ones – beautiful watercolor illustrations and simple introduction
• Catholic Saints for Children – Beautifully illustrated and one our family favorites

• A Catholic Child’s Illustrated Lives of the Saints – another family favorite of ours

Arts and Craft:

Herald Store has an excellent coloring page for free.

Paint Saint Ignatius peg dolls! Anything that involves painting and making a peg person is a guaranteed hit for my kids. Here is a picture of one I made a couple years ago as an Easter gift.

Videos:

For younger kids:
Stories of Saints for Kids episode 4 & 5 – cute and entertaining cartoon on Amazon Prime

For older kids and adults:

• Saint Ignatius of Loyola movie – buy on Amazon or watch on FORMED
• Spiritual Exercises
   

Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.

Prayers:

Here is a simple but lovely prayer from Saint Ignatius to say together as a family and also use for copywork.

Dearest Lord,
teach me to be generous;
teach me to serve You as You deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward
save that of knowing I am doing Your Will.
Amen.

You can download my free Saint Ignatius prayer card and display it on the feast day of Saint Ignatius.

>>DOWNLOAD SAINT IGNATIUS PRAYER CARD<<

Saint Ignatius is also part of my Alphabet Saint prayer card pack.

Teach us to give and not to count the cost.

Look up Azpeitia, Spain (birthplace)  in the Basque Country of Spain

I printed a map of Spain for the kids to color and label where Saint Ignatius’ birthplace was. You can find a free printable of Spain HERE. and use the two maps above as a guide to where to locate Azpeitia or Basque Country.

Look up the Loyola family crest 

• The wolves looking into the pot shows that they have enough food that even the wolves can come and eat (e.g. generosity)two wolves on either side of a hanging cauldron, symbolizing hospitality.
• The 7 red stripes represent the blood shed by the 7 members of the family for the king
• Gold background represents King of Spain.

Food:

I plan on making Basque country inspired food. On the menu is a Basque chicken dish from Frugal Hausfrau and Basque Cake. I am a huge cherry fan so I will be trying Sweet State of Mine and the Food Network‘s version of a Basque cake.

I also have a printable quote you can download of Saint Ignatius’ motto: Ad majórem Dei glóriam

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God freely created us so that we might know, love, and serve him in this life and be happy with him forever. God’s purpose in creating us is to draw forth from us a response of love and service here on earth, so that we may attain our goal of everlasting happiness with him in heaven.
All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.
As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.

Do you have any special ways you celebrate Saint Ignatius? Please Pin and share if you found this post useful!