From the Principal

The Ignatian Year

In the past few weeks, I have attended Catholic Education WA (CEWA), Loreto and Jesuit Principal meetings. Two of the meetings have been conducted online, reflective of our current world.

The Jesuit Principal meeting focused on the celebration of an Ignatian Year which will run from May 2021 until July 2022. It is a time of celebration, prayer and reflection as we remember the origin of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). 

The story goes back to an attack on the Castle at Pamplona that took place 500 years ago. It pitted the Spanish King who was trying to unify Spain against forces from the local Kingdom of Navarre aided by French soldiers. The small event for which the battle is now best remembered was the wounding of a knight defending the castle. His leg was struck by a ricocheting cannon ball. His injury led to the inevitable surrender of the castle. For the wounded knight, Iñigo of Loyola, it also led to a long convalescence which changed the direction of his life and shaped the church and world that we inherit.

The key to this change lay in the history and the inner life of the injured man himself. He was a representative of his age – with high aspirations, his heart set on life at court, on military prowess, achievement in war, on falling in love, on public esteem and on rising in society. This was not part of his plan. And crucially, he began to reflect both on his dreams and on his life.

His journey led to the forming of a religious congregation characterised by its gift for spiritual conversation and a reflective life. He named the congregation after Jesus; whose following was central both to the path he took and to the reflection he encouraged.

At the centre of the Ignatian Year is the 400th anniversary of the canonization of St Ignatius, on 12 March 2022. Our College is blessed to have the stories of Ignatius Loyola, Mary Ward and Pope John XXIII. 

Robert Henderson

Principal