Ignacio, the years of the sword. Iñigo; who would be later known as Ignacio of Loyola was among the passengers who embarked on a ship heading for Italy on 19th March1523. Resting on the ship board, he saw how the port, the people and the houses in Barcelona moved off. Some of the passengers waved their hands happily as a good-bye signal. He was saying goodbye to a part of his life which he did not know whether he could forget some day: his childhood in Avila, his court education, his relationship with the king and the queen, the visits to his native tower-house in the forests in Azpeitia, his period in the service of the viceroy in Navarre… They were years which hurt him at that time and which came back like ghosts to hurt his painfukl soul. They were his years of luxury, challenges, won women and despaired lovers, competitions, gambling, wine, parties and music, violence and war…
