EUROPE/SPAIN - Next event in Jesuit Jubilee year: Monday 31 July 450th anniversary of the death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Loyola (Agenzia Fides) - This year the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola on 31 July falls in a special Jesuit Jubilee Year celebrated by the Society of Jesus all over the world to honour St Ignatius the Founder on the 450th anniversary of his death and his first companions Saint Francis Xavier and Blessed Pedro Favre (see Fides 22/6/2006) on the 500th anniversary of their birth.
In the town of Loyola a special mass will be presided by Jesuit Archbishop Pedro R. Barreto from Huancayo in Peru and concelebrated by the European Jesuit provincials. In keeping with tradition the next day August 1 another Mass will be concelebrated by the bishops of the surrounding Spanish dioceses San Sebastián, Bilbao, Vitoria, Pamplona and Bayona. Besides these two major events, masses in honour of Saint Ignatius will be celebrated all over the country.
Jubilee celebrations in Loyola 29 June - 3 September include a World Congress on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises (20-26 August) with participants from all over the world, and a closing Jubilee Mass presided by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray from Rome. A permanent exhibition on St Ignatius and the origin of the Society from the 16th century has been opened in Loyola. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 28/7/2006; righe 20, parole 260)
See http://www.loyola2006.org