Inigo Lopez de Loyola was born into a wealthy Basque family in northern Spain. Small but quick of mind and body, he won appointment as a page to a wealthy confidant and treasurer to King Ferdinand. Filling his mind with chivalrous and amorous adventures from popular books, he was fired with a militant ardor that was later to transfer readily from secular to religious activities. As a young man, he was cited several times for acts of violence. When the French invaded Navarre in 1521 and attacked Pamplona, Loyola counseled defense to the death, and during the subsequent bombardment one of his legs was broken and the other injured by a cannonball. The small garrison surrendered; Loyola's life… changed abruptly. Recovering from his wounds and the operations undergone to lengthen his broken leg, Ignatius (as he now began to call himself) turned to reading stories of the saints and of Christ. He quickly developed an aversion to worldly ideals and resolved to serve and imitate Christ alone. He lived in a cave in Manresa for 11 months in total poverty and there finished the first edition of his Spiritual Exercises. Though they were not finished to his satisfaction until 1541, he soon began to use them to help retreat leaders and penitents to structure their days of devotion. After a brief visit to Jerusalem, he returned to Spain, where he continually fell afoul of the Inquisition. To escape its restrictions, he traveled to the University of Paris, took a master's degree in philosophy, and gathered a company of nine companions who, in 1540, were canonically confirmed by Pope Pius III as the Society of Jesus, which became known as the Jesuits. The next year he was elected superior-general for life. Loyola's amazing abilities as spiritual director, organizer, and money raiser are revealed in his massive correspondence and in the instant success of his new order. By the time of his death, the society numbered nearly 1,000 members. Already they were leaders in the Catholic Reformation, missionaries wherever Spanish and Portuguese ships sailed, and faculty for the many seminaries the church set up to counter the Protestant insistence on an educated ministry. Ignatius was canonized in 1622.
Kampmann is also the author of Tree of Life and The Book Publisher's Handbook. He received an undergraduate degree from Brown University and a graduate degree in English at Stony Brook. Kampmann has worked in book publishing since 1970, and has taught at several universities, including Harvard, Columbia, New York University, and Hofstra. He has also led many Bible studies.