Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
The Spiritual Exercises
of St. Ignatius of Loyola
A 30-day retreat in four movements — from the First Principle and Foundation through sin, mercy, the life of Christ, the Passion, and the Resurrection.
Portrait by Jacopino del Conte, c. 1556 · The only portrait painted from life during Ignatius's lifetime
Daily Examen
Ignatius considered this the most essential daily prayer — 16 minutes, five steps, any time of day.
Who was St. Ignatius?
Íñigo López de Loyola (1491–1556) was a Basque soldier whose life was shattered by a cannonball at the Battle of Pamplona in 1521. During his long convalescence, with nothing to read but the lives of the saints and a life of Christ, something shifted.
After a year-long vigil at the cave of Manresa, where he prayed for hours each day and experienced both deep consolation and devastating desolation, Ignatius began writing down what he had learned — not theology, but method. How to pray. How to notice God's movements in the soul. How to make a decision in freedom.
The result was the Spiritual Exercises — a 30-day retreat that has formed saints, missionaries, and ordinary Christians for five centuries. He founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1540 and was canonized in 1622.
Portraits of St. Ignatius
Five centuries of painters returned to this face — the soldier turned mystic, founder of the Jesuits.
c. 1556
c. 1609
c. 1600s
17th century
17th century
What are the Spiritual Exercises?
The Spiritual Exercises are a structured 30-day retreat — a school of prayer designed not to teach doctrine but to produce an encounter with God that reorders the whole of a person's life.
Ignatius developed them over years of his own intense prayer, tested them on others, and refined them into a guide that has formed saints, missionaries, and ordinary Christians for nearly five centuries.
The Exercises are not primarily a text to read. They are a practice to enter. Each meditation is a scene to inhabit, a truth to sit with, a grace to ask for and receive. This guide is designed to be prayed, not merely read — one exercise per day, with time for silence afterward.
How to use this retreat
One exercise per day
Spend 20–30 minutes with each meditation. Read slowly. Pause. Let the grace to ask for settle in you before you move to the points.
Begin with the Examen
The Daily Examen is the backbone of Ignatian prayer. Practice it every evening, even on days when you cannot do a full exercise.
Stay in desolation
If a meditation is difficult or dry, Ignatius says: stay. Don't move on. The darkness is part of the retreat. Ask for the grace again.
The Four Movements
The Foundation
The First Principle and Foundation — why we exist and what we are for.
1 meditation
Week One — The Purgative Way
Meditation on sin, death, mercy, and the infinite patience of God toward us.
8 meditations
Week Two — The Illuminative Way
Contemplation on the life of Christ — His Incarnation, ministry, and the Election.
10 meditations
Week Three — The Passion
Walking with Jesus through His Passion, sharing in His suffering and love.
7 meditations
Week Four — The Resurrection
The joy of the Resurrection and the Contemplation for Attaining Love.
6 meditations
"In all things, love God."
St. Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (1491–1556)