Entre Roma y Castilla el proyecto del Santuario de Loyola y su función como marcador visual en la Compañía de Jesús

Abstract

The project of the Sanctuary of Loyola establishes a clear example of the tensions between the Roman leadership and the province of Castile. This monument is a product of this dichotomy within the Society of Jesus, in which the development of the universal concepts of the Jesuits was adapted to local conditions and traditions. Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491 in the family home in Azpeitia and it was also there that his spiritual conversion took place in 1521 after he had previously been wounded in the siege of Pamplona. These two events turned the tower-house of the Loyola family into a place of special devotional and symbolic importance for the Jesuits, who set out to acquire the Santa Casa to convert it into a sanctuary in memory of their founder. The architect Carlo Fontana designed a circular church in the centreof a rectangular structure which housed the Santa Casa inside as a reliquary. The balance between the universal and the local is also evident in the Christological and Ignatian programme displayed in the Sanctuary of Loyola, a true visual marker for Jesuit spirituality.