To whom did Ignatius Loyola offered his sword?

Answer 1

Some 470 years ago, an event occured in a remote abbey near Manresa, in what is now Spain, which has great significance to Saint Louis University. A basque soldier-knight, Inigo Lopez de Loyola, had been seriously wounded fighting the French at Pamplona in 1521. During a long recuperation at his home in Loyola, he had ample time to consider his first thirty years - years that he himself characterized as "given to the follies of the world ... the enjoyment of warlike sport ... and a great and foolish deriser to win fame." He resolved to change his life completely and to devote himself to God and the Church. To that end, in March of 1522, he undertook a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady at the Abbey of Montserrat near Manresa. In keeping with his knightly upbringing, he determined to make a vigil at the shrine laying his sword and dagger on the alter and offering his life to the service of Our Lady as a knight of God.
Later he experienced a series of mystical graces that led him to a very different life and a fame beyond the greatest dreams of his youthful years. He left his sword behind and began a journey that led him to establish the Society of Jesus and, after his death, to his canonization at Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

That sword of Ignatius Loyola is symbolic of the Ignatian vision of service and has been selected as Saint Louis Univeristy's highest honor for individual achievement. The Sword of Ignatius Loyola Award is given to those who have given of themselves to humankind to the greater glory of God.

Answer 2

The Virgin Mary.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states:

"When Ignatius left Loyola he had no definite plans for the future, except that he wished to rival all the saints had done in the way of penance. His first care was to make a general confession at the famous sanctuary of Montserrat, where, after three days of self-examination, and carefully noting his sins, he confessed, gave to the poor the rich clothes in which he had come, and put on garment of sack-cloth reaching to his feet. His sword and dagger he suspended at Our Lady's altar, and passed the night watching before them."

Answer 3

to me