Lowther
JAMES WILLIAM, an English politician born in 1855. Educated at King's College, London, and Cambridge University, where he won honors in classical and law tripos. Became a barrister in 1879, a Bencher in the Middle Temple in 1906. Elected a Member of Parliament for Rutland in 1883. Contested Mid Cumberland in Biscayan family. He was attached in his youth as a page to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, and trained up in all the vices and frivolities peculiar to his position. When still a young man he entered the army, and during the defense of Pampeluna in 1521 against the French he was severely wounded, and a long and tedious confinement was the result. The only books he found to relieve its tedium were books of devotion LOYOLA UNIVERSITY and the lives of saints. This course of reading induced a fit of mystical devotion in which he renounced the world, made a formal visit to the shrine of the Virgin at Montserrat, and vowed himself her knight (1522). After his dedication he made a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, and from 1524 to 1527 attended the schools and universities of Barcelona, Alcala, and Salamanca. In 1528 he went to Paris, where he went through a seven years' course of general and theological training. Here in 1534 he IGNATIUS LOYOLA formed the first nucleus of the society which afterward became so famous, François Xavier, Professor of Philosophy, Lainez, and others having in conjunction with Loyola bound themselves together to devote themselves to the care of the Church and the conversion of infidels. Rome ultimately became their headquarters, when Loyola submitted the plans of his new order to Paul III., who, under certain limitations, confirmed it in 1540 (see JESUITS). Loyola continued to reside in Rome and govern the society he had constituted till his death, July 31, 1556. He was beatified in 1609 by Paul V., and canonized in 1622 by Gregory XV.