Jesuitica: Broken Leg Day

April 13, 2010 in General, News

ignatius_01Sixty years ago in the Jesuit noviciate at Emo, Co. Laois, the novices would mark particular feasts with a cup of coffee after dinner. One such occasion was Broken Leg Day, commemorating the breaking of St Ignatius’ leg by a cannonball, which signalled an end to the siege of Pamplona and the start of Inigo’s conversion. When Tom Layden’s nomination as the next Provincial was announced on the Thursday of Easter Week, some of the brethren linked it with Broken Leg Day. The French launched their final attack on Pamplona on Whit Sunday, 20th May 1521, and the iconic cannonball hit its as-yet-unsaintly target next day. Can anyone recall when was Broken Leg Day, marked by the noviciate Coffee?