In God's Army: Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and the Kingship of Christ

In God’s Army: Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and the Kingship of Christ gathers Father Cyril Charles Martindale’s classic studies of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier into a single volume devoted to the spiritual origins and global mission of the Society of Jesus. First published with ecclesiastical approval in the early twentieth century, these works reflect a period when Catholic biography joined historical rigor with theological seriousness.

Martindale presents Ignatius as a founder whose conversion transformed military discipline into spiritual formation. Through the Spiritual Exercises and the ordering of Jesuit life, Ignatius shaped men whose interior obedience mirrored the sovereignty of Christ over the soul, the Church, and the world. Francis Xavier stands as the living fruit of that formation, extending Christ’s reign through missionary labor across India, Japan, and the East, bearing the Gospel through sacrifice, endurance, and apostolic charity.

Throughout both lives, the Kingship of Christ remains the unifying principle. Authority flows from God, mission serves divine order, and sanctity becomes the means by which Christ governs history. Martindale’s prose combines clarity, conviction, and reverence, offering readers a vision of Catholic action grounded in hierarchy, discipline, and supernatural purpose.