Unable to realise their dream of travelling to the Holy Land, the companions decided to offer their services to Pope Paul III, as agreed in Montmartre, since he would surely know the greater needs of the universal Church. The first to arrive in Rome were Ignatius, Favre, and Laínez.
At the little village of La Storta, some twelve miles from Rome, on the Via Cassia, stood a half-ruined chapel. As Ignatius entered the chapel in early November 1537, he was filled with an overwhelming desire to obtain from God the favour for which he had prayed since his early days at Manresa. He had prayed to Our Lady to place him with her Son, Jesus, to be received under the standard of the Cross, and to be totally accepted into his companionship. We are told in The Autobiography that at La Storta “he sensed such a change in his soul, and he saw so clearly that God the Father was putting him with Christ, his Son, that he would not have the wilfulness to have any doubt about this: it could only be that God the Father was putting him with his Son.”55
Pedro de Ribadeneira, in his life of Ignatius, tells us that “he saw clearly how God the Father commended Ignatius and his companions in a loving way to God the Son as he was carrying the cross, and put them under the protection of his invincible right hand. When Jesus had most graciously received them, turning to Ignatius with a mild and untroubled expression, even while he was with the cross, he said, ‘I will be favourable to you in Rome.’ Ignatius was indescribably consoled by this marvellous divine vision.”56
After this mystical experience of La Storta, Ignatius is reported to have said to his companion, Diego Laínez, who was the principal witness of this event, “What lies ahead of us in Rome I have no idea, whether God wants us to be put on a cross or on the wheel. But this I have discovered and know for sure: whatever outcome awaits us, Jesus Christ is going to be favourable to us.”57 On entering Rome, Ignatius saw in advance that “a terrible storm” was looming over himself and his companions. He is reported as saying to them, “I see all doors shut; some great storm in a bad season has been prepared for us. But we are relying on Jesus; he will be favourable to us.”58 After the vision of La Storta, Ignatius had an absolute certainty about the protection of the crucified Jesus but was unsure how this would manifest itself.
One immediate sign of the Lord’s favour was the reception Ignatius received from Dr. Pedro Ortiz. As soon as he arrived in Rome, Ortiz asked Ignatius himself to guide him through the Spiritual Exercises. What a change had come over him! He and Ignatius retired to the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, where they spent forty days engaged in the full Spiritual Exercises. Ortiz would speak afterwards about the tremendous favour he had received from Ignatius.
Pedro Ortiz gained access to Pope Paul III once again for Ignatius, Favre, and Laínez. The pope unexpectedly appointed Laínez and Favre as lecturers in theology at the University of Rome, the Sapientia, while Ignatius continued to guide people through the Spiritual Exercises. Among the most important of these individuals was Cardinal Gasparo Contarini, who would soon be the key figure in winning papal approval for the new Society of Jesus.
Gradually, the rest of the early companions began to drift into Rome, and they were soon preaching and teaching catechism in Spanish and in faulty Italian. They went begging in the streets, both for themselves and for the poor. Soon the people of Rome began to refer to them as “pilgrim priests” or “reformed priests,” so impressed were they by the sincerity and pastoral zeal of these first companions.