The Golden Thread: A Novel about St. Ignatius Loyola

by Louis de Wohl

As in his other popular novels, Louis de Wohl, with humility and deep religious conviction, takes us into the mind and heart of a saint, giving at the same time an enthralling picture of the era in which he lived. Here is a skillful weaving of the story of St. Ignatius Loyola’s conversion and pilgrimage with the colorful and dangerous history of Spain and Italy in the early sixteenth century. The life of the very human, very great Basque nobleman who founded the Jesuit Order, makes for one of de Wohl’s finest novels. Seriously wounded at the siege of Pamplona in 1521, Don Inigo de Loyola learned that to be a Knight of God was an infinitely greater honor (and infinitely more dangerous) than to be a Knight in the forces of the Emperor. Uli von der Flue, humorous, intelligent and courageous Swiss mercenary, was responsible for the canon shot which incapacitated the worldly and ambitious young nobleman, and Uli became deeply involved in Loyola’s life. With Juanita, disguised as the boy Juan, Uli followed Loyola on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to protect him, but it was the saint who protected Uli and Juan. Through Uli’s eyes we see the surge and violence of the turbulent period in Jerusalem, Spain and Rome. Louis de Wohl has again created an exciting and spiritually inspiring novel for all readers of historical fiction.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Catholic, Fiction, Faith, Spirituality, Christianity, Novels

315 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Mr. de Wohl was a Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and his wife (nee Ruth Magdalene Lorch, whom he married in 1953) is a Lady Commander of the same Order. His fifty books include The Living Wood (Lippincott, 1947), Imperial Renegade (id., 1950), The Restless Flame (id., 1951), Throne of the World (id., 1949; published in England as Attila), The Golden Thread (Lippincott, 1952), The Second Conquest (id., 1954), Set All Afire (id., 1953), The Spear (id., 1955), and St. Joan, the Girl Soldier (Farrar, 1957) in the Vision Books series.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fictionalized account of the life of Íñigo López de Loyola. De Wohl tells the story from the perspective of the man who wounds the founder of the Jesuit order. It’s an interesting idea but keeps us at arm’s length from the enigmatic Basque Lord-turned-beggar. However, given the complexity of the man and his mission, the time and the innumerable intrigues, it was an unenviable challenge. But then, to really understand the saint, you have to do The Spiritual Exercises, not read a biography about him.

[Sergio Velazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wohl. La obra es muy buena y distinta de las otras dos que he leído este año (La luz apacible, El mendigo alegre). La de San Francisco puede ser que sea la más emocionante en términos de espiritualidad y la de Santo Tomás de Aquino por su inteligencia. Aunque no abarca hasta la muerte de San Ignacio - cómo ocurre en las otras dos -., siempre se ve lo que la presencia de un santo hace a su alrededor y a la Iglesia. San Francisco llegó en un momento en el que la Iglesia se tambaleaba; San Ignacio igual. La obra entreteje lo que era antes Iñigo de Loyola, y la transformación que tuvo. Las cosas que sufrió, el pensamiento de no creerse capaz de vivir semejante a como vivió San Francisco. Entonces busca y lucha en una época en la que había muchos problemas en la Iglesia y en Europa. A pesar de lo que su familia pueda pensar o los mismos católicos, él sigue adelante y poniendo su confianza en Dios. Dios nos lleva por caminos que no sabemos el final, lo importante es agarrarnos de su mano y sonreír y hacer. Dejar todo en su Providencia y hacer lo que nos atañe. ¡Señor, en vos confío!

[The Hofs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best De Wohl but worthwhile.

[Lawrence Martone · Rating 4 out of 5]

As is the pattern with the De Wohl novels, the life of the saint (in this case St. Ignatius of Loyola) is not the main focus. The story primarily concerns the exploits of a Swedish soldier and seems to only secondarily bring the story of St. Ignatius to life. Romance, intrigue, warfare, and politics abound, with a full supply of heroes, heroines, and villains - as they seem to do in the five de Wohl novels I've read thus far.
I will continue to read more of them, but at least I now know what to expect.

[Ocean G · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't mind the story at all, but it definitely wasn't a biography of Ignatius of Loyola, fictionalized or not. Ignatius was a secondary (or tertiary) character. In fact, you can start on page 304 and read to page 310, and you'll pretty much have his story. The rest is a cute novel about a Swiss knight and the (seemingly too young) girl he falls in love with.

[Sebastian Fricke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amount of huge story-lines, which merge together into this single stream of a novel, is quite astonishing. And it shows to me, that we are not living in the craziest of all times, but that every time had it's depressing weight of troubles, which always seem to be unstoppable.
I find Ignatius quite relatable, in that he has high ambitions, he isn't happy with just the normal, he aims higher and higher until his goal is fixed right on the peak. In a similar manner, he isn't content with just having high ideals, he offers himself completely and his past isn't a burden upon himself but it becomes the essence of how he gives himself fully.
In between, I was sometimes a bit unsure, because I love the spiritual path of human soul, while the historical facts are often a bit of nice decoration, but sometimes the story mostly seemed to focus on the decoration. The more I read it however the more I noticed, that I practically ate this book, it just gripped me and I felt with the characters. And the spiritual battles and decisions shine through but less in form articulated words and thoughts, but more in their decisions and actions, which I found really interesting, because I find that it is the same with faith, faith isn't simply expressed with a couple of words rolling over your tongue, it is expressed with your life and how you dedicate it.
All in all, I notice that this book has brought me the life of this great saint a lot closer and created a nice appetite for his teachings, it has shown the struggles of that time and beauty of how God draws beautiful lines throughout our mess of imperfection and the transformation of Ulrich was simply awesome!

[Robert Suarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

10/7/2021

Another very good read in the Historical / Fiction series of Catholic books by Louis de Wohl.
I have read nine of the books in this series and I have thoroughly enjoy each one of them.

If I had to pick one of these books as my favorite I would have to choose "The Spear". I suppose I feel this way more because I have always been fascinated with both the Centurion Cassius Longinus and Claudia Procula. Both of these characters appear in the Bible at the crucial hour of our Lords crucifixion and seem to disappear into thin air. Of course they did not disappear and their stories have been told down through the centuries.

Unfortunately, St. Ignatius Loyola does not grasp my imagination or my curiosity to the same degree. If truth be told - I have to admit I am not a big fan of "Ignation spirituality" nor of the Jesuit order. Never-the-less "The Golden Thread" is a very good and entertaining book. And I highly recommend any one of the books from this series.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to like and get more out of this one... The writing and story were good, I just was expecting and wanting the story to be told from the viewpoint of Ignatius and learn more of what he went through spiritually during his conversion. That wasn't touched on very much. I did enjoy the story about the main characters, but I was expecting the bulk of the story to be about St. Ignatius and his inner world, and not mainly about two people that followed him around on pilgrimage (even if their lives were very much changed by the experience).

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book from Louis de Wohl. I'm going to be sad when I have finished all his books about these great men and women of God. This one is about St. Ignatius Loyola, and it was particularly pertinent to me, because I have been studying the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. His story is truly amazing, with a conversion and deepening of his faith, woven with the stories of two other wonderful characters. So glad I read this.

[Ygrable · Rating 3 out of 5]

Casi todos los libros sobre Santos de Louis de Wohl son una ayuda para comprender la vida de ese Santo. Te ayuda a mimetizarte, a ponerte en la piel y en última instancia a mirar a Cristo como el Santo lo miraba. Sin embargo, en esta historia se hace mucho más hincapié en el momento histórico que en la vida de San Ignacio.

[Fernando Amezcua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela histórica de una verdadera transformación.

[Writers of Creativity · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good, fictionalized story of Ignatius of Loyola from the perspective of the man who hit him with the cannonball!

[Gilbert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book as a gift since my friend knew I admired Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. I, too, thought this would be a great read and get to know what it might have been like for Ignatius in his day.

What I quickly found out at the beginning of my read is that the tale was being told by another character who happens to be the one to cripple the leg of Ignatius with a cannon ball. That's not bad, but the first hundred pages are dedicated to telling the fictional tale of the main character, and hardly any Ignatius introduction at all. I wasn't interested in reading about a knight fighting for his dignity and life. I skipped part one after 40 pages.

Part two gets you to Ignatius lying in bed, crippled, and looking for something to read. I was hooked since this event is where Ignatius had his first revelation and conversion experience. It was all good and decent reading until part three.

Part three you have the knight, I forgot his name, being bewildered about his strong love for the pre-teen girl he saved and had taken along for the journey. As soon as he decides that he can not keep having her along his side due to inconvenience and safety, he also ends up admitting, out loud to her, that he was in love with her but alas, must continue his journey.

I had to stop. This didn't seem historically plausible. I doubt men where confessing love to pre-teens. Yes, they were marrying young girls back then but I doubted that love stories developed frequently between old men and little girls. The writer seemed to be validating that "back in the day" there was love stories occuring very naturally between men and a girl children.

Sorry, I didn't have the stomach to go on. The writer could have made it interesting in making the child the knight's lost daughter, not a out-of-the-blue soul mate.

Any how, there are better books out there, so don't use your time for this one.

[Jozo Mandić · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odlična knjiga! Lijepa pozadisnka radnja! Toplo preporučujem :)

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable read.