THERE'S ONLY ONE STORY:

Gallivanting through the rolling Spanish landscape, sallying forth without hesitation on another courageous mission, Don Quixote rides into the mind of the reader upon his aged nag and in his tattered and crudely-fashioned armor. His shocking appearance and eccentricities may prompt the reader to attempt to brush him off as ridiculous, but Don Quixote's passion and personality cling closely to the reader's mind. We can easily call Don Quixote a "madman," but his intelligence and kind spirit are reasons for a reevaluation. As we look at the world through Don Quixote's eyes, his actions and motives bear a similarity to the protagonist of an unexpected genre.

In his perceived insanity, Don Quixote takes on not only the identity of a knight but also the identity of a saint. Thus, Don Quixote's tale falls under the genre of a hagiography, a text about the life of a saint. One saint that stands out as an analogue to Don Quixote is Ignatius of Loyola, a famous Spanish saint who founded the Society of Jesus--the Jesuits--and whose death and subsequent beatification and canonization occurred during roughly the same time period as Don Quixote's writing. The book Don Quixote evokes a hagiographic form thanks to Don Quixote's mission, and the idea of a "San" Quixote arises because of his actions and their connections to Jesuit practices.

In the story, Don Quixote meticulously imitates various legendary knights; similarly, St. Ignatius of Loyola acts as a pattern of sainthood. Saints' lives tend to overlap in certain situations and reflect similar themes because they are all ultimately following the path of holiness. One might argue, therefore, that Don Quixote resembles not just one but various other saints. Nonetheless, St. Ignatius appears to have a strong claim as a foundational model for Cervantes' hero. Since St. Ignatius is never explicitly mentioned, we cannot be sure that Cervantes purposely intended this connection. However, Cervantes definitely had Jesuit influences in his life that likely translated to his writing. In his youth, Cervantes visited Rome during a time of great growth in Jesuit membership and had a close relationship with clergymen who were Jesuits or who followed Jesuit practices. In his book on Ignatius of Loyola, Frédéric Conrod argues that Cervantes's deep familiarity with St. Ignatius's principles is sufficient to suggest that they manifested themselves in Cervantes's writing.

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