title: Facts and fiction: the death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The biography of Ignatius of Loyola, the sainted founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), ends with his death in curious circumstances.
  
  
  METHODS
  A careful search of the available sources written from the time of his death in 1556 to the present has reviewed the evidence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The evidence does not support the claims for a diagnosis that has been used for four centuries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  So-called historical "facts" simply are the opinions of historians. Ignatius may have suffered from hyperparathyroidism that led to his death rather than from a cholangioportal venous fistula.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, UCSF-Mount Zion Hospital, University of California San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Rosenman
mesh_terms: D002410:Catholicism / Q000266:history*; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000266:history*; D005197:Famous Persons; D049669:History, 16th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013030:Spain