Readers have associated Don Quixote and St Ignatius of Loyola for centuries. Many have inferred an intentional parody of Loyola in Cervantes’ classic novel, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha. The first part of this thesis traces reader associations of Don Quixote and St Ignatius since the publication of Part I of Don Quixote in 1605. The second part analyzes two texts commonly cited as sources for reader associations of St Ignatius and Don Quixote, Loyola’s Autobiografía (1555) and Pedro de Ribadeneyra’s Vida de Ignacio de Loyola (1583), and proposes a hypothesis for how Cervantes may have intended to parody the founder of the Society of Jesus. The third part analyzes narrative, substantive and thematic parallelisms in Don Quixote, the Autobiografía and Vida and discusses the likelihood of Cervantes intentionally parodying Loyola in his most famous and enduring work. / Graduate / 0679 / 0401 / 0318 / pdavidso@uvic.ca