Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
Religious
- Feast Day
- June 21
- Life
- 1568–1591
- Canonized
- 1726
- Order
- Society of Jesus (Jesuits, SJ)
- Born
- Castiglione delle Stiviere, Duchy of Mantua
Saint Aloysius (Italian Luigi) Gonzaga was born on March 9, 1568, at Castiglione delle Stiviere, the eldest son of Ferrante Gonzaga, Marquis of Castiglione, of a cadet branch of the ducal house of Mantua. As heir, he was groomed for a military career and served as a page at the Spanish court of Philip II from 1581 to 1583.
Profoundly affected by the spiritual conferences of Cardinal Charles Borromeo, who gave him his First Communion in 1580, Aloysius determined to enter religious life. After years of paternal opposition, he renounced his rights of primogeniture in favor of his younger brother Rodolfo and entered the Jesuit novitiate at Rome on November 25, 1585. He pronounced first vows in 1587 and began philosophy and theology, with Saint Robert Bellarmine as one of his masters and Bellarmine became his confessor.
When plague struck Rome in 1591, Aloysius volunteered to nurse the sick at the Jesuit hospital of Santa Maria della Consolazione. He contracted the disease while carrying a victim from the streets and died at Rome on June 21, 1591, aged twenty-three, before completing his theological studies. Pope Benedict XIII canonized him on December 31, 1726. Pope Pius XI declared him patron of Christian youth in 1926.
Aloysius is venerated as a model for Catholic young people of fidelity to baptismal purity in adolescence and of generous response to the call of Christ in the midst of plague. The autobiographical letter of his Jesuit master Saint Robert Bellarmine and the testimonies of Saint Charles Borromeo and his fellow novices are the principal contemporary sources for his life.
Patronages
Catholic youth · Jesuit scholastics · students · AIDS patients and caregivers
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
8 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Aloysius Gonzaga's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parish — Guinayangan, QUEZON
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parish — Baguio City, CAR
- Saint Aloysius Gonzaga Parish Church
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga — Osborne, KS
- Saint Aloysius Gonzaga Church — Bridgetown, OH
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga — Los Angeles, CA
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga — Spokane, WA
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga — Cheektowaga, NY
Sources