Aloysius (Luigi, Louis) Gonzaga, SJ
(1568 - 1591)

Born at Castiglione delle Stivieri in Lombardy, Italy, on March 9, 1568; died about midnight between June 20 and 21, 1591; beatified in 1605; canonized 1726; Benedict XIII declared him patron of young students and Pius XI proclaimed him patron of Christian youth.

Everything about Saint Aloysius conspires to make him the hero of a popular romance--his noble birth, his angelic life, and his holy death. But no novelist would dare to invent a life as perfect as his--it would be too incredible.

Aloysius was the eldest son of the Marquis Ferrante of Castiglione, who served Philip II of Spain, and Marta Tana Santena, lady-in- waiting to Philip's wife. His father's one ambition was for his eldest son to become a great military leader. At the age of four he was sent off to a military camp, where he strutted around in miniature armor with his miniature pike, set off a canon without any authority, then returned home full of strange oaths, which were a life-long mortification. Thus he was being prepared for his father's chosen vocation, but at the age of seven he experienced a spiritual quickening and decided to pursue a religious life. He had said his morning and evening prayers from infancy; now he began to recite the Office of the Blessed Virgin daily, as well as the seven penitential Psalms, and other devotions.

When he was nine, his father placed him and his brother Ridolfo in the care of tutors the household of Francesco de'Medici in Florence to teach them Latin and the pure Italian of Tuscany. But Aloysius made better progress in the science of saints than in his studies. That same year he took a vow of chastity. From that time he never looked any woman in the face, not even his own mother.

About two years later (November 1579), their father moved the boys to the court of the duke of Mantua, who had lately made him governor of Montserrat. Already at age 11, Aloysius had decided to renounce the titles and estates that were to be his inheritance, even though he had already received investiture from the emperor. There he developed a painful kidney disease that was to trouble him for the rest of his life. But this gave him an excuse to spend time in prayer and reading the lives of the saints by Surius. He began to practice severe austerities--fasting every other day on bread and water, scourging himself with a dog whip, and allowing no fires to be built while he prayed even in the coldest weather.

Inspired by a book about the Jesuit missionaries in India, he began to prepare himself at age 12 to be a Jesuit missionary. He gathered a group of poor boys and taught them the catechism during his summer holidays in Castiglione.

In 1581, Don Ferrante was summoned to attend the Empress Mary of Austria on her journey from Bohemia to Spain. His family accompanied him, and upon their arrival in Spain, Aloysius and Ridolfo were placed in the service of Don Diego, prince of the Asturias in Spain, as pages. He was duty bound to attend on the young infante and share his studies, but he never curtailed his devotions.

During his time at Don Diego's court, Aloysius resolved to enter the Society of Jesus. First he approached his mother, who gave her approval. However, when she told his father that he requested to join the Jesuits, his furious father refused permission. First he threatened to beat him until friends mediated, and Don Ferrante relented to give his provisional consent. Nevertheless, after the infante died, releasing the boys from their court duties, the marquis tried to distract his son by sending him to visit the courts of northern Italy upon their return in July 1584. He hoped that the boy would succumb to the easy life. When that did not work, his father tried diplomatic pressure. He had his relatives, including the duke of Mantua, try to talk the boy out of his vocation. As the next step in his tactics to dissuade Aloysius, Don Ferrante engaged him in a number of secular commissions in the hope of awakening interest in worldly affairs. Unchanged by his travels, Aloysius renewed his plea. Don Ferrante's last attempt used the leading dignitaries of the Church to talk the matter over with his son. Finally his father was persuaded when the imperial commission arrived transferring the succession to Ridolfo. In 1585, he allowed Aloysius to join the Jesuits in Rome.

On November 25, 1585, he was received into the Jesuit novitiate at the house in Sant'Andrea. He was an ideal novice. Aware of his delicate health, the Jesuits requested that he curb his austerities. He was obliged to take recreation, to eat more, and forbidden to pray more than the set hours. They sent him to Milan to study, where he had a revelation during his morning prayer that he would not live much longer. This filled his heart with joy. His poor health forced a return to Rome.

In 1587, he was professed. That same year (or in 1591) plague struck Rome. The Jesuits opened a hospital of their own, in which the father general himself and many other Jesuits ministered personally to the sick. Aloysius requested and was permitted to join them in service. This son of privilege instructed and exhorted patients, washed them, made their beds, and performed the meanest chores of the hospital. He eventually caught the plague from patients but surprisingly recovered after receiving the last rites.

Later, however, he later fell into a low-grade fever that lasted for three months and severely weakened him. As long as he was able, he would arise at night and worship before the crucifix and kiss his sacred pictures, then kneel in prayer, propped between the bed and the wall. Very humbly and anxiously he asked his confessor, Saint Robert Bellarmine, whether it was possible for someone to go straight to heaven without experiencing purgatory. Bellarmine said "yes," and knowing Aloysius, encouraged him to hope that this grace might be his. Aloysius immediately fell into an ecstasy that lasted throughout the night. During that time he learned that he would die on the octave of Corpus Christi.

On that octave day he seemed so much better that the rector spoke of sending him to Frascati. Aloysius, however, maintained that he would die before morning and again received the viaticum from Father Bellarmine. In the evening, as he was thought to be in no immediate danger, all but two or three watchers were told to go to bed. Nevertheless, Father Bellarmine recited the prayers for the dying at the request of Aloysius. Afterwards Aloysius remained very still, occasionally murmuring, "into Thy hands." Between ten and eleven a change came over him and it was evident that his life was ebbing. With his eyes fixed on the crucifix and the name of Jesus on his lips, he died about midnight at the age of 23.

After his death, Saint Robert Bellarmine testified to his holiness, claiming that it was his opinion that Aloysius never in his life committed a mortal sin. His biographies, as well as the letters and religious writings of Saint Aloysius himself, depict a rather unattractive character--he had a naïve, even priggish, attitude about human affection and the imitation of the saints. It was the spiritual direction of Bellarmine who led Aloysius in his last years shed this attitude and develop a courageous, single- minded devotion to God and his neighbor. Some have argued that the corrupt, immoral milieu in which he was raised, required a completely uncompromising, if angular, example, comparable to the single-mindedness of Renaissance politicians. He was a peacemaker between his brother and the duke of Mantua after he joined the Jesuits. He is buried under the altar in the Lancellotti Chapel at the Church of Saint Ignatius in Rome.

Aloysius is the patron of young students, those choosing their profession, and Catholic youth.