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Statue of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Joseph's Church, Macao
Credit : John Hill, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Aloysius Gonzaga (Luigi Gonzaga, 1568-1591) was the eldest son of the Marquis of Castiglione, and heir to the family title. The Gonzagas were known as patrons of Renaissance artists, and they ruled what amounted to a kingdom.

As a young boy, St. Aloysius always had a great desire to know and serve God, but his family life was not always supportive of this desire. He grew up in a castle and was trained from a very young age to be a soldier and courtier, and despite the opposition of his family, he taught catechism to poor boys.

He encountered many holy people in his lifetime; he received his first Communion from St. Charles Borromeo and studied under St. Robert Bellarmine. As a teen, he suffered from a kidney disease which he considered a blessing, as it left him with plenty of time for prayer.

At 18 he signed away his legal claim to his title and his family's lands and entered the Jesuits. He died shortly thereafter of the plague at the age of 23, having devotedly cared for plague victims in Rome in the outbreak of 1591.

Veneration

His remains are now kept in the church of St. Ignatius Loyola in Rome. He was beatified only fourteen years after his death by Pope Paul V in 1605. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. His feast is celebrated on June 21, the day of his death.

Legacy

He is the patron saint of youth, AIDS patients and AIDS caregivers. Several buildings and institutions throughout the world are named after Gonzaga.

- Article by CT Staff