Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

Aloysius Gonzaga was born on March 9, 1568, in the castle of Castiglione delle Stiviere, the eldest son of Ferrante Gonzaga, the first marquis, and Marta Tana di Chieri. He was the heir: the title, the lands and a military career were his, and at five his father was already taking him along to army camps. At seven came what he himself called “the conversion from the world to God.” As a boy he passed through the courts of Florence, Mantua and Madrid — he was a page to the Prince of Asturias — and in the middle of that world the idea of leaving it altogether took shape. The battle with his father lasted years. Ferrante could not accept that his eldest son would give up the marquisate to become a Jesuit, and he tried everything: travel, distractions, threats, courts. In the end he gave in. In 1585 Aloysius formally renounced the title in favor of his brother and entered the Society of Jesus in Rome. He lived in it six years. In 1591 an epidemic broke out in Rome — typhus — and the Jesuits opened a hospital. Aloysius asked to go. He carried the sick in his arms from the streets to the hospital, washed them, cared for them. He fell ill too. He died in Rome on June 21, 1591, at twenty-three. Benedict XIII proclaimed him a saint in 1726, and he is the patron saint of young people. If your name is Louis or Louise, today is your name day.