From the story of his life
From a famous noble family, on March 9, 1568, in the family’s castle, in the town of Castiglione delle Stiviere (Lombardy), the first-born son was born – the heir of Alojzia.
From an early age, they strove to equip him for a career as a courtier and soldier. He even dreamed of military service. Thanks to his mother Marta, he was taught the importance of prayer and love for God and the poor.
With his younger brother Rodolfo, he stayed in Florence from 1576 as a page at the Medici court, learning Latin and French. He knew how to dance and go hunting. With kidney disease, which he calmly accepted, being confined to bed, he prays a lot and reads biographies of saints.
He stayed at the court of the Duke of Mantua from 1579, and remained noted for his frivolous court life. First Holy Communion, from St. Karl Boromejski, received in 1580, when he returned to the family home.
© st. Aloysius Gonzaga receives the First Holy Communion from St. Charles Borromeo, bishop
He admired the experiences of Jesuit missionaries in India. He taught religious education to boys in Castiglione, and regularly attended the Capuchin and Barnabite churches in Casale Monferrato. As a page, from 1582. he also stayed at the royal court in Madrid, experiencing its splendor and opulence.
He renounced the title of marquis, as well as ownership of the property, at the age of seventeen, leaving it to his younger brother Rodolfo, while Alojzije entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Rome in 1585.
And so, he replaced the former splendor of princely and royal courts with a humble, simple and monastic life, living ascetically.
Under the spiritual guidance of Robert Bellarmine, he studied theology and philosophy from 1588 at the famous Roman college. How is it in Rome in 1591. In 2008, a plague epidemic broke out, the Jesuits opened a hospital for the sick, and our Alojzije volunteered to be able to attend to the sick.
Unfortunately, after contracting an infection, he died on this day in 1591, in Rome, in the twenty-third year of his life. In 1605, Pope Paul V declared him blessed, and Pope Benedict XIII. In 1726, St.
PRAYER
God, giver of heavenly goods, You united both innocence and penance in Saint Aloysius. Let us at least imitate his penance, when we did not follow him in innocence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Sources:
- http://zupajastrebarsko.hr/
- Holy choir for worship (2017.); Časoslov Rimskog Obreda, Kršćanska sadašnjost, Zagreb