Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
| Saint Aloysius de Gonzaga, S.J. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Confessor | |
| Born |
March 9, 1568 Castiglione delle Stiviere, Duchy of Mantua, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | June 21, 1591 (aged 23) Rome, Papal States |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Beatified | October 19, 1605, Rome, Papal States by Pope Paul V |
| Canonized | December 31, 1726, Rome, Papal States by Pope Benedict XIII |
| Major shrine | Church of Sant'Ignazio, Rome, Italy |
| Feast | 21 June |
| Attributes | Lily, Crown (headgear), cross, skull, rosary |
| Patronage | Young students, Christian youth, Jesuit scholastics, the blind, AIDS patients, AIDS care-givers |
Saint Aloysius de Gonzaga, S.J. (Italian: Luigi de Gonzaga; March 9, 1568 – June 21, 1591) was an Italian who became a member of the Society of Jesus. While still a student at the Roman College, he died as a result of caring for the victims of an epidemic. He was beatified in 1605 and canonized in 1726.
Aloysius de Gonzaga was born the eldest of seven children, at his family's castle in Castiglione delle Stiviere, between Brescia and Mantua in northern Italy in what was then part of the Duchy of Mantua, into the illustrious House of Gonzaga. "Aloysius" is the Latin form of Aloysius de Gonzaga's given name in Italian, Luigi. He was the son of Ferrante de Gonzaga (1544–1586), Marquis of Castiglione, and Marta Tana di Santena, daughter of a baron of the Piedmontese Della Rovere family. His mother was a lady-in-waiting to Isabel, the wife of Philip II of Spain.
As the first-born son, he was in line to inherit his father's title and status of Marquis. His father assumed that Aloysius would become a soldier, as that was the norm for sons of the aristocracy and the family was often involved in the minor wars of the period. His military training started at an early age, but he also received an education in languages and the arts. As early as age four, Luigi was given a set of miniature guns and accompanied his father on training expeditions so that the boy might learn “the art of arms.” At age five, Aloysius was sent to a military camp to get started on his training. His father was pleased to see his son marching around camp at the head of a platoon of soldiers. His mother and his tutor were less pleased with the vocabulary he picked up there.
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