Showing posts with label Jesuits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesuits. Show all posts

Monday, December 27, 2010

History of St. Aloysius

St. Aloysius and St. Charles Borromeo - Church Window
St. Jude Catholic Church, Hopatcong, NJ
Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

St. Aloysius Gonzaga - Priest - Saints and Angels - Catholic Online

The following history regarding St. Aloysius is found on Catholic Online:

St. Aloysius was born in Castiglione, Italy. The first words St. Aloysius spoke were the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. He was destined for the military by his father (who was in service to Philip II), but by the age of 9 Aloysius had decided on a religious life, and made a vow of perpetual virginity. To safeguard himself from possible temptation, he would keep his eyes persistently downcast in the presence of women. St. Charles Borromeo gave him his first Holy Communion. A kidney disease prevented St. Aloysius from a full social life for a while, so he spent his time in prayer and reading the lives of the saints. Although he was appointed a page in Spain, St. Aloysius kept up his many devotions and austerities, and was quite resolved to become a Jesuit. His family eventually moved back to Italy, where he taught catechism to the poor. When he was 18, he joined the Jesuits, after finally breaking down his father, who had refused his entrance into the order. He served in a hospital during the plague of 1587 in Milan, and died from it at the age of 23, after receiving the last rites from St. Robert Bellarmine. The last word he spoke was the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Robert wrote the Life of St. Aloysius.

Prayer to St. Aloysius

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