Born in Italy in 1568, Aloysius Gonzaga was destined to be the heir of a small kingdom during the Renaissance. While his parents pushed him toward royalty, Aloysius started to feel a draw to religious life around the age of seven. He was repulsed by the courtly life, calling it a “society of fraud, dagger, poison, and lust.” He began to study the lives of saints, prayed the Psalms, went to Mass daily, taught the catechism, and fasted three days a week. To the outrage of his father, at 15 he decided he wanted to renounce his inherited title to his brother. After two years of persistence, his family allowed him to enter the novitiate where he learned under St. Robert Bellarmine. When the plague struck Italy, he tended to the sick and caught it himself, dying at 23.
CHALLENGE
Today’s youth is bombarded with messages telling them that happiness is in pursuing the “good life” that St. Aloysius Gonzaga gave up so he could pursue the greatest good. Today, think of a youth who is struggling in their fight against the temptations of the world and recite the Litany of St. Aloysius Gonzaga for them.
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