“How are you doing, Brother Aloysius?” Father Provincial asked, as he entered the sick man’s room.
“I’m on the way, Father.”
“On the way to where?”
“To Heaven… If my sins do not prevent me, I hope, by God’s mercy, to go there.”
This was the state of spirit of the young Jesuit novice whose theology studies had been interrupted by grave illness, and who had now been bedridden for three months. Just eight days ago, it had been concluded that he would not hold out much longer.
“I will die tonight”
That morning he had asked for Viaticum, but it was only brought to him in the afternoon, since his death was not deemed imminent. He spent the day making acts of faith, petition and adoration. The Jesuit fathers were deeply saddened to think of losing their holy brother, and they tried to persuade him that his time had not come. However, he unwaveringly replied, “I will die tonight. I will die tonight.”
Hearing of his premonition of death, the fathers and novices from all the houses hastened to bid him farewell, to commend themselves to his prayers and to ask for final counsel. Although the disease had sapped the novice’s physical strength, his soul was growing in sanctity with each passing moment. He affectionately received everyone promising to remember them in Heaven.
At nightfall, the Father Rector observed that Aloysius could still speak with relative ease, so he judged that he would last the night, and ordered all the brothers to retire. Only two priests remained in the room to help the sick man, along with his confessor, St. Robert Bellarmine.
Aloysius could not contain his profound joy. The desire for Heaven and being united with God forever had been the most ardent desire of his short life.
Presently, he said to his confessor, “Father, you can begin the prayers for the dying.”
The priest started praying with much devotion and attention. Recollected, calm and confident, Aloysius awaited the supreme moment, which did not delay. Around eight in the evening, with his gaze fixed on the crucifix in his hands, he serenely entered his agony. Not a moan escaped his lips; his gaze remained fixed on the suffering One on the Cross. Repeating the Holy Name of Jesus, he peacefully surrendered his soul to God.
St. Aloysius at 17 years of age – Oil painting by unknown artist of the Veronese school
The perfect think continually of God
Aloysius Gonzaga was one of those chosen souls whom God preserves in the way of innocence with special graces and gifts. He reached a high degree of sanctity following this path. He was drawn to no earthly thing and lived in contemplation. All of his actions were in complete conformity with the will of God.
Celebrated Dominican, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, describes a soul in this state of perfection:
“After the passive purification of the spirit, which is like a third conversion and transformation, the perfect know God in a quasi-experimental manner that is not transitory, but almost continual. Not only during Mass, the Divine Office, or prayer, but in the midst of external occupations, they remain in the presence of God and preserve actual union with Him.
“The matter will be easily understood by our considering the egoist’s contrary state of soul. The egoist thinks always of himself and, without realizing it, refers everything to himself. He talks continually with himself about his inordinate desires, sorrows, or superficial joys; his intimate conversation with himself is endless, but it is vain, sterile, and unproductive for all. The perfect man, on the contrary, instead of thinking always of himself, thinks continually of God, His glory, and the salvation of souls; he instinctively makes everything converge toward the object of his thoughts. His intimate conversation is no longer with himself, but with God.”1
Let us briefly examine the short but saintly life and glimpse the holy soul of St. Aloysius Gonzaga.
Uprightness since childhood
Born on March 9, 1568, in the castle of Castiglione, Italy, Aloysius was the first son of Fernando Gonzaga, Marquis of Castiglione and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and Marta Tana of Santena, a noblewoman of the court of Queen Isabel of Valois.
The marquise was pleased to see how avidly her young son followed her motherly instructions in piety. His father, however, was troubled, lest his son’s devotion cause him to deviate from a military career, which firstborn sons were expected to follow.
When Aloysius was five, the marquis was ordered to lead a company of three thousand infantrymen to Tunis. He brought little Aloysius along with him as he reviewed the troops in the city of Casalmaior, to give him a first taste of military life. There, in the company of the troops for the next few months, the boy learned some coarse words, without knowing their meaning.
When he returned to Castiglione, his tutor reprimanded him. Aloysius not only stopped using these words, but showed great displeasure whenever he heard someone else using them. He was deeply ashamed of this error, and as a religious, often referred to it as “proof” of the wickedness of his childhood.
Marian devotion and exemplary virtue
When Aloysius turned nine, his father took him, along with his brother Rudolph, to the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Divine Providence used these two years in Florence to help him progress along the road of sanctity. As he read a book on the mysteries of the Rosary, devotion to Mary began to blossom in his soul. Our Lady of the Annunciation, patroness of the city, was a special object of his fervour. His heart became so inflamed with love for the Blessed Virgin that he resolved to offer her his vow of virginity.
Virtue had taken deep root in his soul. He had acquired mastery over his senses, total obedience to superiors, deep recollection of soul and elevation of spirit.
Aloysius let himself be guided by the heavenly Father, with childlike simplicity, as God built a magnificent edifice of grace in his soul. When he moved to the court of Mantua, he enhanced his prayer life with mortification. When doctors ordered him to follow a plain diet to recover from an illness, he took such a liking to the penance that he surpassed their requirements with the strictest of fasts. He considered himself sumptuously fed if he ate a whole egg!
Intense supernatural life
He returned to the family home, renewed by extraordinary mystical graces. Whenever he meditated on the divine attributes, he became so moved that he shed enough tears to soak several handkerchiefs. At times, he lost the use of his external senses in rapture. His mind was absorbed in the supernatural and the things of God dominated his speech.
In 1580, Cardinal Charles Borromeo, Apostolic Legate of Pope Gregory XIII, arrived in Castiglione. The cardinal was amazed to see how this “Angel” spoke on religious topics. After speaking with him for two hours, the cardinal decided to give him First Holy Communion.
At thirteen years of age, Aloysius resolved to become a religious. Since he was still very young, he said nothing to his parents, but redoubled his mortifications. He stopped using the fireplace in his room, even during the harsh Lombardy winters. He rose before dawn to pray for hours, kneeling on the cold floor.
The Marquis of Castiglione became alarmed to see his son embarking so resolutely on the path of holiness. To distract him, he moved the whole family to Madrid, where he placed Aloysius in the service of the son of King Philip II as a page. Yet, even amid the pleasures and honours of court life, Aloysius remained steadfast in this resolve with his soul anchored in God.
Battle for paternal consent
“Which religious order am I called to?” the young page would ask himself, and after much consideration, he decided upon the Company of Jesus. Besides their noble duty of teaching, his choice was also inspired by the fact that the Jesuits were prohibited, by their rule, from ascending to any office, except by direct order from the Pope. In this way, he would renounce forever both worldly goods and ecclesiastical honours.
“First Communion of St. Aloysius Gonzaga” – Jesuit Church, Paris
Angry shouting and threats of a whipping were the response of the Marquis to his son’s request to give himself to God in the order founded by St. Ignatius. The Marquis even used his influence to enlist some ecclesiastical dignitaries to try to dissuade Aloysius from his vocation, or at least to persuade him to choose a path that might lead to the honours of the cardinalate. These attempts had no more effect than waves breaking upon a rock. In his reluctance to give up his gifted son who was the pride of the noble Gongaza family, his father asked him to wait until their return to Italy for his decision.
For two years, an arduous battle for paternal consent to abandon everything and follow Christ was waged. This was the most difficult—and perhaps most glorious—period of our saint’s life. This fight was won with a moving episode. One day, the Marquis, spying through the keyhole of his son’s room, saw Aloysius on his knees, flagellating himself. Only then did he relent and grant the long-awaited permission.
The joy of entering the house of the Lord
“I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Ps 122:1). Authorized by the emperor to publicly renounce his inheritance as firstborn son, Aloysius entered the novitiate of the Company of Jesus, in Rome. From the beginning, this noble religious divested himself of everything that evoked his former condition, seeking only humiliations and the lowest place. He would blush with shame when anyone praised his illustrious family.
The novices would contend for a place at his side during recreation, in order to take part in his sublime conversations. Moreover, they considered his personal possessions to be true relics. He showed much wisdom in the study of philosophy and theology and was acclaimed before three cardinals and other dignitaries upon defending a thesis.
His superiors, conscious of his great worth and wary of his poor health, heightened their vigilance toward him. They attempted a change of climate, in the hopes of improving his condition. When this failed, the Father Rector ordered Aloysius to desist from dwelling on sublime thoughts for a time, judging that perhaps these ideas were compromising his health.
Providence permitted this mistaken notion to further refine the qualities adorning the soul of this “Angel”. The virtue of obedience, so prized by him, cost him dearly with this command. He admitted to one of his companions that to leave his continual state of prayer was a tremendous torment, since without a great conscious effort his thoughts would immediately soar again to the divine mysteries.
Victim of charity
In 1591, his fraternal charity found occasion to reach heroic degrees, as he cared for victims of the plague that ravaged the Eternal City. It was not long, however, before he himself succumbed to the sickness.
God, however, who decided to harvest this fresh lily early, did not want to take it before it had released all its fragrance. His 23 years of earthly life only came to a close after he had patiently borne a raging fever for three months. He died on June 21, 1591.
His confessor, St. Robert Bellarmine, confirmed that St. Aloysius had led a perfect life and had been confirmed in grace.2 Later, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, after experiencing a vision of the immense glory which this son of St. Ignatius of Loyola enjoyed in Heaven, declared: “During his life, Aloysius always kept his eyes attentively on the Word, and this is the cause of his greatness. […] Oh! How much he loved on earth! This is why today in Heaven he possesses God in a supreme plenitude of love.”3
Aloysius Gonzaga was beatified by Paul V in 1605 and canonized on December 13, 1726 by Benedict XIII, who proclaimed him patron of youth.
Model of sanctity in love
“In the evening of life, we will be judged by our love.” 4 It is to this love, in complete self-giving that God calls us from our youth, just as He called the young rich man in the Gospel: “Come and follow Me!” (Mt 19:21).
“Death of St. Aloysius Gonzaga” – Santa Cova de Manresa Museum (Spain)
May today’s youth—who so lack models to follow and who are often confused about the true meaning of love—not imitate the rich young man who was saddened at the prospect of abandoning worldly things, but rather, may they reencounter the example of their patron, St. Aloysius Gonzaga. Pope John Paul II encouraged the young people of Mantua with these words:
“St. Aloysius is undoubtedly a saint who should be rediscovered in his full Christian stature. He is also a model recommended for the youth of our days, a master of perfection and an experienced guide on the path of sanctity. We read in his notes, ‘The God who calls me is Love, how can I encompass this love, when the entire world would be much too small for this? ’”5◊
Notes
1 GARRIGOU-LAGRANGE, OP, Fr. Reginald. The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Part IV, Section I, chapter LX, A., http://www.christianperfection.info/index.php
2 Cf. CEPARI, Fr. Virgilio. Vida de São Luis de Gonzaga [Life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga]. Rome: Officina Poligrafica Editrice, 1910, p. 37.
3 GUÉRANGER, D. Prosper. L’année liturgique [Liturgical Year]. 14. ed. Tours: Maison Alfred Mame et fils, 1922, v. III, p. 253.
4 ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS. Avisos y sentencias, no. 57. Burgos: Biblioteca Mística Carmelitana, 1931, v. XIII, p. 238.
5 Homily in Castiglione, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of the saint, 22/6/1991. (Translation: Heralds of the Gospel)
