Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.
Confessor.
Feast Day 21 June.
Double.
White Vestments.
The Vocation of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga.
Artist: Guercino (1591–1666).
Date: Circa 1650.
Source/Photographer: THE MET MUSEUM
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Holy Ghost, "distributor of Heavenly Gifts" (Collect), made of Aloysius, a young Prince of the noble family of Gonzaga, an Angel on Earth, uniting in him all the marvels of innocence and mortification (Ibid.). Wherefore, The Church applies to him the Verse of the Psalm, where the humanity of Adam, before The Fall, and that of Christ, are declared hardly inferior to Angelic nature (Introit).
His birth to a Heavenly Life preceded in a certain manner his natural birth, for he was born at the Castle of Castiglione, in Italy, in such perilous circumstances, that they hastened his Baptism (Gradual). As an infant, all those who carried him in their arms thought they held an Angel.
At the age of nine, at Florence, Italy, he made a Vow of Virginity before the Altar of The Blessed Virgin, and practised during his whole life the strictest modesty in his looks. Amid the seductions of the Princely Courts, to which his father sent him, he kept his first innocence so faithfully that he seemed confirmed in Grace (Epistle).
Towards the age of eleven, he received for the first time The Bread of Angels from the hands of Saint Charles Borromeo (Communion). At sixteen, he entered at Rome The Company of Jesus, of which he is one of the glories. He so distinguished himself, by his mortification and love of God, that he is compared to The Elect in Heaven. "They live like Angels," says Jesus, because the Soul will exercise full command over the body, which will participate in its Spiritual nature.
At the age of twenty-two (1591), wearing his innocence like a nuptial robe, on which shone the pearls of his continual tears, he died a victim to his devotion to the plague-stricken and ascended The Holy Mountain to take part in The Heavenly Banquet to which God invites The Pure of Heart (Secret, Offertory, Gradual).
Let us have recourse to the merits and intercession of Saint Aloysius.
Pope Benedict XIII (reigned 1724-1730) gave him as a pattern to young people, in order that, not always having imitated him in his innocence, they may at least imitate him by doing Penance (Collect).
Mass: Minuisti eum.
As Zephyrinus knows, when you hear that the Gonzaga family was “of the nobility,” that is an understatement. The Catholic Encyclopedia and other sources note that the House of Gonzaga ruled the Duchy of Mantua for nearly 400 years, until 1708; among their family line, they numbered two Holy Roman Empresses, one queen (Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga of Poland, d.1667), 12 cardinals and 14 bishops.
ReplyDeleteSome of their members were less than exemplary (Aloysius’ grandfather, Francesco II, d.1519, a deadly enemy if crossed, also was the consort for a time of Lucretia Borgia—although there is much history to show Lucretia Borgia [b. 1480-d.1519–in fact she died on June 24th] experienced a sincere conversion in the last years of her brief life, helping to sustain a convent of Poor Clare nuns, especially planned for women who had given up the pomps and emptiness of the courtly life, where she attended Mass and the Hours daily, during and after Francesco’s long illness and death. In fact she is buried there, at Corpus Domini Poor Clares convent in Ferrara.)
But back to the Gonzagas, especially S. Aloysius: so, the grandson of Francesco II, Aloysius (“Luigi”) we read was quite the military man as a boy and willingly received training in swordsmanship and gunnery (a fact of which the writer knew nothing)—in fact, one of his favorite toys one biographer says were two flintlock toy pistols. Ferrante, the father, was quite proud and his plans for the boy were proceeding quite well.
But Ferrante made a fatal error for his plans for Luigi when he sent the boy to the Medici court at the age of 8, in 1576. The boy was naturally appalled and shocked at what he saw (as one might imagine—one biographer says “the backstabbing was real, not symbolic, in the court”). He made a vow of chastity at this time and from this time on, refused to look up from the floor in the presence of a woman. About this time he encountered S. Charles Borromeo, and he often frequented the churches and spiritual direction of the Capuchins and the Barnabites while in Casale Montferrato (one of the Gonzaga family possessions); and also later in Spain, when his father was called to Spain in 1581. He was fairly inclined to the idea of joining the Capuchins, until he was exposed to the missionary activity of the Jesuits and of S. Francis Xavier in India, at which point, much to his father’s chagrin, he eventually overcame his parents’ wills, and entered the Society of Jesus in November, 1585, at age 17.
A second extraordinary saint was to cross Aloysius’ brief life: S. Robert Bellarmine became his spiritual director a few years later at the time of theology studies: it was Bellarmine who witnessed S. Aloysius’ many struggles with a persistent kidney infection, and later his brave acceptance of death in 1591, having contracted the plague while attending to the many sick in the primitive Roman infirmaries. It is interesting that he had previously privately confided to Bellarmine his personal revulsion at caring for the plague victims, which he strove by an act of will to overcome.
The shield of the House of Gonzaga is 4 eagles with wings spread, and in the center, the family colors and two lions rampant. The motto: “Ad Montem Duc Nos:” “Lead us to the Mount.”
Nothing more appropriate could be true of S. Aloysius Gonzaga, with the soaring spirit of 4 eagles, and the heart of at least two lions, ascending to the Mount of God. An amazing life.
Dear Dante Peregrinus. Thank You very much for this wonderful tour de force !!!
ReplyDeleteThe Readership of this Blog will be greatly enhanced in their Liturgical understanding by your excellent contribution.
No, Zephyrinus, I must defer to the inspiration derived from your blog: that is the spark that ignites my interest. Nearly all of what I note I did not know before and as a result I thought others might find these little threads and patches interesting. “JMJ”
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