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.
Thank you, Zephyrinus, a beautiful write-up from Dom Lefebvre OSB, on S. Aloysius Gonzaga, of course one of the two very outstanding Catholic patron-saints among many of purity and chastity for every person’s state of life (the other principal patron being S. Maria Goretti, feast day July 6th on most calendars). We’ve commented in the past that this was from the glory days of the Society of Jesus, being that S. Robert Bellarmine was Gonzaga’s confessor and spiritual director. What an amazing conjunction of holiness. -Notes by Dante P
ReplyDeleteA beautiful Comment, Dante P. Thank You very much.
DeleteA most apposite statement from you, regarding the trilogy of Saint Maria Goretti, Saint Robert Bellarmine, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, as being: “ . . . an amazing conjunction of holiness”.
I couldn't agree with you more.
In this World's race to fulfil every known desire and wish, instantly, and without penalty or price, the wonderful examples of the three Saints that you mention are a great gift to us all.
If only we can watch, listen, and adhere.
Please God.