As a young boy, St. Aloysius Gonzaga had a great desire to know and serve God, but his family was not always supportive of this desire. He was born into nobility, stood to inherit both a title and wealth, and yet (despite the opposition of his family), he sought out poor children to teach them the catechism. By the time he was 18, he signed away his legal claim to his title and his family’s lands and entered the Jesuit Order. He died shortly thereafter of the plague at the age of just 23, having devotedly cared for plague victims in Rome in the outbreak of 1591. His heroic work as a “hospitaller” led the Church to declare him the patron saint of AIDS patients and AIDS caregivers. He is also one of the patron saints of young people.
Let us pray. “O God, giver of heavenly gifts, who in Saint Aloysius Gonzaga joined penitence to a wonderful innocence of life, grant, through his intercession, that, though we may not always follow him in innocence, we may imitate him in penitence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you for ever and ever. Amen.”
For more on St. Aloysius: https://www.jesuits.global/saint-blessed/saint-aloysius-gonzaga/
