2023-06-21 16:17:00
June 21, 2023 / 9:17 a.m.
Within the framework of the day of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, patron of youth, Pope Francis asked for his intercession for “all the youth of the world.”
In a tweet published this Wednesday, June 21, the Holy Father recalled that Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, “patron saint of catholic youth”, was a man “full of love for God and neighbor”.
In addition, he stressed that “he died very young in Rome, because he took care of the plague patients.”
Today we remember Saint Luis Gonzaga, patron saint of Catholic youth, a young man full of love for God and neighbor; he died very young in Rome, because he cared for the sick with the plague. To his intercession I entrust the young people of the whole world.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex_es) June 21, 2023
On this festivity, the Pontiff asked for the intercession of the saint, who, despite having experienced many misunderstandings and sorrows, never lost his cheerful disposition or his fighting spirit.
San Luis Gonzaga was born in 1568 in Castiglione delle Stiviere, Mantua (Italy), eldest son of the heiress couple of the principality of Castiglione.
Due to matters concerning his father, Luis had to travel to Spain. While visiting the Jesuit church in Madrid, he heard a voice that spoke to his heart: “Luis, join the Society of Jesus.”
Luis Gonzaga entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. He became a faithful and careful novice, observant of the rules and detached from all vanity.
Having renounced being himself a prince one day, since he was the eldest of the brothers and it corresponded to him, he put himself to the test by exercising himself in the most humble trades.
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At that time, the population of Rome It was affected by an epidemic and the Jesuits opened a hospital where they themselves took care of the sick.
Luis was featured there as a nurse. Unfortunately, serving the weakest, whom he loved with care, he contracted the disease that devastated them.
With his gaze fixed on the crucifix and repeating the name of Jesus, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga left for the Father’s House at midnight on Body of Christ, on June 21, 1591, at the age of 23. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in the year 1726.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú is a Spanish journalist, correspondent for ACI Prensa in Rome and the Vatican, with four years of experience in religious information.
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