21 June - A member of the illustrious House of Gonzaga, Louis de Gonzaga was born on 9 March 1568 in Castiglione delle Stiviere, under the Republic of Venice, Italy. He was the first son of Ferdinand I Gonzaga, lord and then Marquis of Castiglione and Marta Tana de Santena, and the eldest of a family of ten children. His mother takes special care of his religious education.
In 1581, at the age of thirteen, he became a page in the court of King Philip II of Spain. Court life, with its luxury and moral laxity, leaves him deeply unsatisfied. Acts of penance are already being imposed to guard against the indolence of the morals of the Spanish court. He wants a more evangelical lifestyle.
His religious vocation coming to maturity, on November 2, 1585 he solemnly renounced, in favour of his younger brother Rudolph II of Castiglione, his hereditary rights to the Marquisates of Mantua and Castiglione and left for Rome. His father, at first opposed to this religious vocation, would later accept it. Through the Count of Olivares, Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, he was presented to Pope Sixtus V, who blessed him on November 23, 1585. Two days later, he entered the novitiate of Saint Andrew of the Quirinal.
Apart from a few interruptions for health or family reasons, Louis de Gonzaga spent six years in Rome. He took his first vows on November 25, 1587, at the age of 19, and then began his university studies at the Roman College, where he was placed under the spiritual direction of Robert Bellarmin. By family tradition, he is accustomed to the commandment; therefore, in religious life, he must often struggle against his own will in the religious obedience that is asked of him. Over the years, like any other Jesuit student, he served as a reader and acolyte. The time not taken up by studies is spent in prayer and charity.
In 1591, when a plague epidemic broke out in Rome, the Jesuits of the Roman College put themselves at the service of the sick. One witness recalls seeing Louis de Gonzague, overcoming personal disgust, carrying a pestiféré on his shoulders to take him to the hospital. He himself was afflicted by the plague and died of it on 21 June 1591 at the age of only twenty-three.
Louis de Gonzaga was beatified on 12 May 1604, during a synod in Mantua, by Pope Clement VIII. His devotion quickly spread, for example in Monaco, where Ippolita Trivulzio, daughter of Catherine de Gonzaga, the Blessed's first cousin, married Prince Honoré II. The solemn celebration of the Blessed in the Principality is granted by the Bishop of Nice, Mgr Marenco, and a private oratory is dedicated to him in the Palace.
Louis de Gonzaga was canonized on April 26, 1726 by Benedict XIII. Liturgically, Saint Louis de Gonzaga is commemorated on June 21. He is the patron saint of Catholic youth. In 1991, Pope John Paul II also declared him patron saint of people with AIDS. The room that was his during his studies at the Roman College has been transformed into a chapel and can be visited from the sacristy of the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Rome.
