saint story st aloysius gonzaga heres a story of a saint that people might like to read i got it from a the morning star and am posting it with the permission of the editor saint aloysius gonzaga the patron of youth the marquis gonzaga had high aspirations for his son the prince gonzage he wanted him to become a famous brave and honoured soldier after all he must carry on the great family name of gonzaga of course he was to become far more famous brave and honoured than his father could ever have imagined though not in the manner expected saint aloysius mother was a woman who received immense joy from praying to god and meditating on the divine mysteries and the life of our lord she had little time for the pleasures of this life as saint aloysius grew he began to resemble his mother more than his father saint aloysius had learned numerous expressions from his father s soldiers but the moment he discovered that they were vulgar he fainted from shock this shows his immense hatred of sin what an example for us of the contempt we must have for sin about the time of his first holy communion which he received from the archbishop of milan charles borromeo whom himself became a great saint he con secrated his purity to god and asked the blessed virgin to protect his innocence for life he wanted to share our lord s suffering to show his reciprocal love he started by denying his passions he avoided eating the finest foods wearing the best clothes and would put pieces of wood in his bed in order to mortify himself for the love of god while he was in his early teens his father sent him and his younger brother to the court of the spanish king phillip obediently he set out to make the best of it he mixed in well with the people of the royal court for he was handsome polite intelligent and always had something interesting to say not long before this time the great soldier saint saint igna tius of loyola had founded the society of jesus the jesuits towards which saint aloysius began to have a yearning when he finally told his father the marquis flew into a rage and forbade his son to become a priest after a short time his father sent him to the great cities in order that he be tempted away from the priesthood but even through these trials saint aloysius grew in his desire for the religious life and was strengthened in the virtue of purity the marquis plans were obviously failing so he con fronted his son will you or will you not obey me and forget this foolish ness i will not father was the in evitable reply then leave from my sight and don t return until you change your mind with tears clouding his eyes the saint left the room to pray tell me lord what am i to do tell me tell me he knelt down to flagellate himself as he had done several times before but this time he was seen the onlooker rushed to the marquis this at last brought the proud man to his senses the lord wants him the lord can have him he gave his consent for his son to become a jesuit after some years at the end of the sixteenth century a terri ble epidemic broke out in rome all the hospitals were full and could house no more so the jesuits opened their own saint aloy sius did all he could in the hospitals particularly to prepare the dying for a holy death saint aloysius himself contracted the plague from carrying and nursing the sick for three months he lay with a burning fever and finally on june st he gave his soul to the lord while gazing at a crucifix let us invoke saint aloysius as our patron and imitate him in his humility purity and confidence in prayer saint aloysius gonzaga pray for us brendan arthur prayer is as necessary to a person consecrated to the service of others as a sword is to a soldier god bless from simon lines simon p shields programmer viva cristo rey monash university college gippsland ph jhs switchback rd churchill fax
