25 Facts About Aloysius Gonzaga

Aloysius Gonzaga was beatified in 1605 and canonized in 1726.

Aloysius Gonzaga was the son of Ferrante Aloysius Gonzaga, Marquess of Castiglione, and Dona Marta Tana di Santena, daughter of a baron of the Piedmontese Della Rovere family.

Aloysius Gonzaga's mother was a lady-in-waiting to Isabel, the wife of Philip II of Spain.

Aloysius Gonzaga's father assumed that Gonzaga would become a soldier, as that was the norm for sons of the aristocracy and the family was often involved in the minor wars of the period.

At age five, Aloysius Gonzaga was sent to a military camp to get started on his training.

Aloysius Gonzaga grew up amid the violence and intrigue of Renaissance Italy.

Aloysius Gonzaga was shocked by the violent and frivolous lifestyle he encountered there.

Aloysius Gonzaga started practicing by teaching catechism classes to young boys in Castiglione in the summers.

Aloysius Gonzaga repeatedly visited the houses of the Capuchin friars and the Barnabites located in Casale Monferrato, the capital of the Gonzaga-ruled Duchy of Montferrat where the family spent the winter.

Aloysius Gonzaga started thinking in earnest about joining a religious order.

Aloysius Gonzaga had considered joining the Capuchins, but he had a Jesuit confessor in Madrid and decided instead to join that order.

Aloysius Gonzaga's mother agreed to his request, but his father was furious and prevented him from doing so.

Aloysius Gonzaga still wanted to become a priest, but several members of his family worked hard to persuade him to change his mind.

Aloysius Gonzaga was sent to Milan for studies, but was sent back to Rome after some time because of his health.

The Jesuits opened a hospital for the stricken, and Aloysius Gonzaga volunteered to work there.

At the time, many of the younger Jesuits had become infected with the disease, and so Aloysius Gonzaga's superiors forbade him from returning to the hospital.

Aloysius Gonzaga spoke several times with his confessor, the cardinal and later saint, Robert Bellarmine.

Aloysius Gonzaga told several people that he would die on the Octave of the feast of Corpus Christi.

Aloysius Gonzaga was buried in the Church of the Most Holy Annunciation, which later became the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Rome.

Aloysius Gonzaga's name was changed to "Robert" before his death, in honor of his confessor.

Aloysius Gonzaga's head was later translated to the sanctuary-basilica bearing his name in Castiglione delle Stiviere.

Aloysius Gonzaga described him as radiant in glory because of his "interior works," a hidden martyr for his great love of God.

Aloysius Gonzaga is the patron of Valmontone, a town in Lazio.

Aloysius Gonzaga's attributes are a lily, referring to innocence; a cross, referring to piety and sacrifice; a skull, referring to his early death; and a rosary, referring to his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Aloysius Gonzaga is represented on the ceiling of the Chapel of the Immaculate, at Collegio Rotondi, Italy, in the act of adoring Our Lady with her child Jesus.