Gifted

The young man was truly gifted. His family was well connected and he himself was very bright and highly motivated.

A successful career in the military and politics seemed assured (when he was four, they said, he was sometimes found already marching in uniform).

And then God touched his life.

From the age of seven onward, he devoted himself to the Lord. Even when he was bedridden by kidney disease a few years later, he considered it a blessing because it enabled him to concentrate even more on prayer.

Despite his father’s opposition, he renounced his worldly goods and entered the Jesuits. He excelled at his studies and was considered one of the order’s most exemplary young men.

In his fourth year of theological studies, an epidemic struck the city. Even though his own health was not the best, the young man was tireless in caring for the stricken.

Sure enough, his own health failed. He lingered on for three months before the Lord finally called him home at the age of 23.

Aloysius Gonzaga died around midnight 414 years ago today. He was canonized in 1726.