Posted on 09/04/2017 9:37:07 AM PDT by Salvation
The Lord can make saints anywhere, even amid the brutality and license of Renaissance life. Florence was the mother of piety for Aloysius Gonzaga despite his exposure to a society of fraud, dagger, poison, and lust. As a son of a princely family, he grew up in royal courts and army camps. His father wanted Aloysius to be a military hero.
At age 7 Aloysius experienced a profound spiritual quickening. His prayers included the Office of Mary, the psalms, and other devotions. At age 9 he came from his hometown of Castiglione to Florence to be educated; by age 11 he was teaching catechism to poor children, fasting three days a week, and practicing great austerities. When he was 13 years old, he traveled with his parents and the Empress of Austria to Spain, and acted as a page in the court of Philip II. The more Aloysius saw of court life, the more disillusioned he became, seeking relief in learning about the lives of saints.
A book about the experience of Jesuit missionaries in India suggested to him the idea of entering the Society of Jesus, and in Spain his decision became final. Now began a four-year contest with his father. Eminent churchmen and laypeople were pressed into service to persuade Aloysius to remain in his normal vocation. Finally he prevailed, was allowed to renounce his right to succession, and was received into the Jesuit novitiate.
Like other seminarians, Aloysius was faced with a new kind of penancethat of accepting different ideas about the exact nature of penance. He was obliged to eat more, and to take recreation with the other students. He was forbidden to pray except at stated times. He spent four years in the study of philosophy and had Saint Robert Bellarmine as his spiritual adviser.
In 1591, a plague struck Rome. The Jesuits opened a hospital of their own. The superior general himself and many other Jesuits rendered personal service. Because he nursed patients, washing them and making their beds, Aloysius caught the disease. A fever persisted after his recovery and he was so weak he could scarcely rise from bed. Yet, he maintained his great discipline of prayer, knowing that he would die within the octave of Corpus Christi, three months later, at the age of 23.
As a saint who fasted, scourged himself, sought solitude and prayer, and did not look on the faces of women, Aloysius seems an unlikely patron of youth in a society where asceticism is confined to training camps of football teams and boxers, and sexual permissiveness has little left to permit. Can an overweight and air-conditioned society deprive itself of anything? It will when it discovers a reason, as Aloysius did. The motivation for letting God purify us is the experience of God loving us in prayer.
Catholic Youth
Teenagers
Saint of the Day for June 21.
I will try to finish off June today and get into the July saints. Sorry.
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Paulinus of Nola, 06-20-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Romuald, 06-19-17
Day by Day -- Saints for all, Venerable Matt Talbot, 06-18-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Joseph Cafasso, 06-17-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint John Francis Regis, 06-16-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Marguerite dYouville, 06-15-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Albert Chmielowski, 06-14-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Anthony of Padua, 06-13-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Jolenta (Yolanda) of Poland, 06-12-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Barnabas, 06-11-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Joachima, 06-10-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Ephrem, 06-09-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint William of York, 06-08-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Franz Jaegerstaetter, 06-07-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Norbert, 06-06-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Boniface, 06-05-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Angeline of Marsciano, 06-04-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, 06-03-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saints Marcellinus and Peter, 06-02-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Justin Martyr, 06-01-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 05-31-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Joan of Arc, 05-30-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, 05-29-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, 05-28-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Augustine of Canterbury, 05-27-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Philip Neri, 05-26-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Bede the Venerable, 05-25-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, 05-24-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Gregory VII, 5-23-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All -- Saint Rita of Cascia, 05-22-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, 05-21-17, Saint Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Bernardine of Siena, 05-20-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Theophilus of Corte, 05-19-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, St. John I, 05-18-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Paschal Baylon, 05-17-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, 05-16-17, Saint Margaret of Cortona
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Isidore the Farmer, 05-15-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Matthias, 05-14-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Our Lady of Fatima, 05-13-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saints Nereus and Achilleus, 05-12-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Ignatius of Laconi, 05-11-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Damien de Veuster of Molokai, 05-10-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint John of Avila, 05-09-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Peter of Tarentaise, 05-08-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Rose Venerini, 05-07-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saints Marian and James, 05-06-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Hilary of Arles, 05-05-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Michael Giedroyc, 05-04-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saints Philip and James, 05-03-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Athanasius, 05-02-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Joseph the Worker, 05-01-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Pius V, 04-30-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Catherine of Siena, 04-29-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Peter Chanel, 04-28-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort, 04-27-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Pedro de San José Betancur, 04-26-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Mark, 04-25-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint George, 04-23-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Adalbert of Prague, 04-22-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Anselm, 04-21-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Conrad of Parzham, 04-20-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, 04-19-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, 04-17-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, 04-16-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Caesar de Bus, 04-15-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Peter Gonzalez, 04-14-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Martin I, 04-13-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Teresa of Los Andes, 04-12-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Stanislaus, 04-11-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Magdalen of Canossa, 04-10-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Casilda, 04-09-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Julie Billiart, 04-08-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint John Baptist de la Salle, 04-07-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Crescentia Hoess, 04-06-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Vincent Ferrer, 04-05-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Isidore of Seville, 04-04-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Benedict the African, 04-03-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Francis of Paola, 04-02-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Hugh of Grenoble, 04-01-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Stephen of Mar Saba, 03-31-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Peter Regalado, 03-30-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Ludovico of Casoria, 03-29-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Catharine of Bologna, 03-28-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Lazarus, 03-27-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Catherine of Genoa, 03-26-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Annunciation of the Lord, 03-25-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Oscar Arnulfo Romero, 03-24-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo, 03-23-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Nicholas Owen, 03-22-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed John of Parma, 03-21-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Salvator of Horta, 03-20-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary, 03-19-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, 03-18-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, St. Patrick, 03-17-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer, 03-16-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Louise de Marillac, 03-15-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Maximilian, 03-14-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Leander of Seville, 03-13-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Blessed Angela Salawa, 03-12-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint John Ogilvie, 03-11-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Dominic Savio, 03-10-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Frances of Rome, 03-09-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, St. John of God, 03-08-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saints Perpetua and Felicity, 03-07-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes, 03-06-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint John Joseph of the Cross, 03-05-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Casimir, 03-04-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Katharine Drexel, 03-03-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, St. Agnes of Bohemia, 03-02-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, St. David of Wales, 03-01-17
Self denial and discipline builds self esteem. Fooling yourself and others with unearned praise destroys it. A simple but indispensable truth.
BTTT for St. Aloysius Gonzaga!
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