RELIQUARY BOX OF S. Aloisii Gonz.

RELIQUARY BOX OF S. Aloisii Gonz.

( Saint Aloysius Gonzaga )

Epoch: 1930s’

Size: 3 cm diameter x 2 cm glass

St. Aloysius (1568-1591)

In 1729 Pope Benedict XIII named St. Aloysius Gonzaga patron saint of youth. An apt choice, for Aloysius won his crown as a teen, dying when only 23.

He signed himself Aluigi or Luigi (Louis), this firstborn son of Ferrante Gonzaga, Marchese of Castiglione. His was a major noble Italian family, in an age of war, intrigue and corruption. The boy learned piety from his mother, the Marchesa. Ferrante, however, a worldly man, thought only of preparing Louis to succeed him as a soldier and ruler. On his fourth birthday he gave him a set of miniature guns and cannons. When he was only five he took him to live four months in a military camp. Here he innocently picked up a coarse macho vocabulary. When, on his return home, his tutor told him these expressions were improper, the gently lad was much chagrined.

Aloysius was only seven when he had a strong religious experience, and began to double his prayer-time and penances. Aged none, he was sent to Florence for schooling. Florentine courtiers lived splendid but violent and sensual lives. Exposed to their obvious sexual excesses, Louis learned to fight valiantly to maintain purity of heart. Later on, St. Robert Bellarmine, one of his confessors, would say that he believed young Gonzaga never committed a mortal sin.