St. Luigi GonzagaJesuit religious and martyr of charity Castiglione delle Stiviere (Mantua), 9/03/1568 – Rome, 21/06/1591. He is the first of eight children of FerranteMarquis of Castiglione delle Stiviere e therefore heir to the title. He is educated by his father in military life: at the age of 4 he has a mini breastplate with a helmet equipped with a plume.
• At the age of 5 he is taken by his father to assist in the training of 3,000 Spanish soldiers who must fight against the Arabs. Complete his philosophical studies at the court of Philip II, king of Spain, where he remains two years as a page of Prince Diego. A portrait of him by El Greco (one of the few authentic ones) dates from this period, very different from many devotional images that usually depict him.
• At the age of 12 he received his First Communion from St. Charles Borromeo. Overcoming the strong opposition of his father (which lasted three years) who wishes to initiate him into military life, at 16 he entered the Society of Jesus.
• His birth was very difficult. The father, to ensure him Paradise in case he did not survive, has him baptized before the birth is completely completed. We read in the Roman Breviary about the birth of St. Louis: “Baptism was hastened because of the danger of life, it seemed that the child was born first to heaven than to earth“.
• Sneaking gunpowderload a piece of artillery and open fire: only by a miracle the cannon cartbacking away, does not crush the small and reckless gunner.
• From the soldiers he also learns and repeats foul words, which, given his tender age, he does not understand the meaning. Bad words and that powder stolen to get the piece of artillery fired are the gravest sins committed by Luigi, the ones he regrets all his life.
• As a child he is in church during the exorcism of a possessed person, who, pointing to him, affirms that he will not only go to Heaven, but will also have great glory there.
• At the age of 9 he takes the vow of chastity in front of the picture of the Madonna and she obtains from the Lord the grace of not having ill carnal temptations.
• From the age of 12 he decides to devote at least five hours a day to prayer and meditation.
• For the protection of the Lord he remains unharmed in two accidents that could have been lethal: a fire in his room one night that he fell asleep praying and a great flood of Ticino that threatens to drown him when Luigi crosses the river in the carriage.
• The father, to dissuade him from embracing the religious life, sends him to visit the courts of Northern Italy (Ferrara, Turin, Parma and Florence), hoping that some aspect of that life will fascinate him; Luigi, on the contrary, is literally nauseated. Back home he locks himself in his room; the servants go to call Don Ferrante so that he can personally see what his son is doing. The marquis, when he arrives at Luigi’s room, puts his eye in the lock and sees the eldest son with one hand holds a crucifix and with the other a whip, with which he scourges himself to blood. Don Ferrante then agrees to Luigi’s will to become religious.
• He chooses the Society of Jesus also because it excludes the possibility of obtaining or ecclesiastics.
• On arriving in Rome, before entering the Society of Jesus, he goes to pay homage to Pope Sixtus V, who is so admired by the young man that he prophesied that he would become one of the glories of the Congregation.
• During the novitiate, at each step (both uphill and downhill), he stops to recite a Hail Mary.
• He is so immersed in meditation that he never notices the novice master, who periodically enters his room.
• St. Robert Bellarmine, his confessor, testifies that Luigi never committed a mortal sin or any fully willed and deliberate venial sin.
• His companions in the novitiate give him the nickname of “Censor” for his austere attitude that does not tolerate frivolity and lightness, even if innocent.
• The rector father forbids him to pray prolonged because he suffers from headaches, but it is more difficult not to think of the Lord than to keep his mind gathered in him. When he feels he is going into ecstasy, he sighs, “My Lord, get away from me, because I have to obey.”
• Duke Giovanni de ‘Medici is moved when he sees Luigi dressed in tattered clothes begging in the streets of Rome for the poor and gives him a large sum.
• The Lord reveals to him during his stay in Milan that his death is near, Luigi only expresses the desire to be able to die in Rome as a sign of his love for the Church.
• The Jesuit Provincial Father present at his death states: “Luigi speaks with such naturalness about going to Heaven as we would say about going to Frascati!”.
Personality
He has a tormented character, austere and strong; is sometimes inflexible and reluctant to compromise. For the great spirituality and for the clear moral temper some confreres they advocate in him the future superior general of the Order.
Spirituality
True angel on earthhe knew how to unite in himself the wonders of innocence and mortification. He is able to pray even for five consecutive hours, without having a single distraction. The macerations that he inflicts on his poor body, as well as the mortifications, are incredible: his spiritual directors urge him to be restrained and to adapt to the behavior of the other novices. He has a great desire to serve Christor in the person of the sick person, who looks after even the lowest and most unpleasant tasks. He recites the collection of the Mass in memory of the Saint: “In St. Louis, God has joined an equal spirit of penance to an admirable innocence”
Death
During the plague of 1590which in fifteen months leads to the deaths of three popes one after the other (Sixtus V, Urban VII and Gregory XIV), he dedicates himself to the service of the sick. He suffers the contagion perhaps when he loads on his shoulders a dying man abandoned in the street and takes him to the hospice at the foot of the Capitol, where he serves. When he realizes he’s been infectedthinking of Heaven, thank the Lord with a heart overflowing with joy. He spends all his time in prayer: when he is left alone he kneels at the foot of the bed. His companions invite him to take their personal requests to Heaven. During his illness, he is assisted by St. Robert Bellarmine, who assures him that he would not go through Purgatory and who later testifies to his holiness (while distancing himself from his excess of rigor and penance). He writes a touching letter of farewell to his mother, in which he too adds: “Do not weep like dead someone who always has to live before God”. He is very pleased with his father’s blessing with the plenary indulgence by Pope Gregory XIV. He receives the Anointing of the Sick and the Holy Viaticum. A lighted candle is placed in his hand and a small crucifix on his chest, which he holds with great love. He dies saying the words: “I am glad to enter the abode of my Lord” and the holy names of Jesus and Mary. His mother is lucky enough to venerate him as blessed. He was canonized in 1726. His body rests in the church of Sant’Ignazio in Rome, while his garment is kept in Castiglione delle Stiviere, in the church dedicated to him; in Naples, in the church of Gesù Vecchio, an ampoule conserves his blood.
Iconography
The most frequent devotional image is the one that represents him dressed as a cleric with a lily in his hand; the flower represents the symbol of its puritya and remember the intense perfume emanating from all of his body after death.
Taken from the book “The saints of the day teach us to live and to die” by Luigi Luzi
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San Luigi Gonzaga: this is why he is depicted with a lily in his hand