St. Aloysius Gonzaga was the eldest son born of a noble family in the year 1568 near Mantua in Lombardy. When he was old enough, Aloysius was sent to the Medicis in Florence to learn about court life. Alienated by the intrigue, poisonings, and debauchery of the court, he isolated himself and took a firm vow of chastity.
Having been instructed in piety from an early age by his mother, at the age of 12 Aloysius read the synopsis of Christian doctrine by St. Peter Canisius and made his First Communion from St. Charles Borromeo of Milan. When Aloysius made the decision to enter the Jesuit order, his father was at first enraged, but he finally agreed after a year of Aloysius's stubborn refusal to budge from his conviction. Aloysius legally delivered his share of the ancestral dominion to his brother and entered the Jesuit order.
Gonzaga entered the Jesuit novitiate in Rome when he was 17, where his spiritual directors quickly forbade the excesses of his personal piety. Early in 1591 he aided plague victims in Rome, washing and feeding the dying in hospitals. He contracted the plague in March 1591 while caring for a victim in hospital and died several months later.
He was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726. He is the patron of youth, as well as the patron of AIDS victims and those assisting AIDS victims
Reading:
May the comfort and grace of the Holy Spirit be yours for ever, most honored lady. Your letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead, but now I must rouse myself to make my way on to heaven at last, and to praise God for ever in the land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there would have been over. If charity, as Saint Paul says, means "to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who are glad," then, dearest mother, you shall rejoice exceedingly that God in his grace and his love for you is showing me the path to true happiness, and assuring me that I shall never lose him.
Take care above all things, most honored lady, not to insult God's boundless loving kindness; you would certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with God, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than they ever could on earth. And our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again in heaven; we shall be united with our Savior; there we shall praise him with heart and soul, sing of his mercies for ever, and enjoy eternal happiness.
from a letter to his mother by Saint Aloysius Gonzaga