Aloysius, the Patron of Catholic youth, was the oldest son of an Italian marquis. Since he was so full of life, his father planned to make a great soldier out of him, and when he was only five, he took him to an army camp. There little Aloysius marched in parade and even managed to load and fire a gun one day while the camp was at rest! He learned rough language, too, from the soldiers, but when he found out that this talk was shameful, he felt very bad.
As he grew, Aloysius was sent to the courts of dukes and princes. Many sins of dishonesty, hatred, and impurity were being committed in this high society. But the only effect it all had on the Saint was to make him more careful to protect his purity. He fell sick and that gave him a good excuse to stay in his room to pray and read the lives of the saints.
When Aloysius was sixteen, he resolved to leave the world and become a Jesuit, but his father refused his consent. However, after three years, he finally gave in. Once he had entered, Aloysius begged to serve in the kitchen and to wash dishes, because he wanted to practice humility. He would say, "I am a crooked piece of iron and am come into religion to made straight by the hammer of mortification and penance.”
When a terrible disease broke out in Rome, Aloysius asked to be allowed to care for the sick. He who had always had servants to wait on him gladly washed the sick and made their beds. He served them until he caught the sickness himself.
St. Aloysius was only twenty-four when he died. His last words were, “I am going to Heaven.”
The virtue which is outstanding in St. Aloysius is purity. To keep pure we should do what he did, that is, mortify all our senses, and especially our eyes.
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