Born in 1568 near Mantua in Lombardy, Aloysius Gonzaga belonged to the princely family of Castiglione. He served as a page at several princely courts. Instructed in piety by his mother, he manifested an inclination to religious life. He legally delivered his share of the ancestral dominion to his brother and entered the Society of Jesus at the age of eighteen. While serving the sick during a plague he contracted the disease and died in 1591. He has been declared protector of students and patron of Christian youth. – CTS New Daily Roman Missal 2012, p 2763; Christian Prayer 1990, p 1149
