Born in the year 1568 near Mantua in Lombardy of the noble family of Castiglione. He was brought up piously by his mother and had a vocation to the religious life. He resigned his birthright to his brother and at Rome entered the Society of Jesus. While working among the sick in a hospital he was striken by the plague and died in the year 1591. In 1729 Pope Benedict XIII declared Aloysius to be the Patron Saint of young students. In 1926 he was named patron of all christian youth by Pope Pius XI. Owing to the manner of his death, he has always been considered a patron saint of plague victims.
