St Aloysius Gonzaga and St Mewan

Seminarian. Patron of youth. Born in 1568, Aloysius was a son of the Marquis of Castignlione. His mother was lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Spain. His parents wanted him to be a solder and as a young boy he used to take part in military parades. Once he set off a cannon without permission.

Aloysius became a page in the court, but during a long illness he began to pray and read the lives of the saints. To his parents' indignation, he then announced to the court that he wanted to become a Jesuit. He entered the novitiate in 1585, but suffered from several bouts of ill health. In 1591, after nursing the sick in a plague hospital, he caught the illness himself and died on this day in 1591.

See also: The Life and Times of St Aloysius Gonzaga by Fr James Martin SJ: http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/life-times-st-aloysius-gonzaga

Today is also the Feast of Saint Mewan

A 6th century abbot, St Mewan was born in South Wales. He was a disciple of Samson and a companion of St Austell. Together they migrated from Wales to Brittany, through Cornwall, setting up churches along the way. Mewan founded one monastery in the forest of Broceliande and another in a place now called Saint-Mean. The cult of St Mewan spread all over France and there were once many pilgrimages to his shrine. He is patron of St Mewan and Mevagissey in Cornwall. Some of his relics are said to be at Glastonbury.