St. Aloysius Gonzaga’s outstanding quality was his radiant purity and the Church praises his perfect innocence with the words, “Thou hast made him little less than the angels.” He was baptized in the womb, because his life was in danger, and made a vow of chastity at the age of nine. When he was sixteen he joined the Society of Jesus and died at the age of twenty-three in 1591 as a result of his devoted nursing of the plague-stricken. In his novitiate he condemned himself as guilty of sloth if he did not in every religious duty surpass in fervor all his companions and, although born a prince, he loved and rejoiced most in the meanest and most contemptible employments. Benedict XIII proclaimed him the patron and model of youth.