Memory Of A First Communion On 26 June 1879

MEMORY OF A FIRST COMMUNION ON 26 JUNE 1879 SAL LUIGI GONZAGA The eldest son of the Marquis Luigi, of Castiglione delle Stiviere, was born in 1568. Educated by his mother to love God, while still a child he overcame the fascination of military life and soon showed himself inclined to a more intense evangelical life. In 1576 he was sent to Florence as a page to the Grand Duke, and there in the sanctuary of the Annunziata he consecrated himself to the Mother of God, committing himself to virginity. At the age of twelve he received his first communion from the hands of Saint Charles Borromeo, and from that day the Eucharist was the center of his life. At seventeen, after overcoming exhausting conflicts, he renounced the marquisate and entered the Society of Jesus. In Rome, during an epidemic, he devoted himself with unconditional dedication to caring for the sick, until, reached by the contagion, he died on June 21, 1591. MEASURES CM 17.5 X 13.5