[1] His father assumed that Gonzaga would become a soldier, as that was the norm for sons of the aristocracy and the family was often involved in the minor wars of the period.

As early as age four, Luigi was given a set of miniature guns and accompanied his father on training expeditions so that the boy might learn "the art of arms".

[1] In 1576, at age 8, he was sent to Florence along with his younger brother, Rodolfo, to serve at the court of the Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici and to receive further education.

He also repeatedly visited the houses of the Capuchin friars and the Barnabites located in Casale Monferrato, the capital of the Gonzaga-ruled Duchy of Montferrat where the family spent the winter.

[5] His family's attempts to dissuade him failed; Gonzaga was not interested in higher office and still wanted to become a missionary.

[8] After begging alms for the victims, Gonzaga began working with the sick, carrying the dying from the streets into a hospital founded by the Jesuits.

At the time, many of the younger Jesuits had become infected with the disease, and so Gonzaga's superiors forbade him from returning to the hospital.

Eventually he was allowed to care for the sick, but only at another hospital, called Our Lady of Consolation, where those with contagious diseases were not admitted.

Many people considered him to be a saint soon after his death, and his remains were moved into the Sant'Ignazio church, where they now rest in an urn of lapis lazuli in the Lancellotti Chapel.

His head was later translated to the sanctuary-basilica bearing his name (elevated to Minor Basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1964[12]) in Castiglione delle Stiviere.

For his compassion and courage in the face of an incurable disease, St. Aloysius Gonzaga has become the patron both of AIDS patients and their caregivers.

Being the patron saint of youth and students and because of his service to others as a young adult, several schools and colleges are named after Aloysius Gonzaga.

Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania and Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, are a few examples.

[16] In art, Gonzaga is shown as a young man wearing a black cassock and surplice, or as a page.

[17] Gonzaga is represented on the ceiling of the Chapel of the Immaculate, at Collegio Rotondi, Italy, in the act of adoring Our Lady with her child Jesus.

Irish writer James Joyce, being educated at the Jesuit Clongowes Wood College, chose Aloysius Gonzaga as his confirmation saint.