Meditations on the Holy Angels

“O my soul, contemplate the surpassing beauty of these citizens of paradise! They shine like a vast constellation of radiant stars, or even like the sun itself, in the splendid city of God.” —St. Aloysius Gonzaga In the history of the Church, there are few saints who wrote with such angelic purity and devotion on the subject of angels as Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Much has been written on this Jesuit novice who died at the young age of twenty-three while caring for plague victims, but little has been available on his actual writings—that is, until now. For the first time in English, Meditations on the Holy Angels, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga’s longest and most significant work is offered to readers. Discover this great saint’s love for the holy angels, no doubt a powerful inspiration for his own angelic purity. Those who read this inspiring work will fall more deeply in love with God and His holy angels. Learn about our angelic companions’ excellence, nobility, and glorious order. Contemplate the powerful roles of Saints Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael through the eyes of one of the Church’s great Jesuit saints. Included in this volume are two important versions of the life of Saint Aloysius. The first is from the Office of the saint, first published in 1737, and subsequently incorporated into the Roman Breviary. The other version, published in 1699, is somewhat longer and offers further beautiful details of his sanctity, piety, and ardent charity. As the patron saint of youth and students, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga’s writings and life reveal that one cannot live an angelic life without angelic help. Here is a saint who sought his guardian angel’s help three times a day. Here is a book that will enflame the hearts of both young and old to love our angelic friends—messengers from heaven—with even greater fervour. ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, son of Ferdinand Gonzaga, Marquis of Castiglione della Stiviere was baptised at birth because he was in imminent peril of death. It was with unwavering constancy and faith that he maintained this baptismal grace. He made a vow of perpetual virginity before the altar of the Blessed Virgin in Florence when he was nine years old. After a three-year dispute with his father, he joined the Society of Jesus. He showed himself to be a master of all virtues as a novice in the Jesuit order. A dedicated charity worker, he volunteered to help plague victims in public hospitals, where he eventually contracted the disease. Having succumbed to the plague, he died on the twenty-first day of June at the age of 23. Pope Benedict XIII canonised him as a model of innocence and chastity and as a patron saint of youth and students.

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