Happy Friday! The first full week of Lent Madness 2022 is nearly complete. Today we head back up to Confusion Corner as Aloysius Gonzaga tips off against Thomas of Villanova. If you're not a college basketball fan, this matchup may well seem rather confusing. Then again, if you're not a college basketball fan, the whole idea of a bracket competition may have initially been confusing.
Yesterday, Columbanus revved his way past Drogo 53% to 47% to secure a spot in the Saintly Sixteen against Madeleine Sophie Barat.
Enjoy your weekend. We realize that Lent Madness Withdrawal (LMW) is a real thing and we assure you of our...thoughts and prayers. But we'll be back at it first thing Monday morning as Perpetua takes on Cecilia. Go vote!
Aloysius Gonzaga
Aloysius Gonzaga, one of the great saints of the Jesuit order, was born to nobility in 1568. As was common among boys of his station, he was placed by his father on a path toward the life of a soldier; as early as age four, he began practicing the “art of arms,” learning how to fire miniature guns, bear a pike at the shoulder in military parades, and even how to set off a canon. Yet through it all, Aloysius Gonzaga’s piety was “precocious”—and fervent.
Aloysius found his tenacious faith amid the violence of the Italian Renaissance and the violent trajectory of his father’s chosen life for him. During his childhood, he witnessed the murder of two of his brothers. In his youth, he found a spiritual quickening. At a young age, he became ill with kidney disease, which would trouble him throughout his short life. During this illness, he fell in love with the lives of the saints and developed a discipline of prayer; after reading a book about Jesuit missionaries in India, he felt a call to religious life. By fourteen, he began thinking in earnest about forgoing his noble privileges to join the Jesuits. His mother agreed; his war-mongering father refused. But Aloysius showed bulldogged persistence; by 1584, his father relented, and the next year, Aloysius renounced his privileges and inheritances and became a Jesuit. Upon arriving at his cell, he said, quoting the psalms, that “this is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.”
Aloysius’s health continued to cause problems. He made his final vows in 1587 and began preparations for ordination, but by 1590 he had a vision in which the Archangel Gabriel told him he would die within a year. In 1591, plague broke out in Rome, and Aloysius volunteered to care for the stricken. He worked to overcome his revulsion for the grotesque symptoms of the plague, throwing himself into his work. In time, he was removed for his health but reinstated because of his continued persistence to care for the ill. While assigned to a hospital without plague, he carried a man from his sickbed, only for that man to show the dreaded boils days later. Aloysius caught the plague and grew ill, dying only a few days after his twenty-third birthday, the name of Jesus on his lips. A Carmelite mystic, Maria Magdalena de Pazzi, described Aloysius Gonzaga as radiant in glory because of his “interior works,” a hidden martyr for his great love of God.
Collect for Aloysius Gonzaga
O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Aloysius Gonzaga, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Thomas of Villanova
Tomás Garcia y Martinez was born in Spain in 1488 to a comfortable family. Both his parents were known for their charity to the poor and needy in their village. Thomas followed his parents’ examples of charity—sometimes to the extreme. He was often seen walking naked around town because he had given his clothes to the poor
Thomas was educated at the University of Alcalá and continued there as a popular professor of arts and philosophy. His love for God and care of the poor eventually led him to join the Augustinian religious order in 1516 and be ordained to the priesthood in 1518.
Known in academic circles for his absentmindedness, he was known among the people as the father of the poor. He wore the same robes he received in his novitiate his entire life, mending tears and worn places himself. He first refused the archbishopric of Granada, then was pressured into accepting the episcopacy in Valencia, a diocese that had not had a resident bishop for more than a century. He received a substantial amount of money from the cathedral to furnish his episcopal residence. He instead gave all the money to a local hospital. He explained that he knew God would be better served in that way. “After all,” he commented, “what does a poor friar like myself want with furniture?”
Poor people lined up each day at Thomas’s door, and each day he gave them bread, wine, money, and prayer. Many of Thomas’s fellow clergy criticized him, saying that people were taking advantage of him. Thomas replied, “If there are people who refuse to work, that is for the governor and the police to deal with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door.”
Thomas was an eloquent preacher, and his sermons encouraged the wealthy to accumulate charitable acts rather than monetary wealth. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is rumored to have said that Thomas’s sermons could move stones to life. Thomas’s sermons also attacked the luxurious life of priests and bishops and the violence of bullfighting—no small criticism in Spain.
At the end of his life, Thomas willed all the money he possessed to be distributed to the poor. In 1555, mass was being celebrated in his presence as he was dying, and after he received communion, he breathed his last, reciting the words: “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
Collect for Thomas of Villanova
Heavenly Father, Shepherd of your people, we thank you for your servant Thomas, who was faithful in the care and nurture of your flock; and we pray that, following his example and the teaching of his holy life, we may by your grace grow into the stature of the fullness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
134 comments on “Aloysius Gonzaga vs. Thomas of Villanova”
Please cast my vote for Thomas of Villanova
Ok, you IT types, why can I vote on my iphone but not on my ipad? Both are, obviously, Apple products.
Any way, it was a difficult choice today! Both are worthy candidates. In the end I voted for Villanova because he gave the people “bread, wine, money, and prayer”.
Thomas's reply to critics reminded me of the parish in Brookings, Oregon, which is being opposed by the town for its service to the homeless. They are practicing what Christ preached, whereas the town is in NimbyLand.
I was set to vote for Aloysius, but then Thomas’ story touched me even more. I love how he tended the poor, even sacrificing the money to fix up his home. He truly followed Jesus more than I do!
This Jesuit educated and spiritually-directed woman had to vote for the Jesuit!
My grandfather’s middle name and all of his brothers’ middle names were Aloysius! Lol.
Gonzaga vs Villanova. Perfect basketball match up for March madness. Had to go with my Jesuits.
I am voting here, because the website won’t accept my vote for Thomas of Villanova. I don’t know why.
As a retired physician, Gonzaga has my vote. He is the ancestor of all the health care professionals who labored through the worst days of COVID to care for the stricken.
Giving such extreme positive examples to the members of government and clergy won Thomas of Villanova for me!
Thomas’s absent-mindedness won my vote. Is he the patron saint of the absent-minded? And if not, who is? “I forget” is not an acceptable answer.
Apropos of forgetting, sort of, our church organist has shared this with the choir today, to be sung to the tune of “Cwm Rhonda”:
“God of sleep and God of slumber,
Help us not be late, we ask:
Changing clocks one forward number,
May we not forget this task.
Choir directors, preachers, teachers,
All would bless your holy name,
If to Sunday church on time we came.”
Is "Cwm Rhonda" the same tune as "Help me, Rhonda"? Inquiring boyish minds on the beach want to know.
I have to vote for Villanova because of his absentmindedness. He is my new hero!
As I am also absent minded I was happy to learn of a saint who was that way. Had to vote for Thomas!
Bulldogged persistence. I see what you did there.
Gonzaga is #1…Today.
Tómas seemed slightly less nutty than Aloysius so he got my vote.
In honor of all the health care workers and first responders who have risked their lives and, in many cases, given their lives to help others during the past two years of the Covid pandemic, my vote is for Gonzaga.
The vote tab would not work .
My vote was for Thomas so when I chose “results” which did work I was happy to see that Thomas was leading by a substantial margin.
Am not voting, goes under heading "who cares", this is like 'same old, same old.' Looking forward to Monday and following....a few of the 'interesting' people I've picked have moved onward, hope to add more!
"as early as age four, he began practicing the “art of arms,” learning how to fire miniature guns, bear a pike at the shoulder in military parades, and even how to set off a canon."
Yep, a religious dictate, not a military instrument. No wonder he became a Jesuit.
Oh, dear! I’m looking for guidance from Joanna Five Years Old and can’t find her post!
Out of the mouths of babes.
Set off a canon? Obviously precocious.
We were given no option for voting today March 11!
All the way with Gonzaga!!! Oh...maybe the wrong
Madness...still I'll stick with Gonzaga.
Wow! I had never heard of Thomas of Villanova, but what a guy! It sounds like he had a sense of humor, too. I see he is way in the lead, and I'm excited to learn more about him in the next round.
I also find Aloysious Gonzaga to be lovely but I just have to vote for Thomas. Aloysious immediately made me think of people like John Keats and Franz Schubert - the latter's epitaph is "Here music has buried a treasure, but even fairer hopes." Great achievements during a short life, but how much more might he have done considering the dedication he already had shown.
While I was moved by Aloysius's determination to reject the life of violence mapped out for him and his courage in taking care of the sick during a plague outbreak (which cost him his life), his story is largely that of a child, teenager, and young adult. Tomás García y Martínez died at 67 -- after having made a lifetime of adult choices, especially the really difficult choices to live more like Jesus and less like the wealthy and powerful, when he could so easily have done the opposite. It sounds like Tomás might have had ADD? -- problems with absentmindedness and memory?, and that also interests me -- that he persevered as a teacher even with these challenges. But I was really moved by the ways he took Jesus's model seriously, rejected high office until it was pressed on him, then focused on taking care of people rather than on judging them. Why is that so hard for us? Tomás could so easily have taken the money intended to outfit his bishop's residence and given himself a lavish lifestyle, e.g. But he didn't. We need more kindness. We need more servant leaders. We need more so-called Christians and leaders and humans who care more about living with compassion for others than about their own riches or importance. We need more people who can help us see what it looks like to live like Jesus. So today I voted for Tomás.
I wanted to vote for Thomas of Villanova because of his willingness to help anyone who came to his door. I ended up voting for Aloysius Gonzaga, as he suffered from kidney issues. My elderly mother is dealing with kidney problems at present and will undergo a CT scan on Tuesday. I'm praying that no malignancy will be found.
I'd also like to suggest to the SEC that a support group be formed for those who have severe cases of Lent Madness Withdrawal!
Wishing all a good weekend.
I voted for Aloysius. Coming from a privileged life of nobility to a life of caring for plague victims is quite saintly.
While St. Tomas is quite worthy, I can't help but vote for St. Aloysius in honor of all who sacrificed so much to care for others throughout the ongoing pandemic.
Yay, Thomas! For his care for the poor and his uncaring attitude about material things. And for not supporting bullfights! I love it.
When I vote it seems to take a long time for the circling balls to stop going around and I just give up. Gonzaga was my vote