At 10 years old, Luigi no longer has anything of the child-soldier nature. While he is in Florence at the Medici court he decides to consecrate himself to Mary "as she had consecrated herself to God". Over time he shows a growing interest in prayer rather than in the practice of war, in the poverty of customs instead of the luxuries of his world. Until he was still 18 - after his father sent him around the Italian courts with the hope that some princess would distract him from those "oddities" - Luigi decided to formally renounce his birthright. The father is furious, the relatives make fun of him, the notary who draws up the deed is incredulous. The only one rubbing his hands is the second son Rodolfo, to whom the choice of that singular brother opens up the future command of the house. The young Gonzaga responds frankly to everyone: “I am looking for salvation, you too should look for it! You cannot serve two masters... It is too difficult for a state lord to save himself." And he leaves for Rome with the idea of joining the Jesuits.
"God, my rest"
In the novitiate of the Company the formative fathers immediately realize that Luigi is a diamond. He prays and does penance with such intensity that, paradoxically, to moderate his ardors the penance of "not" doing penance is imposed on him. Or, at the limits of humour, to overcome the migraines that are making him suffer, they ask him for the love of God to "not think about God" - so he confides to a trainer that he doesn't really know what to do: "The rector told me he forbids me to pray, so that my attention does not cause violence to my head", but this, he says simply, "has almost become natural to me, and I find peace and rest and not pain".
In the midst of the plague "like the others"
In Rome in that period, after a famine, a violent plague epidemic broke out. The city becomes hell, thousands die in terrible conditions. The Jesuits are at the forefront in bringing help to the infected and Luigi is no exception: he - a nobleman - knocks on doors to ask for alms with the motto "Like the others" in his head and heart. One day he sees an abandoned plague victim and puts him on his shoulder to take him to the hospital. Luigi is already ill and perhaps that last gesture of courage and generosity worsens the situation without there being any more hope. In a short time the ancient child soldier, who became the rich young man who did not turn his back on Jesus but followed him, died at the age of 23, on 21 June 1591. Benedict XIII canonized him in 1729.