In the 1890 when Alice Hogan gave birth to the first of nine children, the odds were against her. Statistics showed that about one fourth of all babies died in their first year, and half of all children died before they reached the end of puberty.
Hoping for better odds, Alice decided to appeal to the saints. She named her son George Aloysius, in honor of Saint Aloysius, an obscure eighteenth century saint that the Catholic Church had identified as the patron saint of children. With that name, Alice reasoned, the venerable saint would keep an eye on George.
By all accounts during his lifetime Aloysius was a sweet, humble and unselfish man who lived only to help others. He was born in a castle, the eldest son of the Marquis of Castiglione, destined for a life of wealth and power. His father wanted him to be a soldier. At age five, he was sent to a military camp to start training, where his father was pleased to see him marching around camp at the head of a platoon of soldiers. But Aloysius had other dreams. He wanted to be a priest. And not an ordinary parish priest. He wanted to be a Jesuit, an order of missionaries and teachers.
At age twelve, against his father’s wishes, and knowing that he wanted to become a missionary, he started practicing by teaching cathechism classes to young boys in Castiglione. Using his family connections, he turned to the emperor to allow him to reqliquish his inheritance and appealed to the Pope to help him become a Jesuit. When plague struck Rome in 1591, he spent his days in a hospital where he washed and fed plague victims. He became infected with the plague and died at age 23.
Pope Benedict XIII canonized him a saint in 1726 and declared him the patron saint of youth in 1729.
How Alice Hogan learned about an obscure eighteenth century saint has not surfaced in family lore, but she turned to him to bless her children.
After George, her firstborn, Alice would have eight more children, five boys and for girls. Keeping her faith in the sweet young saint, she gave each of her children, girls as well as boys, the second name Aloysius.
Ken Hogan, son of Daniel, Alice’s ninth child, said growing up with siblings and cousins, his generation of family members had no idea who St. Aloysius was and often chuckled at the anomaly that each of his uncles and aunts was named Aloysius.
“It’s really an odd name,” Ken said. “Who do you know that ever called their kid Aloysius.”
Still Alice seems to have made a good bet. She was fortunate in the lives of her children. All nine lived to adulthood and were blessed with good health.
Kind of a fun story to keep telling, Ken said.
Very interesting! Nicely written!