some things I dug up in 1972 and recently rediscovered

[mrtim]

When I was a kid (7 years old in 1972) I dug up a box at an old church and there were several of these medalions inside. I have no idea of their age and I have never found anything identical online. I believe they are catholic medals of the patron saint of teenagers (from my own research). I am not catholic so I am unfamiliar with the story of s aloysius of gonzague.

My dad had put these away for safe keeping after I found them and I ran across them while going through his belongings recently.
Anybody have any idea of how old they might be? They are identical, the picture shows both front and back. I believe they are bronze, just a little bigger than a quarter.

 

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[trikikiwi]

That's a cool medal.
I'm interested in the details on how you found the box. I am presuming you didn't use a metal detector? Was it in the ground? What made you dig there (if you did) ?

Otherwise, there is plenty of information on the Saint available.
Wiki has;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysius_Gonzaga

Note the spelling of his name in the Wiki article, is his native Italian spelling. Your medals are French.

I don't know the age of the medal but it is no older than December 31, 1726
On December 31, 1726, he was canonized together with another Jesuit novice, Stanislaus Kostka, by Pope Benedict XIII. Pope Benedict XIII also declared him to the patron saint of young students in 1729. In 1926, he was named patron of Christian youth by Pope Pius XI. Owing to the manner of his death, he has always been considered a patron saint of plague victims. In recent years, many have felt it proper to extend this to include people living with AIDS. St. Aloysius is also the patron of Valmontone, a town not far from Rome.

In art, St Aloysius is shown as a young man wearing a black cassock and white rochet, or as a page. His attributes are a lily, referring to innocence; a cross, referring to piety and sacrifice; a skull, referring to his early death; and a rosary, referring to his devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Interesting that he has also become Patron Saint of people living with AIDS. A modern plague.

Cheers, Mike

 

[mrtim]

Thanks Mike, I appreciate the information.
When I was a kid I lived near Warsaw Indiana (a little farm community called Pierceton). The sunday school I attended was not in a catholic church but the church itself was old. they were building an addition onto the church and was digging the footer and they scooped out a pile of dirt, We spotted what appeared to be a box in the loose dirt and being a 7 year old I immediately thought of pirates treasure

I dug it out with some help from the neighbors kids , we split the loot among the 3 of us. I don't remember much about the church, I know I got terrified when sunday school let out early and we had to sit through the sermon...they got the "spirit" so to speak and was rolling on the floor and jumping and screaming all over the place. I had never seen "Holy Rollers" before and it scared me half to death. I was afraid to go back to sunday school after that.

Thanks again for the information and for taking the time to research it and post.