And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15

The cornerstone of the first St. Aloysius Church building was laid on May 25th, 1872. At that time, parishioners were predominantly of French Canadian ancestry. The original church building sustained a fire in the early 1970s and had to be rebuilt. The shortest steeple survived the fire and remains off to the side in front of the current church. The beautiful stained glass windows inside the church also survived the fire and are a treasured link to our parish’s beginnings. This parish also donated land, under the leadership of Fr. Henri Milette, which was used to build Nashua’s first hospital: Saint Joseph Hospital, dedicated on May 1st, 1908, primarily to serve Nashua’s French Canadian community.

St. Aloysius was an Italian noble born in Lombardy, Italy, in 1568. He was the oldest son of Ferrante Gonzaga, the Marquis of Castiglione. His first words were the names of Jesus and Mary. These were also his last words on his death bed. He experienced a spiritual awakening at the young age of 7 and prayed devotions and psalms. At age 11 he was teaching catechism to poor boys. He received First Communion from St. Charles Borromeo, depicted in the stained glass window of the tower from the original church that remains on the West Hollis Street property.

As the eldest son, he was the heir apparent to the family fortunes and titles but renounced his birthright to his brother Rudolfo at the age of 17 and entered the Jesuit order at the age of 18, after a long battle of wills with his father. He pronounced his vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in 1587. During his final year of theology study he worked alongside his Jesuit brothers to help those afflicted with the plague in Rome and contracted the illness. He never completely recovered and continued with a fever, which weakened him and was the cause of his death at the age of 23. He was beatified in 1605 by Pope Paul V and canonized in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. He is the patron saint of Roman Catholic youth.