Alessandro Luzzago

Alessandro Luzzago (October 1551, Brescia - 7 May 1602, Milan) was an Italian nobleman and organizer of Catholic charities. He was declared venerable in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII.

Life Luzzago was the son of Girolamo Luzzago and Paola Peschiera. He was baptised on November 8 in the Church of Santa Maria in Calchera. The Luzzago family was one of the most important noble families of Brescia. His mother was an early collaborator of Saint Angela Merici.

Luzzago received his first formation at Gavardo under the priest Marcantonio Roccio. From 1570, he studied philosophy with the Jesuits at the Convent of San Antonio. On 25 and 26 October 1573 he defended his thesis, In universam philosophiam cum practicam tum speculativam necnon in logicam veterum aeque ac recentium philosophorum sententiae et theoremata varia publice discutienda (Brescia, 1573).

In 1625 the City Council of Brescia asked the bishop to begin Luzzago's cause of beatification. In 1751 the cause was transferred to the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome. Among his writings is an Instruction for the Knights of Malta, in which he proposes various practices for their sanctification, including a course modeled upon the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola and a list of readings taken from contemporary ascetics.