Venerable Aloysius Schwartz

Aloysius Philip Schwartz (September 18, 1930 – March 16, 1992) was an American Catholic priest who ran social service programs for thousands of orphans in South Korea, the Philippines and Mexico. Starting with few financial resources, he founded the Sisters of Mary of Banneux and the Brothers of Christ religious orders in South Korea and established numerous homes and schools for orphaned or neglected children. He was declared venerable by Pope Francis. Aloysius Schwartz was born in Washington, D.C. on September 18, 1930, to Louis Schwartz and Cedelia Bourassa, the third of seven children. His father sold furniture door-to-door. His mother died of cancer when he was 16 years old. As a child, Schwartz read the comic Boy Commandos, about teenage orphans banding together to fight Nazis. According to Schwartz, it nurtured his desire to do good. Deciding at a young age to become a priest, Schwartz turned down a scholarship to a Jesuit high school. In 1944, he entered St. Charles, a minor seminary in Catonsville, Maryland. After finishing at St. Charles, Schwartz enrolled at Maryknoll College in Baltimore, Maryland. While at Maryknoll, he became conscious of the difference between his comfortable life in seminary and the stark existence of poor people around the world. He also realized that Maryknoll was preparing him to become a teacher when he really wanted to be a missionary. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from Maryknoll, Schwartz applied to and was accepted by the Society of the Auxiliaries of the Missions (SAM), a religious institute in Belgium that prepared priests for missionary work in Africa and Asia. He arrived in Leuven, Belgium, in 1952 to serve with the order while studying theology at Louvain Catholic University. During his summer vacations, he would hitchhike around Europe, staying at monasteries. He also spent time with the rag pickers in Paris. After finishing his studies in Leuven, Schwartz returned to the United States.