IFTTT Autopost 
This week’s missionary hero is a Twentieth Century American who gave his all to serve the poor, especially poor youth. His name was Aloysius Philip Schwartz.
Aloysius, more commonly known as Al, was born on September 18, 1930 in Washington, D.C., third of eight children.
In 1947, Al received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Maryknoll College. However, he never became a Maryknoll Father. Instead, he studied at Louvain Catholic University in Belgium where he was greatly influenced by a Belgian mission society that had been founded by Fr. Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe.
Al was ordained a diocesan priest on June 29, 1957 in Washington, D.C. and offered to work under the Bishop of Busan in South Korea.
On December 8, 1957, Fr. Al arrived in Korea and was devastated by the horrible consequences of the Korean War. Almost half of the adult population was unemployed, and he met many orphans, beggars, and street children. Many sold rags or waste paper, begged, or stole to live.
In December 1961, after being in the United States to recover from a bout of hepatitis, he became a pastor in South Korea. He then organized a Legion of Mary to help him in his work to assist the poor. And in August of 1964, he founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary of Banneux and, in May of 1981, founded the Brothers of Christ.
Together with the Sisters and Brothers, Fr. Al began to found Boystowns and Girlstowns to care for orphans, street children, and children of very poor families. He also founded hospitals and sanitoriums, hostels for the homeless and handicapped elderly men, retarded children, and unwed mothers.
Fr. Al, at the invitation of Cardinal Sin of Manila, also set up similar places for the poor in the Philippines and later, in Mexico. The Sisters of Mary and Brothers of Christ continue to serve the poorest of the poor around the world.
In 1989, Fr. Al was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease by Americans after a famous baseball player who died of the disease. Fr. Al died on March 16, 1992 in the Philippines where he is buried. Pope Francis named him a Venerable in 2015.
