Each day that he was to receive Holy Communion, he was at an early hour kneeling before the altar, in order to prepare himself to receive in a worthy manner the God of all holiness.  One day the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin after receiving the Holy Eucharist, he fell into an ecstasy, and saw himself before the throne of Mary, with whom appeared St. Francis and his Angel Guardian.  He beheld Our Lady offering his soul to God, who accepted it.  When he came to himself, he was so filled with delight that he could hardly return home.  He had no further thought for this world: his soul was all absorbed in the joys of that heavenly country, which he seemed to have just left, and to which he eagerly longed to return.  Thenceforth, by a virtue which we may be unable to understand, but which is very familiar to the Saints, his heart was perfectly detached from everything of this earth.  His son, a beautiful child, three years of age, was the object of his tenderest love, but he resolved to offer him in sacrifice to God.  He prayed fervently that his child might be removed from all danger of sin, and his prayers were heard.  The boy died soon after, and then Alphonsus determined to retire wholly from the world, and enter some religious order.

As he had no knowledge of Latin, and the condition of his health, greatly enfeebled by his austerities, rendered him incapable of much study, he was admitted into the Society of Jesus simply as a lay Brother.  Thus at the age of thirty-nine years, on the 31st of January, 1571, he began his novitiate at the

College of St. Paul of Valencia.  Six months afterwards he was sent to another establishment on the Isle of Majorca, where he made the simple vows on April 5, 1573, and his solemn profession twelve years later.  There he passed the period of his religious life, for more than thirty years seeking to sanctify his daily actions, and become more and more pleasing in the sight of the Lord.  Each morning, at the first sound of the bell, he would throw himself upon his knees, and recite the Te Deum in thanksgiving to the Most Holy Trinity for having preserved him during the night, pronouncing with the greatest fervor these words: Dignare, Domine, die isto, sine peccato nos custodire.  After his other exercises of piety, he entered upon the duties of his office as porter, receiving everyone that came with as much attention as if he were our Lord Himself.  If he had to suffer any injuries, he bore them with great patience and humility.  When his duties permitted, he would recite the Rosary and give himself to prayer to the Blessed Virgin, for whom, like all the saints, he had a particular devotion.  Then he would pray to our Lord that he might die rather than commit a single mortal sin.  For every hour of the day he had a special invocation to the Queen of Heaven, and when evening came he recommended to Her the souls in Purgatory, for whom he would offer his own penances and mortification.  Often, too, the thought of those suffering souls would cause him to forget to take any nourishment.

But the demon could not endure such piety.  He commenced his attacks upon the servant of God by violent temptations against the most beautiful of the virtues, appearing to him under a thousand hideous forms.  Alphonsus constantly resisted him.  Then, to revenge himself, the enraged demon flung him headlong from the top of a staircase; but he was saved through the sacred names of Jesus and Mary, which he pronounced as he was falling.  The evil spirit next made use of a temptation which of all others is capable of afflicting a Saint he sought to persuade Alphonsus that one day he would stray from the path of virtue, and be lost forever.  In the midst of his trial the servant of God had recourse to Mary; his constant prayer was the recitation of the Rosary; but seeing that this temptation to despair was daily becoming more violent, he cried out: "O Mary, come to my aid, or I am lost!"  Then the Mother of God appeared to him, surrounded with heavenly splendor, and calmed the soul of Her servant, saying to him: "Alphonsus, My son, where I am thou hast naught to fear."  On several other occasions he received like proofs of the interposition of his Heavenly Mother; and it was but natural that he, on his part, should have a filial devotion towards Her, trusting in Her protection in all his difficulties, and obligating himself to always have recourse to such a powerful protectress, who would never abandon him.

A Spanish religious, who afterwards wrote a life of the Saint, was about to leave Majorca, and came to visit him.  Finding him wrapt in contemplation, he knelt and kissed his feet.  The Saint came to himself, and blushed that any one should so humble himself before him.  "Brother Alphonsus," said the other, "I am going to leave you.  In memory of the years that I have spent with you, give me, I beg of you, some spiritual token."  "Whenever you wish to obtain anything from God," replied Alphonsus, " have recourse to Mary, and you may rest assured you will obtain what you ask."  He himself constantly experienced the wonderful results of such unbounded confidence in the Mother of God.