On the other hand, ever since the Fall of Man, the will of man has been his greatest danger. Some persons, boasting of being free from prejudices, take great credit to themselvesfor believing no miracles but those recorded in the holy scriptures, esteeming all others. Not many details have come down to us of Alphonsus's childhood. On 21 December of the same year, at the age of thirty, he was ordained priest. He came from a wealthy family in Naples, Italy, and had every advantage in life from the moment he was born in 1696. This Novena for the Holy Souls in Purgatory was written by St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), a bishop and founder of the Redemptorist order, and one of the Doctors of the Church. Had it happened a few years later, the new Government might have found the Redemptorist Congregation already authorized, and as Tanucci's anti-clerical policy rather showed itself in forbidding new Orders than, with the exception of the Society of Jesus, in suppressing old ones, the Saint might have been free to develop his work in comparative peace. [4] Myopia and chronic asthma precluded a military career so his father had him educated in the legal profession. At the age of sixteen, on 21 January, 1713, he took his degree as Doctor of Laws, although twenty was the age fixed by the statutes. His spirituality was both affective and active, centered above all on the Passion of Jesus Christ as the principal sign of our Savior's love for us. His own prayer was perhaps for the most part what some call "active", others "ordinary", contemplation. In February, 1775, however, Pius VI was elected Pope, and the following May he permitted the Saint to resign his see. There can be little doubt but that the young Alphonsus with his high spirits and strong character was ardently attached to his profession, and on the way to be spoilt by the success and popularity which it brought. Updates? Again, we have a friendship of thirty years with the great Venetian publishing house of Remondini, whose letters from the Saint, carefully preserved as became business men, fill a quarto volume. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. St. Alphonsus as a moral theologian occupies the golden mean between the schools tending either to laxity or to rigour which divided the theological world of his time. The Government throughout had recognized the good effect of his missions, but it wished the missionaries to be secular priests and not a religious order. The saints are not inhuman but real men of flesh and . Tannoia, also, through some mental idiosyncrasy, manages to give the misleading impression that St. Alphonsus was severe. [4], Liguori learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. First Station: Jesus is condemned to death, Saint of the Day for Saturday, March 4th, 2023, Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus, Eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. Alphonsus had still one final storm to meet, and then the end. He both made and kept a vow not to lose a single moment of time. In case things became hopeless in Naples, he looked to these houses to maintain the Rule and Institute. While the continual intensity of reiterated acts of virtue which we have called driving-power is what really creates sanctity, there is another indispensable quality. Let's start with the saint. [2] Moreover, he heard an interior voice saying: "Leave the world, and give yourself to me."[5]. "Banquets, entertainments, theatres," he wrote later on--"these are the pleasures of the world, but pleasures which are filled with the bitterness of gall and sharp thorns. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! This was in 1780, when Alphonsus was eighty-three years old. To supplement this, God allowed him in the last years of his life to fall into disgrace with the pope, and to find himself deprived of all external authority, trembling at times even for his eternal salvation. Revelations from God, the Saints, and the Angels through the Miracle of Saint Joseph, started in 1967 and continuing to this day. The days were indeed evil. The Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano took place in the 8th century: a Basilian monk, who had doubted the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, was celebrating Mass, and at the consecration, saw that the Host had changed into flesh. St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1 August, 1787. Liguori wrote 111 works on spirituality and theology. at last came peace, and on 1 August, 1787, as the midday Angelus was ringing, the Saint passed peacefully to his reward. Since its publication, it has remained in Latin, often in 10 volumes or in the combined 4-volume version of Gaud. His writings on moral, theological, and ascetic matters had great impact and have survived through the years, especially his Moral Theology and his Glories of Mary. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Alphonsus was one of the leading counsel; we do not know on which side. The Saint only wept in silence and tried in vain to devise some means by which his Order might be saved. St. Alphonsus was a brilliant, articulate, pragmatic preacher. Died: August 1, 1787. This combination of practical common sense with extraordinary energy in administrative work ought to make Alphonsus, if he were better known, particularly attractive to the English-speaking nations, especially as he is so modern a saint. Not less remarkable than the intensity with which Alphonsus worked is the amount of work he did. He was born Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. At the worst, it was only the scaffolding by which the temple of perfection was raised. Cardinals Spinelli, Sersale, and Orsini; Popes Benedict XIV, Clement XIII, Clement XIV, and Pius VI, to each of whom Alphonsus dedicated a volume of his works. Daily Readings for Friday, March 03, 2023, St. Katharine Drexel: Saint of the Day for Friday, March 03, 2023, Lenten Prayer: Prayer of the Day for Monday, February 27, 2023. After 1752 Alphonsus gave fewer missions. St. Alphonsus Liguori's prayer to Jesus Christ to obtain His holy love comes from the "Rule of Life", a guide for growing in holiness. Confident that some special sacrifice was required of him, though he did not yet know what, he did not return to his profession, but spent his days in prayer, seeking to know God's will. There are many editions of the Saint's Moral Theology; the best and latest is that of P. GAUDI, C.SS.R. His sermons were very effective at converting those who had been alienated from their faith. He fed the poor, instructed the ignorant, reorganized his seminary, reformed his convents, created a new spirit in his clergy, banished scandalous noblemen and women of evil life with equal impartiality, brought the study of theology and especially of moral theology into honour, and all the time was begging pope after pope to let him resign his office because he was doing nothing for his diocese. Mimoires sur la vie et la congrigation de St. Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1842, 3 vols.). Testa, the Grand Almoner, even to have his Rule approved. The fifth book has two treatises "De Actibus Humanis" and "De Peccatis"; the sixth is on the sacraments, the seventh and last on the censures of the Church. He spent several years having to drink from tubes because his head was so bent forward. Description [ edit] The book was written at a time when some were criticizing Marian devotions, and was written in part as a defense of Marian devotion. Both last about two hours but are filled with soul-stirring music. Under the government of the Marquis della Sambuca, who, though a great regalist, was a personal friend of the Saint's, there was promise of better times, and in August, 1779, Alphonsus's hopes were raised by the publication of a royal decree allowing him to appoint superiors in his Congregation and to have a novitiate and house of studies. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. On 28 August, 1723, the young advocate had gone to perform a favourite act of charity by visiting the sick in the Hospital for Incurables. In fact, despite his youth, he seems at the age of twenty-seven to have been one of the leaders of the Neapolitan Bar. Early Christians began the devotion of following the footsteps of Christ's passion. In all this there was no serious sin, but there was no high sanctity either, and God, Who wished His servant to be a saint and a great saint, was now to make him take the road to Damascus. The third book deals with the Ten Commandments, the fourth with the monastic and clerical states, and the duties of judges, advocates, doctors, merchants, and others. After practicing law for eight years, he was ordained a priest in 1726. His father opposed the plan, but after two months (and with his Oratorian confessor's permission), he and his father compromised: he would study for the priesthood, but not as an Oratorian, and would live at home. "What document is that?" Alternate titles: Saint Alfonso Liguori, Saint Alfonso Maria de Liguori, Saint Alphonsus Maria deLiguori. A year of trouble and anxiety followed. He spent the next few years in recasting this work, and in 1753 appeared the first volume of the "Theologia Moralis", the second volume, dedicated to Benedict XIV, following in 1755. By AClarke625. The differentia of saints is not faultlessness but driving-power, a driving-power exerted in generous self-sacrifice and ardent love of God. The wine had changed into blood; clotted and separated into 5 different sized clots. [16] The 21,500 editions and the translations into 72 languages that his works have undergone attest to the fact that he is one of the most widely-read Catholic authors. His father, already displeased at the failure of two plans for his son's marriage, and exasperated at Alphonsus's present neglect of his profession, was likely to offer a strenuous opposition to his leaving the world. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. Although the doctors succeeded in straightening the neck a little, the Saint for the rest of his life had to drink at meals through a tube. "St. Alphonsus Liguori". St. Alphonsus Liguori Opening Prayer My Lord Jesus Christ, you have made this journey to die for me with infinite love. To this altered Rule or "Regolamento", as it came to be called, the unsuspecting Saint was induced to put his signature. He opposed sterile legalism and strict rigourism. He was now free, subject to the approval of the Bishop of Scala, to act with regard to the convent as he thought best. There is a somewhat unsatisfactory French translation of Tannoia's work. When the day came the future Saint made a brilliant opening speech and sat down confident of victory. She was told to write it down and show it to the director of the convent, that is to Falcoia himself. (Rome, 1896). Eight times during his long life, without counting his last sickness, the Saint received the sacraments of the dying, but the worst of all his illnesses was a terrible attack of rheumatic fever during his episcopate, an attack which lasted from May, 1768, to June, 1769, and left him paralyzed to the end of his days. According to him, those were paths closed to the Gospel because "such rigour has never been taught nor practised by the Church". The boy was bright and quick beyond his years, and made great progress in all kinds of learning. He was named the patron of confessors and moral theologians by Pope Pius XII on 26 April 1950, who subsequently wrote of him in the encyclical Haurietis aquas. He refused to become the bishop of Palermo but in 1762 had to accept the papal command to accept the see of St. Agatha of the Goths near Naples. A star preacher, he called his fellow sermonizers on the carpet for sermons of "empty, rumbling rhetoric" or "flashy . He was crushed to the earth. From his earliest years he had an anxious fear about committing sin which passed at times into scruple. [10] He was proficient in the arts, his parents having had him trained by various masters, and he was a musician, painter, poet and author at the same time. In 1725, while still a novice, she had a series of visions in which she saw a new order (apparently of nuns only) similar to that revealed to Falcoia many years before. He was also a poet and musician. In his new abode he met a friend of his host's, Father Thomas Falcoia, of the Congregation of the "Pii Operarii" (Pious Workers), and formed with him the great friendship of his life. Preaching, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. The foundation faced immediate problems, and after just one year, Alphonsus found himself with only one lay brother, his other companions having left to form their own religious group. When we cannot make it to daily Mass, however, we can still make an Act of Spiritual Communion. One branch of the new Institute seen by Falcoia in vision was thus established. Infidelity and impiety were gaining ground; Voltaire and Rousseau were the idols of society; and the ancien rgime, by undermining religion, its one support, was tottering to its fall. At all events, it proved disastrous in the result. It is the following of Jesus as a community of disciples, aware that we are sent to be a clear . Unfortunately, he was not obliged by his confessor, in virtue of holy obedience, as St. Teresa was, to write down his states of prayer; so we do not know precisely what they were. St. Alphonsus Liguori, in full Saint Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, Alphonsus also spelled Alfonso, (born September 27, 1696, Marianella, Kingdom of Naples [Italy]died August 1, 1787, Pagani; canonized 1839; feast day August 1), Italian doctor of the church, one of the chief 18th-century moral theologians, and founder of the Redemptorists, a He founded the congregation with the charism of preaching popular missions in the city and the countryside. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a mysterious light; the house seemed to rock, and an interior voice said: "Leave the world and give thyself to Me." Contact information. Alphonsus was a devoted friend of the Society of Jesus and its long persecution by the Bourbon Courts, ending in its suppression in 1773, filled him with grief. Sarnelli was almost openly supported by the all-powerful Tanucci, and the suppression of the Congregation at last seemed a matter of days, when on 26 October, 1776, Tanucci, who had offended Queen Maria Carolina, suddenly fell from power. Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 99, Appendix to his work on the Council of Trent, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, patron saint archive, St. Alphonsus 'Rock' Liguori Church (St. Louis), "St. Alphonsus Liguori, Our Founder", Redemptorists, Baltimore Province, Tannoja, Antonio. Alphonsus being so old and so inform he was eighty-five, crippled, deaf, and nearly blind his one chance of success was to be faithfully served by friends and subordinates, and he was betrayed at every turn. Indeed, apart from those who become saints by the altogether special grace of martyrdom, it may be doubted if many men and women of phlegmatic temperament have been canonized. In 1749, the Rule and Institute of men were approved by Pope Benedict XIV, and in 1750, the Rule and Institute of the nuns. He was more concerned with the spiritual conflict which was going on at the same time. St. Alphonsus was so scrupulous about truth that when, in 1776, the regalist, Mgr. [5] He founded the Evening Chapels, which were managed by the young people themselves. Visiting the local Hospital for Incurables on August 28, 1723, he had a vision and was told to consecrate his life solely to God. In response, Alphonsus dedicated himself to the religious life, even while suffering persecution from his family. He was not afraid of making up his mind. The other was not to be long delayed. SVO), gives an extremely full and picturesque account of the Saint's life and times. But he was a man of genuine faith and piety and stainless life, and he meant his son to be the same. This is the great question of "Probabilism". Nihil Obstat. The family was of noble lineage, but the branch to which Liguori belonged had become somewhat impoverished. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. Neapolitan students, in an animated but amicable discussion, seem to foreign eyes to be taking part in a violent quarrel. It was this which made him the prince of moral theologians, and gained him, when canonization made it possible, the title of "Doctor of the Church". The basic elements of an Act of Spiritual Communion are an Act of Faith, an Act of Love, a desire to receive Christ, and an . He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. It was this which gave St. Alphonsus the bent head which we notice in the portraits of him. A centenary edition, Lettere di S. Alfonso Maria de'Liguori (ROME, 1887, 3 vols. He lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. His system of moral theology is noted for its prudence, avoiding both laxism and excessive rigour. It is not necessary to notice certain non-Catholic attacks on Alphonsus as a patron of lying. In a riot which took place during the terrible famine that fell upon Southern Italy in 1764, he saved the life of the syndic of St. Agatha by offering his own to the mob. In the eight years of his career as advocate, years crowded with work, he is said never to have lost a case. Alphonsus, however, stood firm; soon other companions arrived, and though Scala itself was given up by the Fathers in 1738, by 1746 the new Congregation had four houses at Nocera de' Pagani, Ciorani, Iliceto (now Deliceto), and Caposele, all in the Kingdom of Naples. The Saint's own letters are of extreme value in supplementing Tannoia. St Alphonsus Mary Liguori and Prayer. They also fought Jansenism, a heresy that preached an excessive moral rigorism: "the penitents should be treated as souls to be saved rather than as criminals to be punished". So indeed it proved. Liguoris extensive works fall into three genres: moral theology, best represented by his celebrated Theologia moralis (1748); ascetical and devotional writings, including Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, The True Spouse of Jesus Christ (for nuns), Selva (for priests), and The Glories of Mary, the latter of which became one of the most widely used manuals of devotion to the Virgin Mary; and dogmatic writings on such subjects as papal infallibility and the power of prayer. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. The English translation in the Oratory Series is also rather inadequate. He first addressed ecclesiastical abuses in the diocese, reformed the seminary and spiritually rehabilitated the clergy and faithful. But he overcame his depression, and he experienced visions, performed miracles, and gave prophecies. Alphonsus was preaching missions in the rural areas and writing. What are Revelations? He remained thunderstruck for a moment; then said in a broken voice: "You are right. where the Hosts were buried. One of the most widely read Catholic authors, he is the patron saint of confessors. Omissions? It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. Alphonsus, like so many saints, had an excellent father and a saintly mother. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). Could he have been what an Anglo-Saxon would consider a miracle of calm, he would have seemed to his companions absolutely inhuman. In 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or the Redemptorists, at Scala.