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Many years before, in Rome, Falcoia had been shown a vision of a new religious family of men and women whose particular aim should be the perfect imitation of the virtues of Our Lord. Canonized: May 26, 1839. The extreme difficulty of the lifelong work of fashioning a saint consists precisely in this, that every act of virtue the saint performs goes to strengthen his character, that is, his will. St. Alphonsus tell us: "Modern heretics make a mockery of wearing the Scapular, they decry it as so much trifling nonsense." Yet many of the popes have approved and recommended it. In April 1729, Alphonsus went to live at the "Chiflese College," founded in Naples by Father Matthew Ripa, the Apostle of China. Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Today I would like to present to you the figure of a holy Doctor of the Church to whom we are deeply indebted because he was an outstanding moral theologian and a teacher of spiritual . Ever mindful of his own sins, Saint Alphonsus saw prayer for the faithful departed as one of the chief duties of Christian charity. When he was preparing for the priesthood in Naples, his masters were of the rigid school, for though the center of Jansenistic disturbance was in northern Europe, no shore was so remote as not to feel the ripple of its waves. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). 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. A star preacher, he called his fellow sermonizers on the carpet for sermons of "empty, rumbling rhetoric" or "flashy . Alphonsus Mary Antony John Cosmas Damian Michael Gaspard de' Liguori was born in his father's country house at Marianella near Naples, on Tuesday, 27 September, 1696. It will be remembered that even as a young man his chief distress at his breakdown in court was the fear that his mistake might be ascribed to deceit. Cavalieri, himself a great servant of God. His masterpiece was The Moral Theology (1748), which was approved by the Pope himself[5] and was born of Liguori's pastoral experience, his ability to respond to the practical questions posed by the faithful and his contact with their everyday problems. He lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. About three years before his death he went through a veritable "Night of the Soul". [10] He tried to refuse the appointment by using his age and infirmities as arguments against his consecration. The question as to what does or does not constitute a lie is not an easy one, but it is a subject in itself. The German life, DILGSKRON, Leben des heiligen Bischofs und Kirchenlehrers, Alfonsus Maria de Liguori (New York, 1887), is scholarly and accurate. "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. He died on the very eve of the great Revolution which was to sweep the persecutors away, having seen in vision the woes which the French invasion of 1798 was to bring on Naples. This has recently been translated into English with additions and corrections (Dublin, 2 vols., royal SVO); DUMORTIER, Les premihres Redemptoristines (Lille, 1886), and Le Phre Antoine-Marie Tannoia (Paris, 1902), contain some useful information; as does BERRUTI, Lo Spirito di S. Alfonso Maria de Liguori, 3 ed. [4] When he was 18, like many other nobles, he joined the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy, with whom he assisted in the care of the sick at the hospital for "incurables". He had a tender charity towards all who were in trouble; he would go to any length to try to save a vocation; he would expose himself to death to prevent sin. This was to be a momentous revolution for Alphonsus. His works have gone through several thousand editions and have been translated into more than 60 languages. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm. Tannoia, also, through some mental idiosyncrasy, manages to give the misleading impression that St. Alphonsus was severe. CARDINAL CAPECELATRO has also written a life of the Saint, La Vita di Sant' Alfonso Maria de Liguori (Rome, 2 vols.). St. Alphonsus, after publishing anonymously (in 1749 and 1755) two treatises advocating the right to follow the less probable opinion, in the end decided against that lawfulness, and in case of doubt only allowed freedom from obligation where the opinions for and against the law were equal or nearly equal. With Don Carlos, or as he is generally called, Charles III, from his later title as King of Spain, came the lawyer, Bernard Tanucci, who governed Naples as Prime Minister and regent for the next forty-two years. Two days after he was born, he was baptized at the Church of Our Lady the Virgin as Alphonsus Mary Anthony John Cosmas Damian Michael Gaspard de' Liguori. Falcoia, hearing of this, begged his friend to give a retreat to the nuns of his Conservatorium at the same time. St. Alphonsus Liguori. At his General Audience, 30 March 2011, in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father presented Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. SVO), gives an extremely full and picturesque account of the Saint's life and times. The priest was Alphonsus. Raised in a pious home, Alphonsus went on retreats with his father, Don Joseph, who was a naval officer and a captain of the Royal Galleys. [19], His Mariology, though mainly pastoral in nature, rediscovered, integrated and defended that of St Augustine of Hippo, St Ambrose of Milan and other fathers; it represented an intellectual defence of Mariology in the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, against the rationalism to which contrasted his fervent Marian devotion.[20]. [5] He founded the Evening Chapels, which were managed by the young people themselves. The difficulty about strong wills and strong passions is that they are hard to tame, but when they are tamed they are the raw material of sanctity. He was more concerned with the spiritual conflict which was going on at the same time. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. 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 . Vague rumours of impending treachery had got about and had been made known to him, but he had refused to believe them. Alphonsus agreed to both requests and set out with his two friends, John Mazzini and Vincent Mannarini, in September, 1730. The rudder is humility, which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the will, docility to right guidance. Dissensions arose, the Saint's former friend and chief companion, Vincent Mannarini, opposing him and Falcoia in everything. With the aid of two laymen, Peter Barbarese, a schoolmaster, and Nardone, an old soldier, both of whom he converted from an evil life, he enrolled thousands of lazzaroni in a sort of confraternity called the "Association of the Chapels", which exists to this day. Paths to Heaven; Revelations. Dignity and Duties of the Priest, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1889, Free scores by Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki), "St Alphonsus", St. Alphonsus on Catholic Online, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alphonsus_Liguori&oldid=1141126599, Founders of Catholic religious communities, 18th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops, 18th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians, Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference, Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Articles containing Neapolitan-language text, Articles containing Italian-language text, Pages using sidebar with the child parameter, Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference, Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Bishop, Moral Theologian, Confessor and Doctor of the Church, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 13:49. 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. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. 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. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. More than once he faced assassination unmoved. The prayer he recommended to his Congregation, of which we have beautiful examples in his ascetical works, is affective; the use of short aspirations, petitions, and acts of love, rather than discursive meditation with long reflection. Among his best known works are The Glories of Mary and The Way of the Cross, the latter still used in parishes during Lenten devotions. In 1949, the Redemptorists founded the Alphonsian Academy for the advanced study of Catholic moral theology. Clarence F. Galli. 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 own prayer was perhaps for the most part what some call "active", others "ordinary", contemplation. This document gives you the case." Saint Alphonsus Liguori 1696 - 1787. In addition, he published many editions of compendiums of his larger work, such as the "Homo Apostolicus", made in 1759. "You have founded the Congregation and you have destroyed it", said one Father to him. Still there was a time of danger. First Station: Jesus Is Condemned to Death V. We adore you, Christ, and we praise you. If we except a few poems published in 1733 (the Saint was born in 1696), his first work, a tiny volume called "Visits to the Blessed Sacrament", only appeared in 1744 or 1745, when he was nearly fifty years old. In 1762 Pope Clement XIII made him bishop of Sant Agata del Goti near Naples; he resigned in 1775 because of ill health. He was helped in this by his turn of mind which was extremely practical. Filangieri forbade any change of rule and removed Falcoia from all communication with the convent. Alphonsus was a lawyer, and as a lawyer he attached much importance to the weight of evidence. Were the vehement things in his letters and writings, especially in the matter of rebuke or complaint, to appraised as if uttered by an Anglo-Saxon in cold blood, we might be surprised and even shocked. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. St. Alphonsus encouraged an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ through frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament. 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". Alphonsus the Patron. Now the saint has a very great momentum indeed, and a spoiled saint is often a great villain. He came from a wealthy family in Naples, Italy, and had every advantage in life from the moment he was born in 1696.