He was a born leader of men. Don Joseph de' Liguori had his faults. He was born Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. For thirteen years Alphonsus fed the poor, instructed families, reorganized the seminary and religious houses, taught theology, and wrote. Saint Alphonsus Liguori described in detail this miracle and took the opportunity to reawake the faith and devotion of the people towards the Eucharist. In April 1729, the Apostle of China, Matthew Ripa, founded a missionary college in Naples, which became known colloquially as the "Chinese College". ), was published by P. KUNTZ, C.SS.R., director of the Roman archives of his Congregation. 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. Paths to Heaven; Revelations. 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. When the Saint began to hear confessions, however, he soon saw the harm done by rigorism, and for the rest of his life he inclined more to the mild school of the Jesuit theologians, whom he calls "the masters of morals". Alphonsus' last illness and Deaths 548 CHAPTER XXXVII. 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. . He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. The latest life, BERTHE, Saint Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1900, 2 vols. 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. Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. Of extraordinary passive states, such as rapture, there are not many instances recorded in his life, though there are some. Office Hours: Mon - Fri: 8am-4pm, Saturday: 9am-12pm . While affecting to treat the novice with severity and to take no notice of her visions, the director was surprised to find that the Rule which she had written down was a realization of what had been so long in his mind. The Decree of 1779, however, seemed a great step in advance. Catholic Encyclopedia. [2] Moreover, he heard an interior voice saying: "Leave the world, and give yourself to me."[5]. In addition his father made him practice the harpsichord for three hours a day, and at the age of thirteen he played with the perfection of a master. "I know his obstinacy", his father said of him as a young man; "when he once makes up his mind he is inflexible". Even when taking him into society in order to arrange a good marriage for him, he wished Alphonsus to put God first, and every year father and son would make a retreat together in some religious house. On 23 October of the same year, 1723, the Saint put on the clerical dress. St. Alphonsus, however, did not in all things follow their teaching, especially on one point much debated in the schools; namely, whether we may in practice follow an opinion which denies a moral obligation, when the opinion which affirms a moral obligation seems to us to be altogether more probable. 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". A few months later Alphonsus left his father's house and went to live with Ripa, without, however, becoming a member of his society. An attack of rheumatic fever, from May 1768 to June 1769, left him paralyzed. But Alphonsus's director, Father Pagano; Father Fiorillo, a great Dominican preacher; Father Manulio, Provincial of the Jesuits; and Vincent Cutica, Superior of the Vincentians, supported the young priest, and, 9 November, 1732, the "Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer", or as it was called for seventeen years, "of the Most Holy Saviour", was begun in a little hospice belonging to the nuns of Scala. It is a matter for friendly controversy, but it seems there was a real difference, though not as great in practice as is supposed, between the Saint's later teaching and that current in the Society. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. He who ruled and directed others so wisely, had, where his own soul was concerned, to depend on obedience like a little child. Alphonsus was the oldest of seven children, raised by a devout mother of Spanish descent. But he overcame his depression, and he experienced visions, performed miracles, and gave prophecies. About the year 1722, when he was twenty-six years old, he began to go constantly into society, to neglect prayer and the practices of piety which had been an integral part of his life, and to take pleasure in the attention with which he was everywhere received. This document gives you the case." Unable to be idle, he had preached to the goatherds of the mountains with such success that Nicolas Guerriero, Bishop of Scala, begged him to return and give a retreat in his cathedral. In 1871, Alphonsus was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX. 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. March 1, 1907. Alphonsus had still one final storm to meet, and then the end. Ever mindful of his own sins, Saint Alphonsus saw prayer for the faithful departed as one of the chief duties of Christian charity. It was this which gave St. Alphonsus the bent head which we notice in the portraits of him. d.kellysaintalphonsus.com Website Website Website Website Website Alyce Gilarski Business Manager / Ministry of Care 847-255-7452, x143 a.gilarskisaintalphonsus.com Dr. Carol Holden DRE, Grades K-8 847-255-9490 x116 c.holdensaintalphonsus.com Dee Munroe Religious Education Administrative Assistant 847-255-9490 x104 d.munroesaintalphonsus.com Bishop, Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation. At three different times in his missions, while preaching, a ray of light from a picture of Our Lady darted towards him, and he fell into an ecstasy before the people. 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. 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. The priest was Alphonsus. Not many details have come down to us of Alphonsus's childhood. The version with Italian lyrics was based on his original song written in Neapolitan, which began Quanno nascette Ninno ("When the child was born"). He died on August 1 at Nocera. Could he have been what an Anglo-Saxon would consider a miracle of calm, he would have seemed to his companions absolutely inhuman. In old age he was more than once raised in the air when speaking of God. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. Alphonsus Liguori, Saint, b. at Marianella, near Naples, September 27, 1696; d. at Nocera de' Pagani, . 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 In addition, he published many editions of compendiums of his larger work, such as the "Homo Apostolicus", made in 1759. His infirmities were increasing, and he was occupied a good deal with his writings. Transcription. He remained thunderstruck for a moment; then said in a broken voice: "You are right. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Alphonsus was lawyer, founder, religious superior, bishop, theologian, and mystic, but he was above all a missionary, and no true biography of the Saint will neglect to give this due prominence. The early years, following the founding of the new order, were not promising. [10] He tried to refuse the appointment by using his age and infirmities as arguments against his consecration. He had nearly completed his ninety-first year. In 1724, soon after Alphonsus left the world, a postulant, Julia Crostarosa, born in Naples on 31 October, 1696, and hence almost the same age as the Saint, entered the convent of Scala. In the end a compromise was arrived at. Still it must in fairness be admitted that all priests are not great theologians able to estimate intrinsic probability at its true worth, and the Church herself might be held to have conceded something to pure probabilism by the unprecedented honours she paid to the Saint in her Decree of 22 July, 1831, which allows confessors to follow any of St. Alphonsus's own opinions without weighing the reasons on which they were based. 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. He was thinking of leaving the profession and wrote to someone, "My friend, our profession is too full of difficulties and dangers; we lead an unhappy life and run risk of dying an unhappy death". A star preacher, he called his fellow sermonizers on the carpet for sermons of "empty, rumbling rhetoric" or "flashy . The question as to what does or does not constitute a lie is not an easy one, but it is a subject in itself. St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori, Doctor of the Church . Most were in favour of accepting, but the superior objected and appealed to Filangieri, Falcoia's colleague in establishing the convent, and now, as General of the "Pii Operarii", his superior. Pius VI, already deeply displeased with the Neapolitan Government, took the fathers in his own dominions under his special protection, forbade all change of rule in their houses, and even withdrew them from obedience to the Neapolitan superiors, that is to St. Alphonsus, till an inquiry could be held. Shrines were built there and at St. Agatha of the Goths. Dedicated to Fr. Except in '45, in all of these, down to the first shot fired at Lexington, the English-speaking world was on one side and the Bourbon States, including Naples, on the other. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm. His system of moral theology is noted for its prudence, avoiding both laxism and excessive rigour. His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady was extraordinary. The impulse to this passionate service of God comes from Divine grace, but the soul must correspond (which is also a grace of God), and the soul of strong will and strong passions corresponds best.
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