They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. At the time of his death, there were 72, with over 10,000 active participants. From his earliest years he had an anxious fear about committing sin which passed at times into scruple. "St. Alphonsus Liguori". Castle, H. (1907). Filangieri forbade any change of rule and removed Falcoia from all communication with the convent. This was in 1780, when Alphonsus was eighty-three years old. Alphonsus Liguori was not a favorite with the windbags of his day. The result of the retreat to the nuns was that the young priest, who before had been prejudiced by reports in Naples against the proposed new Rule, became its firm supporter, and even obtained permission from the Bishop of Scala for the change. . Life of St Alphonsus and the Holy Eucharist | EWTN He was a born leader of men. 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. The Holy Mass, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. He knew that trials were before him. He is credited with the position of Aequiprobabilism, which avoided Jansenist rigorism as well as laxism and simple probabilism. By age nineteen he was practicing law, but he saw the transitory nature of the secular world, and after a brief time, retreated from the law courts and his fame. When the day came the future Saint made a brilliant opening speech and sat down confident of victory. Alphonsus left the Hospital and went to the church of the Redemption of Captives. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm. He was crushed to the earth. First Station: Jesus Is Condemned to Death V. We adore you, Christ, and we praise you. 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 Courts, you shall never see me more." You have overlooked a document which destroys your whole case." In 1723, he decided to offer himself as a novice to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri with the intention of becoming a priest. He first addressed ecclesiastical abuses in the diocese, reformed the seminary and spiritually rehabilitated the clergy and faithful. His best plan would have been to consult the Holy See, but in this he had been forestalled. The rudder is humility, which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the will, docility to right guidance. An Act of Spiritual CommunionA Daily Catholic Prayer - Learn Religions "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. 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. Finally, St. Alphonsus was a wonderful letter-writer, and the mere salvage of his correspondence amounts to 1,451 letters, filling three large volumes. See also HASSALL, The Balance of Power (1715-89) (London, 1901); COLLETTA, History of the Kingdom of Naples, 1734-1825, 2 vols., tr. At the worst, it was only the scaffolding by which the temple of perfection was raised. 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. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Resuming the General Audiences after the summer break the last was held on 27 June in the Vatican the Pope . For six years he laboured in and around Naples, giving missions for the Propaganda and preaching to the lazzaroni of the capital. He was born Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. She became known in religion as Sister Maria Celeste. So indeed it proved. He continued to live with the Redemptorist community in Pagani, Italy, where he died on 1 August 1787. Saint Alphonsus Liguori | Biography, Contributions, & Facts (London, 1904). St. Alphonsus Liguori, the Prince of Moral Theologians, was one of the greatest preachers in Church history. Then God called him to his life work. She was declared Venerable 11 August, 1901. St. Louis, MO 63106 | parish130@archstl.org | Tel: (314) 533-0304. ), was published by P. KUNTZ, C.SS.R., director of the Roman archives of his Congregation. He was buried at the monastery of the Pagani near Naples. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. These form the first book of the work, while the second contains the treatises on Faith, Hope, and Charity. At his General Audience, 30 March 2011, in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father presented Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church. Corrections? I will love you all my life. In September of the next year he received the tonsure and soon after joined the association of missionary secular priests called the "Neapolitan Propaganda", membership of which did not entail residence in common. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). 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". This document gives you the case." A religious founder, consummate theologian, and holy man of God, Saint Alphonsus never failed to utter a stirring word that draws out a lively penitence and redoubled dedication to the work of God from his congregation. In 1731, while he was ministering to earthquake victims in the town of Foggia, Alphonsus said he had a vision of the Virgin Mother in the appearance of a young girl of 13 or 14, wearing a white veil. That legacy is the participation in the redemptive mission of Jesus. By AClarke625. Feast Day: August 1. But in spite of his infirmities both Clement XIII (1758-69) and Clement XIV (1769-74) obliged Alphonsus to remain at his post. But to all this secular history about the only reference in the Saint's correspondence which has come down to us is a sentence in a letter of April, 1744, which speaks of the passage of the Spanish troops who had come to defend Naples against the Austrians. He was also a poet and musician. 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. 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. Then the storm subsided, and he began to see that his humiliation had been sent him by God to break down his pride and wean him from the world. 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. In addition, he published many editions of compendiums of his larger work, such as the "Homo Apostolicus", made in 1759. Paths to Heaven; Revelations. The dissensions even spread to the nuns, and Sister Maria Celeste herself left Scala and founded a convent at Foggia, where she died in the odour of sanctity, 14 September, 1755. 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. St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1 August, 1787. [2] Moreover, he heard an interior voice saying: "Leave the world, and give yourself to me."[5]. 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. The Glories of Mary ( Italian: Le glorie di Maria) is a classic book in the field of Roman Catholic Mariology, written during the 18th century by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church . [6], He became a successful lawyer. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Dissension within the congregation culminated in 1777 when he was deceived into signing what he thought was a royal sanction for his rule. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). He was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871. Now the saint has a very great momentum indeed, and a spoiled saint is often a great villain. He had to endure a real persecution for two months. It was through Louis Florent Gillet, Redemptorist priest and co-founder of the Sisters of IHM that we have been gifted with the legacy of St. Alphonsus Liguori. No doubt Thomas Falcoia had for some time hoped that the ardent young priest, who was so devoted to him, might, under his direction, be the founder of the new Order he had at heart. He did not, as in the past, ask for an exequatur to the Brief of Benedict XIV, for relations at the time were more strained than ever between the Courts of Rome and Naples; but he hoped the king might give an independent sanction to his Rule, provided he waived all legal right to hold property in common, which he was quite prepared to do. But he overcame his depression, and he experienced visions, performed miracles, and gave prophecies. One branch of the new Institute seen by Falcoia in vision was thus established. To all his administrative work we must add his continual literary labours, his many hours of daily prayer, his terrible austerities, and a stress of illness which made his life a martyrdom. He felt as if his career was ruined, and left the court almost beside himself, saying: "World, I know you now. 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 1762 Pope Clement XIII made him bishop of Sant Agata del Goti near Naples; he resigned in 1775 because of ill health. His infirmities were increasing, and he was occupied a good deal with his writings. 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. Patron saint of: people with arthritis, lawyers, vocations. where the Hosts were buried. He finally agreed to become a priest but to live at home as a member of a group of secular missionaries. Alphonsus Liguori, Saint, b. at Marianella, near Naples, September 27, 1696; d. at Nocera de' Pagani, . I therefore repeat: If the divine teaching authority of the Church, and the obedience to it, are rejected, every error will be endorsed and must be tolerated. He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples. 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. He said himself that he was so small at the time as to be almost buried in his doctor's gown and that all the spectators laughed. There was a considerable difference in age between the two men, for Falcoia, born in 1663, was now sixty-six, and Alphonsus only thirty-three, but the old priest and the young had kindred souls. Alphonsus Liguori - Wikipedia Alphonsus Liguori, CSsR (27 September 1696 - 1 August 1787), sometimes called Alphonsus Maria de Liguori or Saint Alphonsus Liguori, was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. Whenthey had withdrawn into another room, the appearance of the youth changed, and Heshowed Himself crowned with thorns, His flesh torn, and said to her: Prayers in Times of Sickness Disease & Danger, True Devotion to Mary (St. Louis de Montfort), The Glories of Mary (St. Alphonsus Liguori), A young nobleman was reading one day, while at sea, an obscene book, in which he. St. Alphonsus encouraged an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ through frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament. About 1729, however, Filangieri died, and on 8 October, 1730, Falcoia was consecrated Bishop of Castellamare. It is remarkable that only 25 years after the Scapular vision, Blessed Pope Gregory X was buried He is the patron of confessors, moral theologians, and the lay apostolate. When we cannot make it to daily Mass, however, we can still make an Act of Spiritual Communion. His perseverance was indomitable. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. St. Alphonsus Liguori was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. Ultimately, however, anything merely human in this had disappeared. Could he have been what an Anglo-Saxon would consider a miracle of calm, he would have seemed to his companions absolutely inhuman. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. An English translation in five volumes is included in the 22 volumes of the American centenary edition of St. Alphonsus's ascetical works (New York). His life contains a number of minor inaccuracies, however, and is seriously defective in its account of the founding of his Congregation and of the troubles which fell on it in 1780. In 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or the Redemptorists, at Scala. He became very popular because of his plain and simple preaching. [11], Liguori was consecrated Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti in 1762. St. Alphonsus Liguori was a bishop and moral theologian living and preaching in Naples in the eighteenth century. [2][3], He was born in Marianella, near Naples, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, on 27 September 1696. As he did not die till 1808 (his work appeared in 1799) he was a companion of the Saint for over forty years and an eyewitness of much that he relates. 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. . A respected opponent was the redoubtable Dominican controversialist, P. Vincenzo Patuzzi, while to make up for hard blows we have another Dominican, P. Caputo, President of Alphonsus's seminary and a devoted helper in his work of reform. Let's start with the saint. St. Alphonsus appeared a miracle of calm to Tannoia. His very confessor and vicar general in the government of his Order, Father Andrew Villani, joined in the conspiracy. Alphonsus himself was not spared. St. Alphonsus appeared a miracle of calm to Tannoia. It was only after his death, as he had prophesied, that the Neapolitan Government at last recognized the original Rule, and that the Redemptorist Congregation was reunited under one head (1793). March 1, 1907. He was the eldest of seven children of Giuseppe Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and Anna Maria Caterina Cavalieri. 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. In old age he was more than once raised in the air when speaking of God. To prevent the ship going to pieces on the rocks, it has need of a very responsive rudder, answering to the slightest pressure of Divine guidance. Actually, the document was a new rule devised by one of his enemies, thus causing the followers of the old rule to break away. The latest life, BERTHE, Saint Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1900, 2 vols. 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. To this altered Rule or "Regolamento", as it came to be called, the unsuspecting Saint was induced to put his signature. The "Moral Theology", after a historical introduction by the Saint's friend, P. Zaccaria, S.J., which was omitted, however, from the eighth and ninth editions, begins with a treatise "De Conscientia", followed by one "De Legibus". His friend the Grand Almoner betrayed him; his two envoys for negotiating with the Grand Almoner, Fathers Majone and Cimino, betrayed him, consultors general though they were. The poor advocate turned pale. Psychologically, Alphonsus may be classed among twice-born souls; that is to say, there was a definitely marked break or conversion, in his life, in which he turned, not from serious sin, for that he never committed, but from comparative worldliness, to thorough self-sacrifice for God. 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. They followed this gifted preacher from church to church and town to town to hear him give a message of hope in Christ for all people. He opposed sterile legalism and strict rigourism. 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.
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