The answer is that God kept him humble by interior trials. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). St Alphonsus Mary Liguori and Prayer. He was not afraid of making up his mind. There he met Bishop Thomas Falcoia, founder of the Congregation of Pious Workers. It happened that Alphonsus, ill and overworked, had gone with some companions to Scala in the early summer of 1730. Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. Dissension within the congregation culminated in 1777 when he was deceived into signing what he thought was a royal sanction for his rule. By AClarke625. 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. said Alphonsus somewhat piqued. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Alphonsus was one of the leading counsel; we do not know on which side. 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. In 1871 he was named a doctor of the church by Pope Pius IX. The Neapolitan stage at this time was in a good state, but the Saint had from his earliest years an ascetic repugnance to theatres, a repugnance which he never lost. Other personal friends of Alphonsus were the Jesuit Fathers de Matteis, Zaccaria, and Nonnotte. Filingeri, was made Archbishop of Naples, the Saint would not write to congratulate the new primate, even at the risk of making another powerful enemy for his persecuted Congregation, because he thought he could not honestly say he "was glad to hear of the appointment." New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. 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. 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. But one may easily overcrowd a narrow canvas and it is better in so slight a sketch to leave the central figure in solitary relief. He suspended those priests who celebrated Mass in less than 15 minutes and sold his carriage and episcopal ring to give the money to the poor. The poor advocate turned pale. He was a man of strong passions, using the term in the philosophic sense, and tremendous energy, but from childhood his passions were under control. He called his system Equiprobabilism. Thank you. 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. In a civil action a serious preponderance of evidence gives one side the case. 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. About 1729, however, Filangieri died, and on 8 October, 1730, Falcoia was consecrated Bishop of Castellamare. [5] He founded the Evening Chapels, which were managed by the young people themselves. See also HASSALL, The Balance of Power (1715-89) (London, 1901); COLLETTA, History of the Kingdom of Naples, 1734-1825, 2 vols., tr. Contact information. Furthermore, St. Alphonsus was a great theologian, and so attached much weight to intrinsic probability. In the last years of his life, he suffered a painful sickness and bitter persecution from his fellow priests, who dismissed him from the Congregation that he had founded. 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. ), was published by P. KUNTZ, C.SS.R., director of the Roman archives of his Congregation. Other saints and servants of God were those of Alphonsus's own household, the lay brother, St. Gerard Majella, who died in 1755, and Januarius Sarnelli, Csar Sportelli, Dominic Blasucci, and Maria Celeste, all of whom have been declared "Venerable" by the Church. 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". 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. The other was not to be long delayed. Pardon me, my God. He was the eldest of seven children of Giuseppe Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and Anna Maria Caterina Cavalieri. She became known in religion as Sister Maria Celeste. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. 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 1723, he decided to offer himself as a novice to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri with the intention of becoming a priest. [7] At 27, after having lost an important case, the first he had lost in eight years of practising law, he made a firm resolution to leave the profession of law. This document gives you the case." Not less remarkable than the intensity with which Alphonsus worked is the amount of work he did. 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. In 1871, he was declared a Doctor of the Church. It is true that theologians even of the broadest school are agreed that, when an opinion in favour of the law is so much more probable as to amount practically to moral certainty, the less probable opinion cannot be followed, and some have supposed that St. Alphonsus meant no more than this by his terminology. His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady was extraordinary. 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. 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. 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. The boy was bright and quick beyond his years, and made great progress in all kinds of learning. He was a born leader of men. In 1780, Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval of his congregation. As it was, he was refused the royal exequatur to the Brief of Benedict XIV, and State recognition of his Institute as a religious congregation till the day of his death. In early manhood he became very fond of the opera, but only that he might listen to the music, for when the curtain went up he took his glasses off, so as not to see the players distinctly. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. The childish fault for which he most reproached himself in after-life was resisting his father too strongly when he was told to take part in a drawing-room play. A pure and modest boyhood passed into a manhood without reproach. This prayer is a petition asking for the grace to love God more, so as to fear hell and desire to do His . This involves expressing our faith in Christ and in His Presence in the Eucharist, and asking Him to unite Himself with us. A star preacher, he called his fellow sermonizers on the carpet for sermons of "empty, rumbling rhetoric" or "flashy . 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 The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. Alphonsus Liguori. Alphonsus was the oldest of seven children, raised by a devout mother of Spanish descent. But in spite of his infirmities both Clement XIII (1758-69) and Clement XIV (1769-74) obliged Alphonsus to remain at his post. 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. 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 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or the Redemptorists, at Scala. Nihil Obstat. Though St. Alphonsus was founder and de facto head of the Institute, its general direction in the beginning, as well as the direction of Alphonsus's conscience, was undertaken by the Bishop of Castellamare and it was not till the latter's death, 20 April, 1743, that a general chapter was held and the Saint was formally elected Superior-General. 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. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). PDF Traditional Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori [5], By May 1775, Alphonus was "deaf, blind, and laden with so many infirmities, that he has no longer even the appearance of a man", and his resignation was accepted by the recently crowned Pope Pius VI. To this altered Rule or "Regolamento", as it came to be called, the unsuspecting Saint was induced to put his signature. The rudder is humility, which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the will, docility to right guidance. "You have founded the Congregation and you have destroyed it", said one Father to him. 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. Alphonsus' last illness and Deaths 548 CHAPTER XXXVII. Life of St Alphonsus and the Holy Eucharist | EWTN Clarence F. Galli. 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. 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 founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). In vain those around him and even the judge on the bench tried to console him. Tannoia, also, through some mental idiosyncrasy, manages to give the misleading impression that St. Alphonsus was severe. Here he laid his sword before the statue of Our Lady, and made a solemn resolution to enter the ecclesiastical state, and furthermore to offer himself as a novice to the Fathers of the Oratory. MIRACLES RELATED BY ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI from his book The Glories of Mary Some persons, boasting of being free from prejudices, take great credit to themselves for believing no miracles but those recorded in the holy scriptures, esteeming all others as tales and fables for foolish women. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm. The family was of noble lineage, but the branch to which Liguori belonged had become somewhat impoverished. 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 died peacefully on August 1,1787, at Nocera di Pagani, near Naples as the Angelus was ringing. Alphonsus the Patron. 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". Resuming the General Audiences after the summer break the last was held on 27 June in the Vatican the Pope . She was declared Venerable 11 August, 1901. [5] He remarked later that he was so small at the time that he was almost buried in his doctor's gown and that all the spectators laughed. Even the baleful shadow of Voltaire falls across the Saint's life, for Alphonsus wrote to congratulate him on a conversion, which alas, never took place! Theabbot of that monastery soon after visited it, and attempted to reform it, but he didnot succeed; and one day he saw a great number of demons entering the cells of all thenuns except that of Jane, for the heavenly mother, before whose image he saw herpraying, banished them from that. St. Alphonsus encouraged an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ through frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online Alphonsus Liguori was not a favorite with the windbags of his day. 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." [7] It was there that he began his missionary experience in the interior regions of the Kingdom of Naples, where he found people who were much poorer and more abandoned than any of the street children in Naples. At the worst, it was only the scaffolding by which the temple of perfection was raised. Alphonsus was not sent to school but was educated by tutors under his father's eye. 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. The chapels were centres of prayer and piety, preaching, community, social activities, and education. You have overlooked a document which destroys your whole case." 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. Saint 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. He was taught by tutors before entering the University of Naples, where he graduated with doctorates in civil and canon law at 16. St. Alphonsus was a brilliant, articulate, pragmatic preacher. Alphonsus agreed to both requests and set out with his two friends, John Mazzini and Vincent Mannarini, in September, 1730. A few months later Alphonsus left his father's house and went to live with Ripa, without, however, becoming a member of his society. About Liguori Publications To this Alphonsus by the advice of his director, Father Thomas Pagano, himself an Oratorian, agreed. It has a tendency at every moment to deflect, and if it does deflect from the right path, the greater the momentum the more terrible the final crash. St. Alphonsus Ligouri ''Rock'' Church, Saint Louis - Tripadvisor (27 September 1696 - 1 August 1787), was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. Our founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori | The National Shrine of St. John The Saint's mother was of Spanish descent, and if, as there can be little doubt, race is an element in individual character, we may see in Alphonsus's Spanish blood some explanation of the enormous tenacity of purpose which distinguished him from his earliest years. St. Alphonsus Liguori - Blessed Are They - U.S. Catholic The Miracle of Saint Joseph If in some things Alphonsus was an Anglo-Saxon, in others he was a Neapolitan of the Neapolitans, though always a saint. About three years before his death he went through a veritable "Night of the Soul". Vague rumours of impending treachery had got about and had been made known to him, but he had refused to believe them. This is the great question of "Probabilism". Liguori was a prolific and popular author. Dedicated to Fr. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Paul T. Crowley. The foundation of all subsequent lives is the Della vita ed istituto del venerabile Alfonso Maria Liguori, of ANTONY TANNOIA, one of the great biographies of literature. Alphonsus's father, Don Joseph de' Liguori was a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys. Even if there be some exaggeration in this, for it is not in an advocate's power always to be on the winning side, the tradition shows that he was extraordinarily able and successful. His perseverance was indomitable. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. In 1780, a crisis arose in which they did this, yet in such a way as to bring division in the Congregation and extreme suffering and disgrace upon its founder. 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. He was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871. After 1752 Alphonsus gave fewer missions. The German life, DILGSKRON, Leben des heiligen Bischofs und Kirchenlehrers, Alfonsus Maria de Liguori (New York, 1887), is scholarly and accurate. It saw only recently its first publication in translation, in an English translation made by Ryan Grant and published in 2017 by Mediatrix Press. 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. So indeed it proved. Preaching, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. Traditional Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori His promotion to the episcopate in 1762 led to a renewal of his missionary activity, but in a slightly different form. St. Alphonsus Liguori. 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. In response, Alphonsus dedicated himself to the religious life, even while suffering persecution from his family. [7], On 9 November 1732, he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer,[10] when Sister Maria Celeste Crostarosa told him that it had been revealed to her that he was the one that God had chosen to found the congregation. Alphonsus's temperament was very ardent. God, however, intended the new institute to begin with these nuns of Scala. [15] The church did not bestow this unique privilege lightly but was due to the extraordinary combination of exceptional knowledge and understanding of church teachings combined with the great precision in which he wrote. He lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. 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. Let's start with the saint. Nov 2012. Saint Alphonsus Liguori | Prospect Heights, Illinois 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. But he was a man of genuine faith and piety and stainless life, and he meant his son to be the same. Novena for the Holy Souls in Purgatory - Learn Religions He had to endure a real persecution for two months. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. 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. Since its publication, it has remained in Latin, often in 10 volumes or in the combined 4-volume version of Gaud. Cavalieri, himself a great servant of God. Moral Theology (Liguori) - Wikipedia
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