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. "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 Liguori, Saint, b. at Marianella, near Naples, September 27, 1696; d. at Nocera de' Pagani, . 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. When he heard from her of the devotion of the Rosary, which she practiced, and the letter she had received, he ordered all the others to repeatit, and it is related that this monastery became a paradise. [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. On the other hand, ever since the Fall of Man, the will of man has been his greatest danger. In 1780, Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval of his congregation. 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. Not many details have come down to us of Alphonsus's childhood. If any reader of this article will go to original sources and study the Saint's life at greater length, he will not find his labour thrown away. Except for the chances of European war, England and Naples were then in different worlds, but Alphonsus may have seen at the side of Don Carlos when he conquered Naples in 1734, an English boy of fourteen who had already shown great gallantry under fire and was to play a romantic part in history, Prince Charles Edward Stuart. But before he called a witness the opposing counsel said to him in chilling tones: "Your arguments are wasted breath. But in spite of his infirmities both Clement XIII (1758-69) and Clement XIV (1769-74) obliged Alphonsus to remain at his post. St. Alphonsus Liguori. In April 1729, Alphonsus went to live at the "Chiflese College," founded in Naples by Father Matthew Ripa, the Apostle of China. Alphonsus's temperament was very ardent. 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). [12], He was beatified on 15 September 1816 by Pope Pius VII and canonized on 26 May 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI.[13][14]. At the worst, it was only the scaffolding by which the temple of perfection was raised. Many Miracles are wrought through the intercession of Alphonsus. Tannoia was born about 1724 and entered the Redemptorist Congregation in 1746. 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. In 1732, while he was staying at the Convent of the Consolation, one of his order's houses in the small city of Deliceto in the province of Foggia in Southeastern Italy, Liguori wrote the Italian carol "Tu scendi dalle stelle" ("From Starry Skies Descending") in the musical style of a pastorale. 1. [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. Liguori was a prolific and popular author. A centenary edition, Lettere di S. Alfonso Maria de'Liguori (ROME, 1887, 3 vols. An attack of rheumatic fever, from May 1768 to June 1769, left him paralyzed. Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. "The life of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori" (1855)John Murphy & Co., Baltimore, 1855, "Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori", St. Alphonsus Liguori Parish, Peterborough, Ontario, The life of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Bishop of St. Agatha of the Goths and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer, Tannoja, Antonio (d. 1808), John Murphy & Co. (1855), "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Alphonsus Liguori", "Alphonsus Maria de Liguori", Saint Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish, Makati City Philippines, "1st English Translation of St. Alphonsus Liguori's Moral Theology", https://www.avemarialynnfield.org/sites/g/files/zjfyce466/files/2021-01/Stations-of-the-Cross-St-Liguori.pdf, Liguori, Alphonsus. The Saint had four houses, but during his lifetime it not only became impossible in the Kingdom of Naples to get any more, but even the barest toleration for those he had could scarcely be obtained. 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. The Spirituality of St. Alphonsus Liguori | The Divine Mercy The chapels were centres of prayer and piety, preaching, community, social activities, and education. The family was an old and noble one, though the branch to which the Saint belonged had become somewhat impoverished. St Alphonsus Mary Liguori and Prayer. In 1950 he was named patron saint of moralists and confessors by Pope Pius XII. The answer is that God kept him humble by interior trials. The Saint only wept in silence and tried in vain to devise some means by which his Order might be saved. [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. 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. 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. [10] He tried to refuse the appointment by using his age and infirmities as arguments against his consecration. Entdecke ST. ROSE VON LIMA, SCHWESTER MARY ALPHONSUS katholisches heiliges Buch in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! 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. 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. [8] Moreover, Liguori viewed scruples as a blessing at times and wrote: "Scruples are useful in the beginning of conversion. they cleanse the soul, and at the same time make it careful". Mimoires sur la vie et la congrigation de St. Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1842, 3 vols.). Alphonsus Liguori | Saints Resource Alphonsus agreed to both requests and set out with his two friends, John Mazzini and Vincent Mannarini, in September, 1730. 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. In 1871, he was declared a Doctor of the Church. In 1762, there was no escape and he was constrained by formal obedience to the Pope to accept the Bishopric of St. Agatha of the Goths, a very small Neapolitan diocese lying a few miles off the road from Naples to Capua. St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775) and St. Alphonsus, who were altogether contemporaries, seem never to have met on earth, though the founder of the Passionists was a great friend of Alphonsus's uncle, Mgr. The version with Italian lyrics was based on his original song written in Neapolitan, which began Quanno nascette Ninno ("When the child was born"). 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. 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. Both of them were canonized on the same day as the Holy Doctor, 26 May, 1839. Furthermore, St. Alphonsus was a great theologian, and so attached much weight to intrinsic probability. Alphonsus' last illness and Deaths 548 CHAPTER XXXVII. 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. [11], Liguori was consecrated Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti in 1762. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). "I follow my conscience", he wrote in 1764, "and when reason persuades me I make little account of moralists." 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 of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, in November 1732. 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 . 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. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. The saints are not inhuman but real men of flesh and blood, however much some hagiographers may ignore the fact. 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. " Wonderful worship experience ". Could he have been what an Anglo-Saxon would consider a miracle of calm, he would have seemed to his companions absolutely inhuman. Pardon me, my God. St. Alphonsus Ligouri ''Rock'' Church, Saint Louis - Tripadvisor 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 born Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. In the end a compromise was arrived at. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. 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! St. Alphonsus encouraged an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ through frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament. But when the question was put to the community, opposition began. PDF Eucharistic Miracle of PATIERNO (NAPLES) - Our Lady Of Peace Shrine And Alphonsus Liguori. What are Revelations? He was also a poet and musician. There are two Sunday services, one at 8:15 and the second at 11. Addeddate He was a lawyer, not only during his years at the Bar, but throughout his whole life--a lawyer, who to skilled advocacy and an enormous knowledge of practical detail added a wide and luminous hold of underlying principles. 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. Learn interesting facts and tidbits about the beloved St. Patrick. It is remarkable that only 25 years after the Scapular vision, Blessed Pope Gregory X was buried [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. Here St. Alphonsus teaches that those who refuse to bow to the will of God only double their afflictions. He was taught by tutors before entering the University of Naples, where he graduated with doctorates in civil and canon law at 16. 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. 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. Key Concepts; Teachings; Visions; Search Revelations . 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. Imprimatur. 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. 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. SVO), gives an extremely full and picturesque account of the Saint's life and times. Holy Name of Jesus & St. Alphonsus Liguori | The Eucharistic Miracle at Alphonsus Liguori, Saint | Catholic Answers Home | St. Alphonsus Rock Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. Alphonsus left the Hospital and went to the church of the Redemption of Captives. But as he drew up a rule for them, formed from that of the Visitation nuns, he does not seem to have had any clear idea of establishing the new institute of his vision. St. Alphonsus Liguori. In the minutes it was It was comparatively late in life that Alphonsus became a writer. Miraculous Stories of the Blessed Virgin Mary : Saint Alphonsus De 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. [4], Liguori learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. 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. He spent several years having to drink from tubes because his head was so bent forward. The Saint Alphonsus de Liguori Collection [30 Books] ), was published by P. KUNTZ, C.SS.R., director of the Roman archives of his Congregation. He opposed sterile legalism and strict rigourism. Stay up to date with the latest news, information, and special offers. An Act of Spiritual CommunionA Daily Catholic Prayer - Learn Religions He wrote sermons, books, and articles to encourage devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Louis, MO 63106 | parish130@archstl.org | Tel: (314) 533-0304. This is the great question of "Probabilism". For six years he laboured in and around Naples, giving missions for the Propaganda and preaching to the lazzaroni of the capital. A justly celebrated life is the Vie et Institut de Saint Alphonse-Marie de Liguori, in four volumes, by CARDINAL VILLECOURT, (Tournai, 1893). http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm. Believe me who have experienced it, and now weep over it." According to this view he chose a different formula from the Jesuit writers, partly because he thought his own terms more exact, and, partly to save his teaching and his congregation as far as possible from the State persecution which after 1764 had already fallen so heavily on the Society of Jesus, and in 1773 was formally to suppress it. About three years before his death he went through a veritable "Night of the Soul". Died: August 1, 1787. Alternate titles: Saint Alfonso Liguori, Saint Alfonso Maria de Liguori, Saint Alphonsus Maria deLiguori. 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. Preaching, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. That legacy is the participation in the redemptive mission of Jesus. Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. He was buried at the monastery of the Pagani near Naples. The Miracle of Saint Joseph In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. St. Alphonsus Liguori - Tumblar House Catholic Books Tannoia, also, through some mental idiosyncrasy, manages to give the misleading impression that St. Alphonsus was severe. 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. He was born Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. It was all-important to the Fathers to be able to rebut the charge of being an illegal religious congregation, which was one of the chief allegations in the ever-adjourned and ever-impending action by Baron Sarnelli. The Fathers in the Papal States, with too precipitate zeal, in the very beginning denounced the change of Rule to Rome. The Holy Mass, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. 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. Testa, the Grand Almoner, even to have his Rule approved. 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. St. Alphonsus Liguori - Blessed Are They - U.S. Catholic 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. Saint Alphonsus Liguori | Prospect Heights, Illinois Liguori Publications is a nonprofit Catholic publishing company that came into existence through a saint, some students, and a once-famous St. Louis resort. Don Joseph de' Liguori had his faults. He was the eldest of seven children of Giuseppe Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and Anna Maria Caterina Cavalieri. Twelve years, however, still separated him from his reward, years for the most part not of peace but of greater afflictions than any which had yet befallen him. She became known in religion as Sister Maria Celeste. 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. 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. "What document is that?" 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. 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. With their aid, Aiphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. He remained thunderstruck for a moment; then said in a broken voice: "You are right. 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. In the eight years of his career as advocate, years crowded with work, he is said never to have lost a case. 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 had a pleasant smile, and his conversation was very agreeable, yet he had great dignity of manner. 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. 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. In 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or the Redemptorists, at Scala. Dissensions arose, the Saint's former friend and chief companion, Vincent Mannarini, opposing him and Falcoia in everything. 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. Dissension within the congregation culminated in 1777 when he was deceived into signing what he thought was a royal sanction for his rule. In February, 1775, however, Pius VI was elected Pope, and the following May he permitted the Saint to resign his see. 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.
