His best-known musical work is his Christmas hymn Quanno Nascetti Ninno, later translated into Italian by Pope Pius IX as Tu scendi dalle stelle ("From Starry Skies Thou Comest"). [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]. Alphonsus himself was not spared. Saint Alphonsus Liguori; Revelation Delivered Through Frances Marie Klug This article was transcribed for New Advent by Paul T. Crowley. "St. Alphonsus Liguori". This is a historic Catholic Church in mid-town St. Louis. Saint Alphonsus Liguori. It saw only recently its first publication in translation, in an English translation made by Ryan Grant and published in 2017 by Mediatrix Press. It is remarkable that only 25 years after the Scapular vision, Blessed Pope Gregory X was buried Mimoires sur la vie et la congrigation de St. Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1842, 3 vols.). Nihil Obstat. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. On 21 December of the same year, at the age of thirty, he was ordained priest. It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. 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. Both last about two hours but are filled with soul-stirring music. 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. Beatified: September 15, 1816. So bent was it in the beginning, that the pressure of his chin produced a dangerous wound in the chest. Dissensions arose, the Saint's former friend and chief companion, Vincent Mannarini, opposing him and Falcoia in everything. Still there was a time of danger. 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. Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) was a Neapolitan who founded the Redemptorist Order of priests, a congregation dedicated to providing parish missions, especially to the poor in rural areas. He is the patron of confessors, moral theologians, and the lay apostolate. CARDINAL CAPECELATRO has also written a life of the Saint, La Vita di Sant' Alfonso Maria de Liguori (Rome, 2 vols.). The Superior of the Propaganda and even Falcoia's friend, Matthew Ripa, opposed the project with all their might. 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. 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. The saints are not inhuman but real men of flesh and . He was not allowed to resign his see, however, until 1775. But he was a man of genuine faith and piety and stainless life, and he meant his son to be the same. His promotion to the episcopate in 1762 led to a renewal of his missionary activity, but in a slightly different form. The Holy Mass, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. In bestowing the title of "Prince of Moral Theologians", the church also gave the "unprecedented honour 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". The Ceremonies of the Interment. Although there are many modern . In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. 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. Of extraordinary passive states, such as rapture, there are not many instances recorded in his life, though there are some. Believe me who have experienced it, and now weep over it." He spent several years having to drink from tubes because his head was so bent forward. Paths to Heaven; Revelations. Pope Benedict XIV gave his approval for the men's congregation in 1749 and for the women's in 1750. 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. Liguori was a prolific and popular author. Many Miracles are wrought through the intercession of Alphonsus. St. Alphonsus was so scrupulous about truth that when, in 1776, the regalist, Mgr. 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. If in some things Alphonsus was an Anglo-Saxon, in others he was a Neapolitan of the Neapolitans, though always a saint. [12], He was beatified on 15 September 1816 by Pope Pius VII and canonized on 26 May 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI.[13][14]. 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. 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 1950 he was named patron saint of moralists and confessors by Pope Pius XII. 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. Omissions? His system of moral theology is noted for its prudence, avoiding both laxism and excessive rigour. Alphonsus was one of the leading counsel; we do not know on which side. A few months later Alphonsus left his father's house and went to live with Ripa, without, however, becoming a member of his society. Died: August 1, 1787. A pure and modest boyhood passed into a manhood without reproach. 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. Alphonsus' last illness and Deaths 548 CHAPTER XXXVII. 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. 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. Feast day: August 1. In the end a compromise was arrived at. At the worst, it was only the scaffolding by which the temple of perfection was raised. 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. Other personal friends of Alphonsus were the Jesuit Fathers de Matteis, Zaccaria, and Nonnotte. . In 1780, Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval of his congregation. [4], Liguori learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. 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 On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Ever mindful of his own sins, Saint Alphonsus saw prayer for the faithful departed as one of the chief duties of Christian charity. 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. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! That legacy is the participation in the redemptive mission of Jesus. Riding and fencing were his recreations, and an evening game of cards; he tells us that he was debarred from being a good shot by his bad sight. He was a lawyer by the time he was 16 years old! The German life, DILGSKRON, Leben des heiligen Bischofs und Kirchenlehrers, Alfonsus Maria de Liguori (New York, 1887), is scholarly and accurate. He was the eldest of seven children of Giuseppe Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and Anna Maria Caterina Cavalieri. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Then God called him to his life work. From the year 1759 two former benefactors of the Congregation, Baron Sarnelli and Francis Maffei, by one of those changes not uncommon in Naples, had become its bitter enemies, and waged a vendetta against it in the law courts which lasted for twenty-four years. About three years before his death he went through a veritable "Night of the Soul". Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. He could never have said Mass again had not an Augustinian prior shown him how to support himself on a chair so that with the assistance of an acolyte he could raise the chalice to his lips. Liguori suffered from scruples much of his adult life and felt guilty about the most minor issues relating to sin. 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. The "Glories of Mary", "The Selva", "The True Spouse of Christ", "The Great Means of Prayer", "The Way of Salvation", "Opera Dogmatica, or History of the Council of Trent", and "Sermons for all the Sundays in the Year", are the best known. In this state of exclusion he lived for seven years more and in it he died. 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). Alphonsus returned to his little cell at Nocera in July, 1775, to prepare, as he thought, for a speedy and happy death. Liguori wrote 111 works on spirituality and theology. 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. Yet, to take anger alone, though comparatively early in life he seemed dead to insult or injury which affected himself, in cases of cruelty, or of injustice to others, or of dishonour to God, he showed a prophet's indignation even in old age. He knew how to reach ordinary people who had limited education and very real needs. 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. He died peacefully on August 1,1787, at Nocera di Pagani, near Naples as the Angelus was ringing. Moral Theology (also known as the Theologia Moralis) is a nine-volume work concerning Catholic moral theology written between 1748 and 1785 by Alphonsus Liguori, a Catholic theologian and Doctor of the Church.This work is not to be confused with Theologia moralis universa ad mentem S. Alphonsi, a 19th-century treatise by Pietro Scavini written in the philosophical tradition of Alphonsus Liguori. " Wonderful worship experience ". He became very popular because of his plain and simple preaching. St. Alphonsus likened the conflict between law and liberty to a civil action in which the law has the onus probandi, although greater probabilities give it a verdict. But before he called a witness the opposing counsel said to him in chilling tones: "Your arguments are wasted breath. He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples. A voice said "This is he whom I have chosen to be head of My Institute, the Prefect General of a new Congregation of men who shall work for My glory." He is credited with the position of Aequiprobabilism, which avoided Jansenist rigorism as well as laxism and simple probabilism. 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. In 1871 he was named a doctor of the church by Pope Pius IX. At the time of his death, there were 72, with over 10,000 active participants. (Rome, 1896). 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. 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. In 1731, the convent unanimously adopted the new Rule, together with a habit of red and blue, the traditional colours of Our Lord's own dress. Alphonsus was a lawyer, and as a lawyer he attached much importance to the weight of evidence. He remained thunderstruck for a moment; then said in a broken voice: "You are right. This submission altered the original rule, and as a result Alphonsus was denied any authority among the Redemptorists. 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. Alphonsus Liguori, Saint, b. at Marianella, near Naples, September 27, 1696; d. at Nocera de' Pagani, . 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. 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. 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. 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. APA citation. [5] He founded the Evening Chapels, which were managed by the young people themselves. On 6 April, 1726, he was ordained deacon, and soon after preached his first sermon. 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. He was a born leader of men. He was somewhat worldly and ambitious, at any rate for his son, and was rough tempered when opposed. The early years, following the founding of the new order, were not promising. Alphonsus, however, stood firm; soon other companions arrived, and though Scala itself was given up by the Fathers in 1738, by 1746 the new Congregation had four houses at Nocera de' Pagani, Ciorani, Iliceto (now Deliceto), and Caposele, all in the Kingdom of Naples. 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. In the second edition the work received the definite form it has since retained, though in later issues the Saint retracted a number of opinions, corrected minor ones, and worked at the statement of his theory of Equiprobabilism till at last he considered it complete. 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. A justly celebrated life is the Vie et Institut de Saint Alphonse-Marie de Liguori, in four volumes, by CARDINAL VILLECOURT, (Tournai, 1893). His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady was extraordinary. Bishop, Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation. He both made and kept a vow not to lose a single moment of time. He came from a wealthy family in Naples, Italy, and had every advantage in life from the moment he was born in 1696. The favors and graces by which God attested his sanctity 526 CHAPTER XXXVI. Office Hours: Mon - Fri: 8am-4pm, Saturday: 9am-12pm . We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. Alternate titles: Saint Alfonso Liguori, Saint Alfonso Maria de Liguori, Saint Alphonsus Maria deLiguori. The other was not to be long delayed. Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. 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. Preaching, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). 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." But, before relating the episode of the "Regolamento", as it is called, we must speak of the period of the Saint's episcopate which intervened. He fell into a clairvoyant trance at Arienzo on 21 September, 1774, and was present in spirit at the death-bed in Rome of Pope Clement XIV. [2][3], He was born in Marianella, near Naples, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, on 27 September 1696. 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. 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. Here St. Alphonsus teaches that those who refuse to bow to the will of God only double their afflictions. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm. 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. It was approved by the king and forced upon the stupefied Congregation by the whole power of the State. On 3 October, 1731, the eve of the feast of St. Francis, she saw Our Lord with St. Francis on His right hand and a priest on His left. 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 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. 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. It was this which gave St. Alphonsus the bent head which we notice in the portraits of him. [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. The wine had changed into blood; clotted and separated into 5 different sized clots. 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. New York: Robert Appleton Company. There were whole years, indeed, in which the Institute seemed on the verge of summary suppression. St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1 August, 1787. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. St. Alphonsus Liguori. The family was of noble lineage, but the branch to which Liguori belonged had become somewhat impoverished. 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. 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. 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 Opening Prayer My Lord Jesus Christ, you have made this journey to die for me with infinite love. Could he have been what an Anglo-Saxon would consider a miracle of calm, he would have seemed to his companions absolutely inhuman. He felt as if his career was ruined, and left the court almost beside himself, saying: "World, I know you now. He fed the poor, instructed the ignorant, reorganized his seminary, reformed his convents, created a new spirit in his clergy, banished scandalous noblemen and women of evil life with equal impartiality, brought the study of theology and especially of moral theology into honour, and all the time was begging pope after pope to let him resign his office because he was doing nothing for his diocese. It happened that Alphonsus, ill and overworked, had gone with some companions to Scala in the early summer of 1730. On 28 August, 1723, the young advocate had gone to perform a favourite act of charity by visiting the sick in the Hospital for Incurables. It survived a catastrophic fire and was completed refurbished. Dedicated to Fr. Saint Alphonsus Liguori 1696 - 1787. A long process followed in the Court of Rome, and on 22 September, 1780, a provisional Decree, which on 24 August, 1781, was made absolute, recognized the houses in the Papal States as alone constituting the Redemptorist Congregation. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online Matters remained thus for some years. The rudder is humility, which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the will, docility to right 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. This document gives you the case." He was helped in this by his turn of mind which was extremely practical. Stay up to date with the latest news, information, and special offers. There are two Sunday services, one at 8:15 and the second at 11. In addition, he published many editions of compendiums of his larger work, such as the "Homo Apostolicus", made in 1759. The days were indeed evil. 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. There is a somewhat unsatisfactory French translation of Tannoia's work. "I know his obstinacy", his father said of him as a young man; "when he once makes up his mind he is inflexible". It may be he was even too anxious, and on one occasion when he was over-whelmed by a fresh refusal, his friend the Marquis Brancone, Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs and a man of deep piety, said to him gently: "It would seem as if you placed all your trust here below"; on which the Saint recovered his peace of mind. She was told to write it down and show it to the director of the convent, that is to Falcoia himself. In 1723 there was a lawsuit in the courts between a Neapolitan nobleman, whose name has not come down to us, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in which property valued at 500,000 ducats, that to say, $500,000 or 100,000 pounds, was at stake. He said: "I have never preached a sermon which the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand". Even where he is not that, he may generally be trusted, as he was a Boswell in collecting facts. St. Alphonsus Liguori Catholic Church is known far and wide as "The Rock." The parish is staffed by the Redemptorists, making history in 1922 when it began the weekly novena in honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.