He felt as if his career was ruined, and left the court almost beside himself, saying: "World, I know you now. He was beatified in 1816 and canonized in 1839. 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. Revelations from God, the Saints, and the Angels through the Miracle of Saint Joseph, started in 1967 and continuing to this day. 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. As it was traditionally associated with the zampogna, or large-format Italian bagpipe, it became known as Canzone d'i zampognari, the "Carol of the Bagpipers". Alphonsus the Patron. Finally, St. Alphonsus was a wonderful letter-writer, and the mere salvage of his correspondence amounts to 1,451 letters, filling three large volumes. 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. 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. 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, like so many saints, had an excellent father and a saintly mother. If civil courts could not decide against a defendant on greater probability, but had to wait, as a criminal court must wait, for moral certainty, many actions would never be decided at all. It would be a sacrilege to say otherwise." . We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. [12], He was beatified on 15 September 1816 by Pope Pius VII and canonized on 26 May 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI.[13][14]. 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. 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. [4] When he was 18, like many other nobles, he joined the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy, with whom he assisted in the care of the sick at the hospital for "incurables". Filangieri forbade any change of rule and removed Falcoia from all communication with the convent. 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. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. 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. He founded the congregation with the charism of preaching popular missions in the city and the countryside. 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. St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1 August, 1787. 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. Soon after this the boy began his studies for the Bar, and about the age of nineteen practised his profession in the courts. A star preacher, he called his fellow sermonizers on the carpet for sermons of "empty, rumbling rhetoric" or "flashy . [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. Alphonsus left the Hospital and went to the church of the Redemption of Captives. 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. "[17][18], Liguori's greatest contribution to the Catholic Church was in the area of moral theology. [4], Liguori learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. Office Hours: Mon - Fri: 8am-4pm, Saturday: 9am-12pm . St. Alphonsus as a moral theologian occupies the golden mean between the schools tending either to laxity or to rigour which divided the theological world of his time. 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. 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. He both made and kept a vow not to lose a single moment of time. Early Christians began the devotion of following the footsteps of Christ's passion. But before he called a witness the opposing counsel said to him in chilling tones: "Your arguments are wasted breath. Here St. Alphonsus teaches that those who refuse to bow to the will of God only double their afflictions. In April 1729, Alphonsus went to live at the "Chiflese College," founded in Naples by Father Matthew Ripa, the Apostle of China. In the minutes it was See also HASSALL, The Balance of Power (1715-89) (London, 1901); COLLETTA, History of the Kingdom of Naples, 1734-1825, 2 vols., tr. Nihil Obstat. St. Alphonsus Liguori. Alphonsus was not sent to school but was educated by tutors under his father's eye. Daily Reading for Sunday, March 5th, 2023, Continue reading about St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori, Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting: The Three Pillars of Lent. Both of them were canonized on the same day as the Holy Doctor, 26 May, 1839. Much of the material for a complete life of St. Alphonsus is still in manuscript in the Roman archives of the Redemptorist Congregation and in the archives of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. The days were indeed evil. In 1871, Alphonsus was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX. To come to saints, the great Jesuit missionary St. Francis di Geronimo took the little Alphonsus in his arms, blessed him, and prophesied that he would do great work for God; while a Franciscan, St. John Joseph of the Cross, was well known to Alphonsus in later life. The cause of this was "regalism", the omnipotence of kings even in matters spiritual, which was the system of government in Naples as in all the Bourbon States. He was not allowed to resign his see, however, until 1775. [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. [11], Liguori was consecrated Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti in 1762. "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. He is credited with the position of Aequiprobabilism, which avoided Jansenist rigorism as well as laxism and simple probabilism. 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. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. 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. 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". The German life, DILGSKRON, Leben des heiligen Bischofs und Kirchenlehrers, Alfonsus Maria de Liguori (New York, 1887), is scholarly and accurate. He who ruled and directed others so wisely, had, where his own soul was concerned, to depend on obedience like a little child. St. Alphonsus Liguori was a bishop and moral theologian living and preaching in Naples in the eighteenth century. Perhaps in any case the submission of their Rule to a suspicious and even hostile civil power was a mistake. It happened that Alphonsus, ill and overworked, had gone with some companions to Scala in the early summer of 1730. Preaching, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. There is a somewhat unsatisfactory French translation of Tannoia's work. 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. 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. 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"). Omissions? 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. While the continual intensity of reiterated acts of virtue which we have called driving-power is what really creates sanctity, there is another indispensable quality. He is said never to have refused absolution to a penitent. 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. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. 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. 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. Addeddate His own prayer was perhaps for the most part what some call "active", others "ordinary", contemplation. Other personal friends of Alphonsus were the Jesuit Fathers de Matteis, Zaccaria, and Nonnotte. Don Joseph agreed to allow his son to become a priest, provided he would give up his proposal joining the Oratory, and would continue to live at home. He spent the next few years in recasting this work, and in 1753 appeared the first volume of the "Theologia Moralis", the second volume, dedicated to Benedict XIV, following in 1755. The Vicar General, Monsignor Onorati drew up the minutes of the diocesan trial which lasted two years from 1772 to 1774. In December, 1724, he received minor orders, and the subdiaconate in September, 1725. 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. Alphonsus was one of the leading counsel; we do not know on which side. Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. He had a love for the lower animals, and wild creatures who fled from all else would come to him as to a friend. [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. The suffering which this brought on Alphonsus, with his sensitive and high-strung disposition, was very great, besides what was worse, the relaxation of discipline and loss of vocations which it caused in the Order itself. Alphonsus returned to his little cell at Nocera in July, 1775, to prepare, as he thought, for a speedy and happy death. The poor advocate turned pale. 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. For six years he laboured in and around Naples, giving missions for the Propaganda and preaching to the lazzaroni of the capital. Learn interesting facts and tidbits about the beloved St. Patrick. Visiting the local Hospital for Incurables on August 28, 1723, he had a vision and was told to consecrate his life solely to God. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Although the doctors succeeded in straightening the neck a little, the Saint for the rest of his life had to drink at meals through a tube. (27 September 1696 - 1 August 1787), was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. 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. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. Alphonsus suffers great interior trials. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Although there are many modern . Saint Alphonsus De Liguori Usage Public Domain Topics Blessed Virgin Mary, Miracles, Apparitions, Conversion, Saints, Rosary, Sin, Repentance, Catholic Collection opensource Language English Stories from St Alphonsus De Liguori, which he culled from various sources, which can be seen in the larger work, "The Glories of Mary". [16] The 21,500 editions and the translations into 72 languages that his works have undergone attest to the fact that he is one of the most widely-read Catholic authors. Liguori wrote 111 works on spirituality and theology. A strong defender of the Catholic Church, Liguori said: To reject the divine teaching of the Catholic Church is to reject the very basis of reason and revelation, for neither the principles of the one nor those of the other have any longer any solid support to rest on; they can then be interpreted by every one as he pleases; every one can deny all truths whatsoever he chooses to deny. 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. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. His hymns are justly celebrated in Italy. Dissension within the congregation culminated in 1777 when he was deceived into signing what he thought was a royal sanction for his rule. Liguori suffered from scruples much of his adult life and felt guilty about the most minor issues relating to sin. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, in November 1732. This was in 1780, when Alphonsus was eighty-three years old. His austerities were rigorous, and he suffered daily the pain from rheumatism that was beginning to deform his body. This occurred twice. Ultimately, however, anything merely human in this had disappeared. 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. 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 Holy Father addressed the faithful taking part in the General audience of Wednesday, 1 August [2012], in Piazza della Libert, the square outside the Papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. a fresh vision of Sister Maria Celeste seemed to show that such was the will of God. 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." Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The crisis arose in this way. 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. Not less remarkable than the intensity with which Alphonsus worked is the amount of work he did. 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. "I follow my conscience", he wrote in 1764, "and when reason persuades me I make little account of moralists." Updates? 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. I have been mistaken. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). Bishop, Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation. It survived a catastrophic fire and was completed refurbished. 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. Tannoia was born about 1724 and entered the Redemptorist Congregation in 1746. Fearful temptations against every virtue crowded upon him, together with diabolical apparitions and illusions, and terrible scruples and impulses to despair which made life a hell. But how was Alphonsus to grow in this so necessary virtue when he was in authority nearly all his life? 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 fifth book has two treatises "De Actibus Humanis" and "De Peccatis"; the sixth is on the sacraments, the seventh and last on the censures of the Church. 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. There were whole years, indeed, in which the Institute seemed on the verge of summary suppression. Key Concepts; Teachings; Visions; Search Revelations . Alphonsus, assisted by divine grace, did not disappoint his father's care. 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. 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." Sarnelli was almost openly supported by the all-powerful Tanucci, and the suppression of the Congregation at last seemed a matter of days, when on 26 October, 1776, Tanucci, who had offended Queen Maria Carolina, suddenly fell from power. It is remarkable that only 25 years after the Scapular vision, Blessed Pope Gregory X was buried 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. But in spite of his infirmities both Clement XIII (1758-69) and Clement XIV (1769-74) obliged Alphonsus to remain at his post. Saint Alphonsus Liguori described in detail this miracle and took the opportunity to reawake the faith and devotion of the people towards the Eucharist. Thank you. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. Lord, When Did We See You Hungry or Thirsty or a Stranger or Naked or Ill or in Prison? Soon after, Falcoia made known to the latter his vocation to leave Naples and establish an order of missionaries at Scala, who should work above all for the neglected goatherds of the mountains. 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. His intercession healed the sick; he read the secrets of hearts, and foretold the future. The chapels were centres of prayer and piety, preaching, community, social activities, and education. His very confessor and vicar general in the government of his Order, Father Andrew Villani, joined in the conspiracy. R. The traditional Stations of the Cross were written by St. Alphonsus Liguori, a bishop and Doctor of the Church, in 1761. On 1 April, 1733, all the companions of Alphonsus except one lay brother, Vitus Curtius, abandoned him, and founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, which, confined to the Kingdom of Naples, was extinguished in 1860 by the Italian Revolution. Naples had been part of the dominions of Spain since 1503, but in 1708 when Alphonsus was twelve years old, it was conquered by Austria during the war of the Spanish Succession. 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. He came from a wealthy family in Naples, Italy, and had every advantage in life from the moment he was born in 1696. This lifelong friendship aided Alphonsus, as did his association with a mystic, Sister Mary Celeste. Castle, H. (1907). He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). At the time of his death, there were 72, with over 10,000 active participants. On 23 October of the same year, 1723, the Saint put on the clerical dress. Let's start with the saint. CARDINAL CAPECELATRO has also written a life of the Saint, La Vita di Sant' Alfonso Maria de Liguori (Rome, 2 vols.). Vol. Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. Blessed Clement Hofbauer joined the Redemptorist congregation in the aged Saint's lifetime, though Alphonsus never saw in the flesh the man whom he knew would be the second founder of his Order. 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. ), was published by P. KUNTZ, C.SS.R., director of the Roman archives of his Congregation. What are 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. In fact, despite his youth, he seems at the age of twenty-seven to have been one of the leaders of the Neapolitan Bar. Neapolitan students, in an animated but amicable discussion, seem to foreign eyes to be taking part in a violent quarrel. But he was a man of genuine faith and piety and stainless life, and he meant his son to be the same. The priest was Alphonsus. The saints are not inhuman but real men of flesh and . [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. He knew that trials were before him. 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. He was taught by tutors before entering the University of Naples, where he graduated with doctorates in civil and canon law at 16. She was told to write it down and show it to the director of the convent, that is to Falcoia himself. 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. Mimoires sur la vie et la congrigation de St. Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1842, 3 vols.). [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. St. Alphonsus was so scrupulous about truth that when, in 1776, the regalist, Mgr. More than once he faced assassination unmoved. In theology Liguori is known as the principal exponent of equiprobabilism, a system of principles designed to guide the conscience of one in doubt as to whether he or she is free from or bound by a given civil or religious law. He became very popular because of his plain and simple preaching. 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. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. 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. Alphonsus wrote profusely on moral, theological, and ascetical subjects [notably his Moral Theology], was constantly engaged in combating anticlericalism and Jansenism, and was involved in several controversies over . This is a historic Catholic Church in mid-town St. Louis. 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. The wine had changed into blood; clotted and separated into 5 different sized clots. Beatified: September 15, 1816. The immediate author of what was practically a lifelong persecution of the Saint was the Marquis Tanucci, who entered Naples in 1734. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. St. Alphonsus Liguori was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. Alphonsus was preaching missions in the rural areas and writing. The family was of noble lineage, but the branch to which Liguori belonged had become somewhat impoverished. The Saint's complete dogmatic works have been translated into Latin by P. WALTER, C.SS.R., S. Alphonsi Mariae de Liguori Ecclesiae Doctoris Opera Dogmatica, (New York, 1903, 2 vols., 4to). His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady was extraordinary. "Let us have it." Quite recently, a duet composed by him, between the Soul and God, was found in the British Museum bearing the date 1760 and containing a correction in his own handwriting.