So bent was it in the beginning, that the pressure of his chin produced a dangerous wound in the chest. . 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". They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. March 1, 1907. After practicing law for eight years, he was ordained a priest in 1726. 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. Very few remarks upon his own times occur in the Saint's letters. Alphonsus Liguori, Saint, b. at Marianella, near Naples, September 27, 1696; d. at Nocera de' Pagani, . 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. Resuming the General Audiences after the summer break the last was held on 27 June in the Vatican the Pope . 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. God, however, intended the new institute to begin with these nuns of Scala. Dissensions arose, the Saint's former friend and chief companion, Vincent Mannarini, opposing him and Falcoia in everything. He was a lawyer by the time he was 16 years old! Alphonsus Liguori, CSsR (27 September 1696 - 1 August 1787), sometimes called Alphonsus Maria de Liguori or Saint Alphonsus Liguori, was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. 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. Ecclesiastical approbation. Here St. Alphonsus teaches that those who refuse to bow to the will of God only double their afflictions. Thank you. Updates? St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1 August, 1787. [11], Liguori was consecrated Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti in 1762. For six years he laboured in and around Naples, giving missions for the Propaganda and preaching to the lazzaroni of the capital. 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. Today I would like to present to you the figure of a holy Doctor of the Church to whom we are deeply indebted because he was an outstanding moral theologian and a teacher of spiritual . The immediate author of what was practically a lifelong persecution of the Saint was the Marquis Tanucci, who entered Naples in 1734. He finally agreed to become a priest but to live at home as a member of a group of secular missionaries. Feast Day: August 1. (1913). About three years before his death he went through a veritable "Night of the Soul". The Holy Mass, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. His hymns are justly celebrated in Italy. 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. In 1780, Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval of his congregation. The priest was Alphonsus. Alphonsus agreed to both requests and set out with his two friends, John Mazzini and Vincent Mannarini, in September, 1730. He is the patron of confessors, moral theologians, and the lay apostolate. 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. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 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 . Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. He often writes as a Neapolitan to Neapolitans. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. In the eight years of his career as advocate, years crowded with work, he is said never to have lost a case. With their aid, Aiphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. He was born Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. The traditional Stations of the Cross were written by St. Alphonsus Liguori, a bishop and Doctor of the Church, in 1761. In this state of exclusion he lived for seven years more and in it he died. 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. After 1752 Alphonsus gave fewer missions. His works have gone through several thousand editions and have been translated into more than 60 languages. Falcoia, hearing of this, begged his friend to give a retreat to the nuns of his Conservatorium at the same time. On the other hand, ever since the Fall of Man, the will of man has been his greatest danger. 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. R. In old age he was more than once raised in the air when speaking of God. Liguori was a prolific and popular author. Alphonsus himself was not spared. 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. 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 founded the congregation with the charism of preaching popular missions in the city and the countryside. [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. Let's start with the saint. 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. [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. The chapels were centres of prayer and piety, preaching, community, social activities, and education. 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 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. 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! He came from a wealthy family in Naples, Italy, and had every advantage in life from the moment he was born in 1696. She was declared Venerable 11 August, 1901. 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. Neapolitan students, in an animated but amicable discussion, seem to foreign eyes to be taking part in a violent quarrel. Alphonsus had still one final storm to meet, and then the end. He was crushed to the earth. 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". It would be a sacrilege to say otherwise." Alternate titles: Saint Alfonso Liguori, Saint Alfonso Maria de Liguori, Saint Alphonsus Maria deLiguori. Omissions? He had nearly completed his ninety-first year. In the minutes it was 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. 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 the eldest of seven children of Giuseppe Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and Anna Maria Caterina Cavalieri. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm. The experience and teaching of St Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori regarding the Eucharist was in line with the Pope's invitation to Christians to persevere in their most important duty: to proclaim to humanity the great mystery of God's love, especially visible in the Eucharist. Ever mindful of his own sins, Saint Alphonsus saw prayer for the faithful departed as one of the chief duties of Christian charity. "I follow my conscience", he wrote in 1764, "and when reason persuades me I make little account of moralists." 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. On 6 April, 1726, he was ordained deacon, and soon after preached his first sermon. The rudder is humility, which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the will, docility to right guidance. 1. [4] He was ordained on 21 December 1726, at the age of 30. It was comparatively late in life that Alphonsus became a writer. He said: "I have never preached a sermon which the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand". [4] Myopia and chronic asthma precluded a military career so his father had him educated in the legal profession. 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. "Let us have it." He had to endure a real persecution for two months. Shop St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. 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. 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. It was approved by the king and forced upon the stupefied Congregation by the whole power of the State. He first addressed ecclesiastical abuses in the diocese, reformed the seminary and spiritually rehabilitated the clergy and faithful. A fearful commotion arose. Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. said Alphonsus somewhat piqued. In a civil action a serious preponderance of evidence gives one side the case. His sermons were very effective at converting those who had been alienated from their faith. "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. 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. Alphonsus, however, was unflagging in his efforts with the Court. If in some things Alphonsus was an Anglo-Saxon, in others he was a Neapolitan of the Neapolitans, though always a saint. He opposed sterile legalism and strict rigourism. Besides his Moral Theology, the Saint wrote a large number of dogmatic and ascetical works nearly all in the vernacular. 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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. at last came peace, and on 1 August, 1787, as the midday Angelus was ringing, the Saint passed peacefully to his reward. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. He was not afraid of making up his mind. In 1734, however, it was reconquered by Don Carlos, the young Duke of Parma, great-grandson of Louis XIV, and the independent Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was established. 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." Vague rumours of impending treachery had got about and had been made known to him, but he had refused to believe them. Three years later he published the first sketch of his "Moral Theology" in a single quarto volume called "Annotations to Busembaum", a celebrated Jesuit moral theologian. 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. "St. Alphonsus Liguori." Saint Alphonsus Liguori's Story Moral theology, Vatican II said, should be more thoroughly nourished by Scripture, and show the nobility of the Christian vocation of the faithful and their obligation to bring forth fruit in charity for the life of the world. 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. But we must not push resemblances too far. [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]. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the tradition of praying the stations of the cross began to develop. So many times I have sinned, but I repent sincerely because I love you. Dignity and Duties of the Priest, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1889, Free scores by Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki), "St Alphonsus", St. Alphonsus on Catholic Online, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alphonsus_Liguori&oldid=1141126599, Founders of Catholic religious communities, 18th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops, 18th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians, Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference, Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Articles containing Neapolitan-language text, Articles containing Italian-language text, Pages using sidebar with the child parameter, Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference, Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia without Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Bishop, Moral Theologian, Confessor and Doctor of the Church, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 13:49. Office Hours: Mon - Fri: 8am-4pm, Saturday: 9am-12pm . When the Saint began to hear confessions, however, he soon saw the harm done by rigorism, and for the rest of his life he inclined more to the mild school of the Jesuit theologians, whom he calls "the masters of morals". 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. CARDINAL CAPECELATRO has also written a life of the Saint, La Vita di Sant' Alfonso Maria de Liguori (Rome, 2 vols.). 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. In 1719, together with a Father Filangieri, also one of the "Pii Operarii", he had refounded a Conservatorium of religious women at Scala on the mountains behind Amalfi.