Whenthey had withdrawn into another room, the appearance of the youth changed, and Heshowed Himself crowned with thorns, His flesh torn, and said to her: Prayers in Times of Sickness Disease & Danger, True Devotion to Mary (St. Louis de Montfort), The Glories of Mary (St. Alphonsus Liguori), A young nobleman was reading one day, while at sea, an obscene book, in which he. St. Alphonsus was so scrupulous about truth that when, in 1776, the regalist, Mgr. 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. Furthermore, St. Alphonsus was a great theologian, and so attached much weight to intrinsic probability. Let's start with the saint. 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 congregation dedicated primarily to parish and foreign missions. 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. A prolific writer, he published nine editions of his Moral Theology in his lifetime, in addition to other devotional and ascetic works and letters. "[17][18], Liguori's greatest contribution to the Catholic Church was in the area of moral theology. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 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. 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. 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. His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady was extraordinary. Two days after he was born, he was baptized at the Church of Our Lady the Virgin as Alphonsus Mary Anthony John Cosmas Damian Michael Gaspard de' Liguori. Saint Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, C.Ss.R. Pius VI, already deeply displeased with the Neapolitan Government, took the fathers in his own dominions under his special protection, forbade all change of rule in their houses, and even withdrew them from obedience to the Neapolitan superiors, that is to St. Alphonsus, till an inquiry could be held. [6], He became a successful lawyer. He died peacefully on August 1,1787, at Nocera di Pagani, near Naples as the Angelus was ringing. In fact, in the beginning, the young priest in his humility would not be Superior even of the house, judging one of his companions, John Baptist Donato, better fitted for the post because he had already had some experience of community life in another institute. Alphonsus, assisted by divine grace, did not disappoint his father's care. Born: September 27, 1696. APA citation. MLA citation. Ultimately, however, anything merely human in this had disappeared. In 1780, Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval of his congregation. Home | St. Alphonsus Rock For six years he laboured in and around Naples, giving missions for the Propaganda and preaching to the lazzaroni of the capital. The boy was bright and quick beyond his years, and made great progress in all kinds of learning. Liguori wrote 111 works on spirituality and theology. The saints are not inhuman but real men of flesh and . Tannoia was born about 1724 and entered the Redemptorist Congregation in 1746. In liturgical art he is depicted as bent over with rheumatism or as a young priest. The Saint's own letters are of extreme value in supplementing Tannoia. St. Alphonsus Liguori: Doctor of The Church - Catholic Tradition 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. [4], Liguori learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. In September of the next year he received the tonsure and soon after joined the association of missionary secular priests called the "Neapolitan Propaganda", membership of which did not entail residence in common. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. According to him, those were paths closed to the Gospel because "such rigour has never been taught nor practised by the Church". Saint Alphonsus Liguori | Biography, Contributions, & Facts [10] He tried to refuse the appointment by using his age and infirmities as arguments against his consecration. R. He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples. He died on August 1 at Nocera. "Let us have it." He was taught by tutors before entering the University of Naples, where he graduated with doctorates in civil and canon law at 16. 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. The Glories of Mary - Wikipedia 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. Soon after this the boy began his studies for the Bar, and about the age of nineteen practised his profession in the courts. He finally agreed to become a priest but to live at home as a member of a group of secular missionaries. The Miracle of Saint Joseph 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. He had to endure a real persecution for two months. At his General Audience, 30 March 2011, in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father presented Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. A piece of evidence was handed to him which he had read and re-read many times, but always in a sense the exact contrary of that which he now saw it to have. Holy Name of Jesus & St. Alphonsus Liguori | The Eucharistic Miracle at [9], In 1729, Liguori left his family home and took up residence at the Chinese Institute in Naples. In response, Alphonsus dedicated himself to the religious life, even while suffering persecution from his family. a special feature of his method was the return of the missionaries, after an interval of some months, to the scene of their labours to consolidate their work by what was called the "renewal of a mission.". 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. The rudder is humility, which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the will, docility to right guidance. He was more concerned with the spiritual conflict which was going on at the same time. Other personal friends of Alphonsus were the Jesuit Fathers de Matteis, Zaccaria, and Nonnotte. He was crushed to the earth. Traditional Stations of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori He is said never to have refused absolution to a penitent. Saint Alphonsus Liguori. 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. He is the patron of confessors, moral theologians, and the lay apostolate. [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". Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. She was told to write it down and show it to the director of the convent, that is to Falcoia himself. One of the most widely read Catholic authors, he is the patron saint of confessors. 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. 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". 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. Since its publication, it has remained in Latin, often in 10 volumes or in the combined 4-volume version of Gaud. 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). Printable Catholic Saints PDFs In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He remained thunderstruck for a moment; then said in a broken voice: "You are right. His sermons were very effective at converting those who had been alienated from their faith. He had nearly completed his ninety-first year. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. 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. [7] At 27, after having lost an important case, the first he had lost in eight years of practising law, he made a firm resolution to leave the profession of law. It was comparatively late in life that Alphonsus became a writer. There were whole years, indeed, in which the Institute seemed on the verge of summary suppression. For three days he refused all food. St. Alphonsus Liguori - Blessed Are They - U.S. Catholic Don Joseph de' Liguori had his faults. Died: August 1, 1787. He who ruled and directed others so wisely, had, where his own soul was concerned, to depend on obedience like a little child. He thought his mistake would be ascribed not to oversight but to deliberate deceit. [5], A gifted musician and composer, he wrote many popular hymns and taught them to the people in parish missions. Many years before, in Rome, Falcoia had been shown a vision of a new religious family of men and women whose particular aim should be the perfect imitation of the virtues of Our Lord. Preaching, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. Except in '45, in all of these, down to the first shot fired at Lexington, the English-speaking world was on one side and the Bourbon States, including Naples, on the other. His very confessor and vicar general in the government of his Order, Father Andrew Villani, joined in the conspiracy. 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. 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.