In the year 1747, King Charles of Naples wished to make Alphonsus Archbishop of Palermo, and it was only by the most earnest entreaties that he was able to escape. So the Saint was cut off from his own Order by the Pope who was to declare him "Venerable". All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. Alphonsus Liguori. St. Alphonsus, however, did not in all things follow their teaching, especially on one point much debated in the schools; namely, whether we may in practice follow an opinion which denies a moral obligation, when the opinion which affirms a moral obligation seems to us to be altogether more probable. He finally agreed to become a priest but to live at home as a member of a group of secular missionaries. He said: "I have never preached a sermon which the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand". A pure and modest boyhood passed into a manhood without reproach. St. Alphonsus Liguori. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. The Glories of Mary ( Italian: Le glorie di Maria) is a classic book in the field of Roman Catholic Mariology, written during the 18th century by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church . 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 this state of exclusion he lived for seven years more and in it he died. 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. He lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. St. Alphonsus Liguori was a bishop and moral theologian living and preaching in Naples in the eighteenth century. His promotion to the episcopate in 1762 led to a renewal of his missionary activity, but in a slightly different form. 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. His works have gone through several thousand editions and have been translated into more than 60 languages. He was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871. 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. Alphonsus was one of the leading counsel; we do not know on which side. He who ruled and directed others so wisely, had, where his own soul was concerned, to depend on obedience like a little child. For three days he refused all food. 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. 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. 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. Matters remained thus for some years. 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. . Deposed and excluded from his own congregation, Alphonsus suffered great anguish. Alphonsus was preaching missions in the rural areas and writing. From 1726 to 1752, first as a member of the Neapolitan "Propaganda", and then as a leader of his own Fathers, he traversed the provinces of Naples for the greater part of each year giving missions even in the smallest villages and saving many souls. One of the most widely read Catholic authors, he is the patron saint of confessors. 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. When we cannot make it to daily Mass, however, we can still make an Act of Spiritual Communion. At the age of sixteen, on 21 January, 1713, he took his degree as Doctor of Laws, although twenty was the age fixed by the statutes. Resuming the General Audiences after the summer break the last was held on 27 June in the Vatican the Pope . Dissension within the congregation culminated in 1777 when he was deceived into signing what he thought was a royal sanction for his rule. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, in November 1732. Beatified: September 15, 1816. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. His very confessor and vicar general in the government of his Order, Father Andrew Villani, joined in the conspiracy. 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". According to him, those were paths closed to the Gospel because "such rigour has never been taught nor practised by the Church". In 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or the Redemptorists, at Scala. "St. Alphonsus Liguori". 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. 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. Nine editions of the "Moral Theology" appeared in the Saint's life-time, those of 1748, 1753-1755, 1757, 1760, 1763, 1767, 1773, 1779, and 1785, the "Annotations to Busembaum" counting as the first. 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. 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. The English translation in the Oratory Series is also rather inadequate. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. There are two Sunday services, one at 8:15 and the second at 11. and reportedly performed miracles. 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. 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. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online 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. In the eight years of his career as advocate, years crowded with work, he is said never to have lost a case. Alphonsus had still one final storm to meet, and then the end. [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. Vol. Alphonsus was the oldest of seven children, raised by a devout mother of Spanish descent. Alphonsus left the Hospital and went to the church of the Redemption of Captives. 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. The days were indeed evil. Alphonsus Liguori was not a favorite with the windbags of his day. There were whole years, indeed, in which the Institute seemed on the verge of summary suppression. Alphonsus's father, Don Joseph de' Liguori was a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys. 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. But before he called a witness the opposing counsel said to him in chilling tones: "Your arguments are wasted breath. He died on August 1 at Nocera. This occurred twice. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). About three years before his death he went through a veritable "Night of the Soul". [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". St. Louis, MO 63106 | parish130@archstl.org | Tel: (314) 533-0304. 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. He was beatified in 1816 and canonized in 1839. Other personal friends of Alphonsus were the Jesuit Fathers de Matteis, Zaccaria, and Nonnotte. Alphonsus, assisted by divine grace, did not disappoint his father's care. He had nearly completed his ninety-first year. 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. Description [ edit] The book was written at a time when some were criticizing Marian devotions, and was written in part as a defense of Marian devotion. Not less remarkable than the intensity with which Alphonsus worked is the amount of work he did. 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. 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). He is credited with the position of Aequiprobabilism, which avoided Jansenist rigorism as well as laxism and simple probabilism. In 1949, the Redemptorists founded the Alphonsian Academy for the advanced study of Catholic moral theology. What are Revelations? More than once he faced assassination unmoved. 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. From his earliest years he had an anxious fear about committing sin which passed at times into scruple. "What document is that?" 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 addition, he published many editions of compendiums of his larger work, such as the "Homo Apostolicus", made in 1759. 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. St. Alphonsus tell us: "Modern heretics make a mockery of wearing the Scapular, they decry it as so much trifling nonsense." Yet many of the popes have approved and recommended it. 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. 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. Feast day: August 1. March 1, 1907. Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. 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. Early Christians began the devotion of following the footsteps of Christ's passion. In 1871 he was named a doctor of the church by Pope Pius IX. Preaching, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. This was to be a momentous revolution for Alphonsus. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. (London, 1904). With their aid, Aiphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. Alphonsus, however, was unflagging in his efforts with the Court. The Saint's own letters are of extreme value in supplementing Tannoia. He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples. This is the great question of "Probabilism". Visiting the local Hospital for Incurables on August 28, 1723, he had a vision and was told to consecrate his life solely to God. at last came peace, and on 1 August, 1787, as the midday Angelus was ringing, the Saint passed peacefully to his reward. St. Alphonsus Liguori Opening Prayer My Lord Jesus Christ, you have made this journey to die for me with infinite love. 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. To this altered Rule or "Regolamento", as it came to be called, the unsuspecting Saint was induced to put his signature. The version with Italian lyrics was based on his original song written in Neapolitan, which began Quanno nascette Ninno ("When the child was born"). 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. 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. The boy was bright and quick beyond his years, and made great progress in all kinds of learning. The crisis arose in this way. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. In the minutes it was In the end the Rule was so altered as to be hardly recognizable, the very vows of religion being abolished. Ultimately, however, anything merely human in this had disappeared. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. Although there are many modern . 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. Both last about two hours but are filled with soul-stirring music. [11], Liguori was consecrated Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti in 1762. 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. In 1749, the Rule and Institute of men were approved by Pope Benedict XIV, and in 1750, the Rule and Institute of the nuns. Even if there be some exaggeration in this, for it is not in an advocate's power always to be on the winning side, the tradition shows that he was extraordinarily able and successful. It is not necessary to notice certain non-Catholic attacks on Alphonsus as a patron of lying. 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. Liguori Publications is a nonprofit Catholic publishing company that came into existence through a saint, some students, and a once-famous St. Louis resort. 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. 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. By 1777, the Saint, in addition to four houses in Naples and one in Sicily, had four others at Scifelli, Frosinone, St. Angelo a Cupolo, and Beneventum, in the States of the Church. [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. This submission altered the original rule, and as a result Alphonsus was denied any authority among the Redemptorists. It was approved by the king and forced upon the stupefied Congregation by the whole power of the State. In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. 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. As he did not die till 1808 (his work appeared in 1799) he was a companion of the Saint for over forty years and an eyewitness of much that he relates. Died: August 1, 1787. St. Alphonsus Liguori was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. Transcription. The result of the retreat to the nuns was that the young priest, who before had been prejudiced by reports in Naples against the proposed new Rule, became its firm supporter, and even obtained permission from the Bishop of Scala for the change. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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 liturgical art he is depicted as bent over with rheumatism or as a young priest. Again, we have a friendship of thirty years with the great Venetian publishing house of Remondini, whose letters from the Saint, carefully preserved as became business men, fill a quarto volume. [4], Liguori learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. In a civil action a serious preponderance of evidence gives one side the case. 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. Saint Alphonsus Liguori described in detail this miracle and took the opportunity to reawake the faith and devotion of the people towards the Eucharist. 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". Printable Catholic Saints PDFs They also fought Jansenism, a heresy that preached an excessive moral rigorism: "the penitents should be treated as souls to be saved rather than as criminals to be punished". 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. The early years, following the founding of the new order, were not promising. MLA citation. 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". +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. The Superior of the Propaganda and even Falcoia's friend, Matthew Ripa, opposed the project with all their might. 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. 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 . [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. Alphonsus returned to his little cell at Nocera in July, 1775, to prepare, as he thought, for a speedy and happy death. On 21 December of the same year, at the age of thirty, he was ordained priest. 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. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the Virgins, in Naples. The wine had changed into blood; clotted and separated into 5 different sized clots. Tradues em contexto de "Mary of Liguori" en ingls-portugus da Reverso Context : The Holy Church honors the priest and the priest must honor the Church with the holiness of his life - proposed St. Alphonsus Mary of Liguori on the day of his Ordination - with zeal, with work and with decorum. [12], He was beatified on 15 September 1816 by Pope Pius VII and canonized on 26 May 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI.[13][14]. The family was an old and noble one, though the branch to which the Saint belonged had become somewhat impoverished. St. Alphonsus, after publishing anonymously (in 1749 and 1755) two treatises advocating the right to follow the less probable opinion, in the end decided against that lawfulness, and in case of doubt only allowed freedom from obligation where the opinions for and against the law were equal or nearly equal. Cavalieri, himself a great servant of God. Mimoires sur la vie et la congrigation de St. Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1842, 3 vols.). Liguori was a prolific and popular author. But he was a man of genuine faith and piety and stainless life, and he meant his son to be the same.