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. In the end the Rule was so altered as to be hardly recognizable, the very vows of religion being abolished. To this altered Rule or "Regolamento", as it came to be called, the unsuspecting Saint was induced to put his signature. [4] Myopia and chronic asthma precluded a military career so his father had him educated in the legal profession. 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". Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. 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 Daily Reading for Sunday, March 5th, 2023, Continue reading about St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori, Almsgiving, Prayer, and Fasting: The Three Pillars of Lent. When we cannot make it to daily Mass, however, we can still make an Act of Spiritual Communion. It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. 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 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. An attack of rheumatic fever, from May 1768 to June 1769, left him paralyzed. He became very popular because of his plain and simple preaching. 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". For three days he refused all food. 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. He had a love for the lower animals, and wild creatures who fled from all else would come to him as to a friend. With Don Carlos, or as he is generally called, Charles III, from his later title as King of Spain, came the lawyer, Bernard Tanucci, who governed Naples as Prime Minister and regent for the next forty-two years. Alphonsus was preaching missions in the rural areas and writing. 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. He was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871. He died peacefully on August 1,1787, at Nocera di Pagani, near Naples as the Angelus was ringing. 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 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. 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. Alphonsus was one of the leading counsel; we do not know on which side. In 1780, a crisis arose in which they did this, yet in such a way as to bring division in the Congregation and extreme suffering and disgrace upon its founder. 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. [4], Liguori learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. 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. In 1762 Pope Clement XIII made him bishop of Sant Agata del Goti near Naples; he resigned in 1775 because of ill health. at last came peace, and on 1 August, 1787, as the midday Angelus was ringing, the Saint passed peacefully to his reward. Omissions? 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 . Don Joseph de' Liguori had his faults. A year of trouble and anxiety followed. "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. 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. 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. 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. Alphonsus's temperament was very ardent. 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. He was declared "Venerable", 4 May, 1796; was beatified in 1816, and canonized in 1839. The rudder is humility, which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the will, docility to right guidance. In liturgical art he is depicted as bent over with rheumatism or as a young priest. He started again, recruited new members, and in 1743 became the prior of two new congregations, one for men and one for women. Updates? 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". The priest was Alphonsus. 1. He refused to become the bishop of Palermo but in 1762 had to accept the papal command to accept the see of St. Agatha of the Goths near Naples. St. Alphonsus Liguori's prayer to Jesus Christ to obtain His holy love comes from the "Rule of Life", a guide for growing in holiness. A justly celebrated life is the Vie et Institut de Saint Alphonse-Marie de Liguori, in four volumes, by CARDINAL VILLECOURT, (Tournai, 1893). 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. 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. It would be a sacrilege to say otherwise." "What document is that?" Alphonsus the Patron. 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. St. Alphonsus Liguori was a bishop and moral theologian living and preaching in Naples in the eighteenth century. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Addeddate He was a born leader of men. He lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. Alphonsus' last illness and Deaths 548 CHAPTER XXXVII. . He spent several years having to drink from tubes because his head was so bent forward. "St. Alphonsus Liguori". 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. 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. Mimoires sur la vie et la congrigation de St. Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1842, 3 vols.). 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. [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. In response, Alphonsus dedicated himself to the religious life, even while suffering persecution from his family. 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. With their aid, Aiphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. Confident that some special sacrifice was required of him, though he did not yet know what, he did not return to his profession, but spent his days in prayer, seeking to know God's will. 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. 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. 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. He knew how to reach ordinary people who had limited education and very real needs. 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. The days were indeed evil. She became known in religion as Sister Maria Celeste. This is a historic Catholic Church in mid-town St. Louis. 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. Liguori was a prolific and popular author. 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. "Alphonsus was of middle height", says his first biographer, Tannoia; "his head was rather large, his hair black, and beard well-grown." Alphonsus was not sent to school but was educated by tutors under his father's eye. Now the saint has a very great momentum indeed, and a spoiled saint is often a great villain. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 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. In the eight years of his career as advocate, years crowded with work, he is said never to have lost a case. "[17][18], Liguori's greatest contribution to the Catholic Church was in the area of moral theology. Under the government of the Marquis della Sambuca, who, though a great regalist, was a personal friend of the Saint's, there was promise of better times, and in August, 1779, Alphonsus's hopes were raised by the publication of a royal decree allowing him to appoint superiors in his Congregation and to have a novitiate and house of studies. 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. 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. He was a lawyer by the time he was 16 years old! 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. said Alphonsus somewhat piqued. "I follow my conscience", he wrote in 1764, "and when reason persuades me I make little account of moralists." Furthermore, St. Alphonsus was a great theologian, and so attached much weight to intrinsic probability. The question as to what does or does not constitute a lie is not an easy one, but it is a subject in itself. (Rome, 1896). In the minutes it was 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. 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. [6], He became a successful lawyer. Although there are many modern . 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. The other was not to be long delayed. He had to endure a real persecution for two months. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). A fearful commotion arose. His intercession healed the sick; he read the secrets of hearts, and foretold the future. His works have gone through several thousand editions and have been translated into more than 60 languages. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. The saints are not inhuman but real men of flesh and blood, however much some hagiographers may ignore the fact. 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. 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. A prolific writer, he published nine editions of his Moral Theology in his lifetime, in addition to other devotional and ascetic works and letters. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! She was told to write it down and show it to the director of the convent, that is to Falcoia himself. He had a pleasant smile, and his conversation was very agreeable, yet he had great dignity of manner. Transcription. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 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 English translation in the Oratory Series is also rather inadequate. Here St. Alphonsus teaches that those who refuse to bow to the will of God only double their afflictions. The Ceremonies of the Interment. Alphonsus was what we call a "gifted" student today. 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 . He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples. [9], In 1729, Liguori left his family home and took up residence at the Chinese Institute in Naples. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online The Vicar General, Monsignor Onorati drew up the minutes of the diocesan trial which lasted two years from 1772 to 1774. 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. 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.