Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. 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. When he was preparing for the priesthood in Naples, his masters were of the rigid school, for though the center of Jansenistic disturbance was in northern Europe, no shore was so remote as not to feel the ripple of its waves. Alphonsus Liguori, Saint, b. at Marianella, near Naples, September 27, 1696; d. at Nocera de' Pagani, . He was the eldest of seven children of Giuseppe Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and Anna Maria Caterina Cavalieri. The Holy Mass, Eugene Grimm ed., Benziger Brothers, New York, 1887, Liguori, Alphonsus. Let's start with the saint. Saint Alphonsus Liguori; Revelation Delivered Through Frances Marie Klug 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. Liguori was a prolific and popular author. 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". The Fathers in the Papal States, with too precipitate zeal, in the very beginning denounced the change of Rule to Rome. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Alphonsus agreed to both requests and set out with his two friends, John Mazzini and Vincent Mannarini, in September, 1730. The English translation of the work is projected to be around 5 volumes. In 1731, while he was ministering to earthquake victims in the town of Foggia, Alphonsus said he had a vision of the Virgin Mother in the appearance of a young girl of 13 or 14, wearing a white veil. He called his system Equiprobabilism. [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. The impulse to this passionate service of God comes from Divine grace, but the soul must correspond (which is also a grace of God), and the soul of strong will and strong passions corresponds best. Alphonsus's temperament was very ardent. I will love you all my life. He was a born leader of men. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. Alphonsus Liguori was not a favorite with the windbags of his day. 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. 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. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. But he was a man of genuine faith and piety and stainless life, and he meant his son to be the same. To this Alphonsus by the advice of his director, Father Thomas Pagano, himself an Oratorian, agreed. The difficulty about strong wills and strong passions is that they are hard to tame, but when they are tamed they are the raw material of sanctity. Alphonsus Liguori. Testa, the Grand Almoner, even to have his Rule approved. But before he called a witness the opposing counsel said to him in chilling tones: "Your arguments are wasted breath. Clarence F. Galli. The crisis arose in this way. 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. St. Alphonsus was a brilliant, articulate, pragmatic preacher. Alphonsus' last illness and Deaths 548 CHAPTER XXXVII. (1913). 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. 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. 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. His works have gone through several thousand editions and have been translated into more than 60 languages. 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. [12], He was beatified on 15 September 1816 by Pope Pius VII and canonized on 26 May 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI.[13][14]. But we must not push resemblances too far. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. R. You have overlooked a document which destroys your whole case." 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. Alphonsus himself was not spared. 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. 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. The boy was bright and quick beyond his years, and made great progress in all kinds of learning. 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. 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. 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. More than once he faced assassination unmoved. Since its publication, it has remained in Latin, often in 10 volumes or in the combined 4-volume version of Gaud. 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. 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 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. He was born Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. So the Saint was cut off from his own Order by the Pope who was to declare him "Venerable". CARDINAL CAPECELATRO has also written a life of the Saint, La Vita di Sant' Alfonso Maria de Liguori (Rome, 2 vols.). 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". In the eight years of his career as advocate, years crowded with work, he is said never to have lost a case. He lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. 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. [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. He had a love for the lower animals, and wild creatures who fled from all else would come to him as to a friend. 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. Saint Alphonsus Liguori. So many times I have sinned, but I repent sincerely because I love you. (Rome, 1905). 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. "[17][18], Liguori's greatest contribution to the Catholic Church was in the area of moral theology. His promotion to the episcopate in 1762 led to a renewal of his missionary activity, but in a slightly different form. Thank you. 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. He answered emphatically: "Never! He was more concerned with the spiritual conflict which was going on at the same time. His system of moral theology is noted for its prudence, avoiding both laxism and excessive rigour. Then God called him to his life work. 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. 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. The answer is that God kept him humble by interior trials. 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. Bishop, Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation. St. Alphonsus Liguori was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. The family was an old and noble one, though the branch to which the Saint belonged had become somewhat impoverished. St. Alphonsus Liguori Born at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1 August, 1787. So bent was it in the beginning, that the pressure of his chin produced a dangerous wound in the chest. One branch of the new Institute seen by Falcoia in vision was thus established. An interesting series of portraits might be painted of those who play a part in the Saint's history: Charles III and his minister Tanucci; Charle's son Ferdinand, and Ferdinand's strange and unhappy Queen, Maria Carolina, daughter of Maria Teresa and sister of Marie Antoinette. St. Alphonsus Liguori was a bishop and moral theologian living and preaching in Naples in the eighteenth century. [5], A gifted musician and composer, he wrote many popular hymns and taught them to the people in parish missions. ), was published by P. KUNTZ, C.SS.R., director of the Roman archives of his Congregation. "You have founded the Congregation and you have destroyed it", said one Father to him. This was to be a momentous revolution for Alphonsus. It happened that Alphonsus, ill and overworked, had gone with some companions to Scala in the early summer of 1730. 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. The eighteenth century was one series of great wars; that of the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian Succession; the Seven Years' War, and the War of American Independence, ending with the still more gigantic struggles in Europe, which arose out of the events of 1789. To prevent the ship going to pieces on the rocks, it has need of a very responsive rudder, answering to the slightest pressure of Divine guidance. With their aid, Aiphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. 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. He was now free, subject to the approval of the Bishop of Scala, to act with regard to the convent as he thought best. 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". The immediate author of what was practically a lifelong persecution of the Saint was the Marquis Tanucci, who entered Naples in 1734. The Government throughout had recognized the good effect of his missions, but it wished the missionaries to be secular priests and not a religious order. He who ruled and directed others so wisely, had, where his own soul was concerned, to depend on obedience like a little child. 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 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. Stay up to date with the latest news, information, and special offers. He was a lawyer by the time he was 16 years old! [2][3], He was born in Marianella, near Naples, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, on 27 September 1696. 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. At his General Audience, 30 March 2011, in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father presented Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. 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. But when the question was put to the community, opposition began. His hymns are justly celebrated in Italy. Moral Theology (also known as the Theologia Moralis) is a nine-volume work concerning Catholic moral theology written between 1748 and 1785 by Alphonsus Liguori, a Catholic theologian and Doctor of the Church.This work is not to be confused with Theologia moralis universa ad mentem S. Alphonsi, a 19th-century treatise by Pietro Scavini written in the philosophical tradition of Alphonsus Liguori. 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 version with Italian lyrics was based on his original song written in Neapolitan, which began Quanno nascette Ninno ("When the child was born"). 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. Visiting the local Hospital for Incurables on August 28, 1723, he had a vision and was told to consecrate his life solely to God. He was a man of strong passions, using the term in the philosophic sense, and tremendous energy, but from childhood his passions were under control. This involves expressing our faith in Christ and in His Presence in the Eucharist, and asking Him to unite Himself with us. 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 . 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. Most were in favour of accepting, but the superior objected and appealed to Filangieri, Falcoia's colleague in establishing the convent, and now, as General of the "Pii Operarii", his superior. 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. In April 1729, the Apostle of China, Matthew Ripa, founded a missionary college in Naples, which became known colloquially as the "Chinese College". Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. At the time of his death, there were 72, with over 10,000 active participants. 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." by S. HORNER (Edinburgh, 1858); VON REUMONT, Die Carafa von Maddaloni (Berlin, 1851, 2 vols. He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples. On the other hand, ever since the Fall of Man, the will of man has been his greatest danger. It is the following of Jesus as a community of disciples, aware that we are sent to be a clear . Mimoires sur la vie et la congrigation de St. Alphonse de Liguori (Paris, 1842, 3 vols.). Canonized: May 26, 1839. Corrections? 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. 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 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. "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. So indeed it proved. 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. [10] He tried to refuse the appointment by using his age and infirmities as arguments against his consecration. Resuming the General Audiences after the summer break the last was held on 27 June in the Vatican the Pope . At the worst, it was only the scaffolding by which the temple of perfection was raised.