St.
Alphonsus Liguori
Bishop, Doctor of
the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation. He was born
Alphonsus Marie Antony John Cosmos Damien
Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples,
Italy.
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. Alphonsus was the oldest of seven children, raised by a devout mother
of Spanish descent. Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received
his doctorate at the age of sixteen. By age nineteen he was practicing law, but
he saw the transitory nature of
the secular world, and after a brief time, retreated from the law courts
and his fame.
Visiting the local Hospital for Incurables on August 28, 1723, he
had a vision and was told to consecrate his life solely
to God. In response, Alphonsus dedicated himself to the religious life, even
while suffering persecution from
his family. He finally agreed to become a priest but
to live at home as a member of a group of secular missionaries. He was ordained
on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples.
In April 1729, Alphonsus went to live at the "Chiflese College,"
founded in Naples by
FatherMatthew Ripa,
the Apostle of
China. There he met Bishop Thomas
Falcoia, founder of the Congregation of Pious Workers. This lifelong friendship
aided Alphonsus, as did his association with a mystic, SisterMary Celeste.
With their aid, Aiphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on
November 9, 1732. The foundation faced
immediate problems, and after just one year, Alphonsus found himself with only
one lay brother, his other companions having left to form their
own religious group. He started again, recruited new members, and in 1743
became the prior of
two new congregations, one for men and one for women.
Pope Benedict XIV gave
his approval for the men's congregation in 1749 and for the women's in 1750. Alphonsus
was preaching missions in the rural areas and writing. 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. Here he discovered more than thirty thousand
uninstructed men and women and four hundred indifferent priests.
For thirteen
years Alphonsus fed the poor, instructed families, reorganized the seminary and
religious houses, taught theology, and wrote. His austerities were rigorous,
and he suffered daily the pain from rheumatism that was beginning to deform his
body.
He spent several years having to drink from tubes because his head was so
bent forward. An attack of rheumatic fever, from May 1768 to June 1769, left
him paralyzed. He was not allowed to resign his see, however, until 1775.
In 1780,
Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval of his
congregation. This submission altered the original rule, and as a result
Alphonsus was denied any authority among the Redemptorists. Deposed and
excluded from his own congregation, Alphonsus suffered great anguish.
But he
overcame his depression, and he experienced visions, performed miracles, and
gave prophecies. He died peacefully on August 1,1787, at Nocera di
Pagani, near Naples as
the Angelus was
ringing.
He wasbeatified in
1816 and canonized in 1839. In 1871, Alphonsus was declared a Doctor of
the Church by Pope Pius IX. 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.
He was buried at the monastery of the Pagani near Naples.
Shrines were built there and at St. Agatha of
the Goths.
He is the patron of confessors, moral theologians, and the lay
apostolate. In liturgical art he is depicted as bent over with rheumatism or as
a young priest.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1284
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