St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) founder of the Redemptorists
Alphonsus can be a patron for many different kinds of people.
Because of a resolution he made and lived up to never to waste time,
procrastinators can pray to him.
He often suffered from scruples. His
preaching and his writings caused dissension among the people and there
were difficulties and divisions in his order that weren't sorted out
till after his death. In his later years he suffered badly
from arthritis.
Failure in a high profile legal legal case led to him give up his practice as a lawyer
Alphonsus
was born at Marianella near Naples. His father was a captain in the
navy of the King of Naples and his mother was of Spanish descent. They
ensured that Alphonsus had a good education at home in languages, the
humanities, philosophy and the arts. He loved to play the harpsichord.
By seventeen, he earned a double doctorate in canon and civil law from
the University of Naples and began practising as a lawyer. However, an
oversight and consequent failure in a high profile case on behalf of the
Orsini against the Grand Duke of Tuscany led him to giving up his
legal practice.
Ordained a priest 1726
Alphonsus decided to
become a priest and his father though opposed at first reluctantly
agreed, provided he didn't join the Oratorians. Alphonsus was ordained a
secular priest in 1726 and three years later he became a chaplain in a
college for training missionaries. There he met Thomas Falcoia, who
sent him to investigate a nun who had a vision and who wanted to found a
new congregation - the Redemptoristines. Alphonsus declared the vision
authentic and the order was founded.
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
Two years
later, Falcoia, who by now had become a bishop, asked Alphonsus to start
a congregation of missionaries to work among the people in the rural
districts around Naples. This congregation had some difficulties in
having its rule approved as Alphonsus sought permission from the King of
Naples and not from Church authorities. Eventually in 1749 the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer was approved by Pope Benedict XIV
(Prospero Lambertini 1740-58). But the difficulties and divisions
within the order were not resolved until after Alphonsus had died.
Preaching missions
From almost forty years
Alphonsus preached in the area around Naples and became much sought
after as a confessor and spiritual director. He was both strict and
compassionate. His aim in his preaching, spiritual direction and moral
was to be as gentle, simple, and intelligible as he could. But he could
also use the rhetorical power of persuasion he had developed as a
lawyer. One Sunday with a black stole and a flaming torch he is said to
have delivered a hair-raising sermon on the day of judgment and the
fires of hell.
Built a monastery and a seminary
Alphonsus built a monastery to serve as a retreat centre and a seminary to meet the growing demand for his missionaries.
Theological and devotional writings
In 1745 he published the first of his many theological and devotional works. His Moral Theology counteracted
both rigorism and laxism insisting it was lawful to follow the milder
of two equally probable opinions. His views on the primacy of
conscience led to a renewal of moral theology in the post Vatican II
era.
Bishop of Sant'Agatha dei Goti
In 1762 - he was
already sixty-six years of age - Alphonsus was named as bishop the
diocese of Sant'Agatha dei Goti (between Naples and Capua). Here he
campaigned tirelessly to reform the clergy, get them to observe the rule
of celibacy, celebrate the Mass reverently, and preach in simple
language to the people. During this time he suffered bouts of arthritis,
sciatica and a curvature of his spine.
Retirement
In 1775 when Alphonsus was able to
have his resignation accepted, he went to live at Nocera dei Pagani, his
favourite Redemptorist house. Here he spent most of his time writing.
He lived till he was ninety-one, but during his last months he suffered
periods of dementia and towards the end suffered from dysentery,
gangrene and uremia.
Death and influence
As he lay dying his confreres
brought him a picture of his friend and lay brother in the
Redemptorists St Gerard Majella, but Alphonsus muttered: "Even he cannot
save me now". He died in 1787 and was canonised in 1839. In March 1871,
Pius IX declared him a Doctor of the Church, and in 1950, Pius XII
declared him the official patron of moralists and of confessors.