Saint Alphonsus Liguori:

Feast day : 01 August

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori, a Catholic Bishop, Theologian, lawyer, composer, musician and scholar who lived during the period 1696-1787. He founded the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, popularly called the Redemptorists with the mission “to imitate as closely as possible, with the help of divine grace, the life and virtues of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” He wrote several books for over 30 years of his life, the most popular being ‘Way of the Cross’,‘Visits to the Blessed Sacrament’ and 'The Glories of Mary’. His devotional works have helped millions of people practice the love of God, to imitate Christ, to honor the Blessed Virgin and to have confidence in her. He was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871. He is regarded as the patron saint of confessors, lawyers, arthritis and vocations.

Early life:

Alphonsus was born into the Liguori family in the town of Marianella near Naples in 1696. He had the privilege to a good education and was greatly blessed with good intelligence and oratory skills. His father was determined to make him a lawyer and he did become one. He was hard working and soon became a Doctor of Laws when he was only sixteen though as a rule no one was allowed to become one before they were twenty. He began his practice at the age of 18 and by the time he was 21 he became one of the leading lawyers in Naples. In the year 1723, there was a great law suit between the Grand Duke of Tuscany and a nobleman of Naples. St. Alphonsus who had never lost a case before, lost this one due to a careless mistake and left the court in tears. He swore he would never appear as a lawyer again and for three days he would neither eat anything nor see anyone. Then he realised that perhaps this humiliation had been sent to him by God to break his pride and that God wanted him to serve Him in some way. He prayed a great deal and one day when he was visiting the sick in the Hospital for Incurables, he found himself surrounded by a mysterious light, the house seemed to shake and he heard a voice in his heart saying, “Leave the world, and give yourself to Me.” This happened twice and when he had finished his visit he went straight to a church, laid his sword before a statue of Our Lady of Ransom and promised to become a priest. He was only twenty six at that time and was ordained a priest by the age of thirty.

Vocational life:

After he was ordained, he did missionary work for five years in the Naples as a member of the diocesan Congregation of Apostolic Missions. Later he met Fr. Thomas Falcoia who became his spiritual director and exercised a great influence on him. Based on his directions, he visited the Community of Sisters at Scala, in South of Naples and was asked to conduct an inquiry into the visions and revelations given to one of the nuns Sr. Maria Celeste, a former Carmelite whose convent had been dissolved. He decided that the revelations were indeed coming from God and on August 6, 1731, the Sisters of Scala took the new habit as the Redemptoristines. Based on fresh revelations that God gave Sr. Maria Celeste, he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer popularly known as Redemptorists on November 9, 1732.

The main mission of the Redemptorists according to St. Alphonsus is “to imitate as closely as possible, with the help of divine grace, the life and virtues of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” A distinctive feature of the rule is the practice of a special virtue for each month of the year. The twelve virtues are: “Faith, Hope, Charity, Love of a Neighbour, Poverty, Chastity, Obedience, Humility, Mortification, Recollection, Prayer and Self Denial and Love of the Cross.

He was consecrated as the Bishop of St. Agatha of the Goths in 1762 and renewed the practice of Faith in this difficult diocese. In 1768 he became severely crippled and could not offer Mass for a whole year. As a result of his illness, his neck had become so bent forward that his chin rested on his chest and caused an open wound. St. Alphonsus received Viaticum four times and was anointed twice while serving as Bishop but continued to serve in this role till he was 79.

The first book published by St. Alphonsus was the ‘Visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary at the age of 49. For 30 years from thereon he wrote a number of voluminous books. His ‘Way of the Cross’ and ‘Visits to the Blessed Sacrament’ are his most published works. ‘The Glories of Mary’ was published in 1750 and is probably the most widely read book on the Blessed Virgin in the world. St. Alphonsus felt the love of Mary and put absolute trust in her. “Be devout to the Blessed Virgin and she will save you.” His devotional works have helped millions of people practice the love of God, to imitate Christ, to honor the Blessed Virgin and to have confidence in her. The Catholic Church recognised the wide influence of his writings by declaring him a Doctor of the Church on 7 July 1871 by the Apostolic Letter of Pope Pius IX.

On July 28, 1787 he received Holy Communion for the last time and died on 1st August at the sound of the Angelus Domini at the age of 91. He was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871.