|
Profile
Nobility. A child prodigy, he was extremely well-educated, received his
doctorate in law from the University of Naples at age 16. He had his own
practice by age 21, and was soon one of the leading lawyers in Naples,
though he never attended court without having attended Mass first. He
loved music, could play the harpsichord, and often attended the opera,
though he frequently listened without bothering to watch the over-done
staging. As he matured and learned more and more of the world, he liked it
less and less, and finally felt a call to religious life. He declined an
arranged marriage, studied theology, and was ordained at age 29.
Preacher and home missioner around Naples. Noted for his simple, clear,
direct style of preaching, and his gentle, understanding way in the
confessional. Writer on asceticism, theology, and history; master
theologian. He was often opposed by Church officials for a perceived
laxity toward sinners, and by government officials who opposed anything
religious. Founded the Redemptoristines women's order in Scala in 1730.
Founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Liguorians or
Redemptorists).
Appointed bishop of Saint Agata dei Gotti by Pope Clement XIII in 1762.
Worked to reform the clergy and revitalize the faithful in a diocese with
a bad reputation. He was afflicted with severe rheumatism, he often could
barely move nor raise his chin from his chest. In 1775 he resigned his see
due to his health, and went into what he thought was a prayerful
retirement.
In 1777 the royal government threatened to disband his Redemptorists,
claiming that they were covertly carrying on the work of the Jesuits, who
had been suppressed in 1773. Calling on his knowledge of the Congregation,
his background in theology, and his skills as a lawyer, Alphonsus defended
the Redemptorists so will that they obtained the king's approval. However,
by this point Alphonsus was nearly blind, and was tricked into giving his
approval to a revised Rule for the Congregation, one that suited the king
and the anti-clerical government. When Pope Pius VI saw the changes, he
condemned it, and removed Alphonsus from his position as leader of the
Order. This caused Alphonsus a crisis in confidence and faith that took
years to overcome. However, by his death he came returned to faith and
peace.
Alphonsus vowed early to never to waste a moment of his life, and lived
that way for over 90 years. Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius
IX in 1871.
When he was bishop, one of Alphonsus's priests led a worldly life, and
resisted all attempts to change. He was summoned to Alphonsus, and at the
entrance to the bishop's study he found a large crucifix laid on the
threshold. When the priest hesitated to step in, Alphonsus quietly said,
"Come along, and be sure to trample it underfoot. It would not be the
first time you have placed Our Lord beneath your feet."
Born
1696 at Marianelli near Naples, Italy
Died
1787 at Nocera
Venerated
1796 by Pope Pius VI
Canonized
1839 by Pope Gregory XVI
Name Meaning
noble ready; battle ready
Patronage
confessors, final perseverance, theologians, vocations
Readings
We must show charity towards the sick, who are in greater need of help.
Let us take them some small gift if they are poor, or, at least, let us go
and wait on them and comfort them.
-Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If we should be saved and become saints, we ought always to stand at the
gates of the Divine mercy to beg and pray for, as an alms, all that we
need.
-Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He who does not acquire the love of God will scarcely persevere in the
grace of God, for it is very difficult to renounce sin merely through fear
of chastisement.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When we hear people talk of riches, honors and amusements of the world,
let us remember that all things have an end, and let us then say: "My God,
I wish for You alone and nothing more."
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He who communicates most frequently will be freest from sin, and will make
farthest progress in Divine Love.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I love you, Jesus my love, I love you more than myself. I repent with my
whole heart for having offended you. Never permit me to separate myself
from you again. May I love you always, and then do with me as you will.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our
God, who is our redeemer and our supreme good.
Has not God in fact won for himself a claim on all our love? From all
eternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to us: "O
man, consider carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared
in the light of day, not did the world yet exist, but already I loved you.
From all eternity I have loved you."
Since God knew that man is enticed by favors, he wished to bind him to his
love by means of his gifts: I want to catch men with the snares, those
chains of love in which they allow themselves to be entrapped, so that
they will love me. And all the gifts which he bestowed on man were given
to this end. He gave him a soul, made in his likeness. He endowed him with
memory, intellect and will; he gave him a body equipped with the senses.
It was for him that he created heaven and earth and such an abundance of
things. He made all these things out of love for man, so that all creation
might serve man, and man in turn might love God our of gratitude for so
many gifts.
But he did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that
to win for himself our love, he went so far as to bestow upon us the
fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only
Son. When he saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his
grace, what did he do? He sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us
and to call us back to a sinless life.
from a sermon by Saint Alphonsus Liguori
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What folly it would be for travelers to think only of acquiring dignities
and possessions in the countries through which they had to pass, and then
to reduce themselves to the necessity of living miserably in their native
lands, where they must remain during their whole lives! And are not they
fools who seek after happiness in this world, where they will remain only
a few days, and expose themselves to the risk of being unhappy in the
next, where they must live for eternity?
We do not fix our affections on borrowed goods, because we know that they
must soon be returned to the owner. All earthly goods are lent to us: it
is folly to set our heart on what we must soon quit. Death shall strip us
of all. The acquisitions and fortunes of this world all terminate in a
dying grasp, in a funeral, in a descent into the grave. The house which
you have built for yourself you must soon give up to others.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori, from The Redeeming Love of Christ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God says to each of us: "Give me your heart, that is, your will." We, in
turn, cannot offer anything more precious than to say: "Lord, take
possession of us; we give our whole will to you; make us understand what
it is that you desire of us, and we will perform it."
If we would give full satisfaction to the heart of God, we must bring our
own will in everything into conformity with his; and not only into
conformity, but into uniformity also, as regards all that God ordains.
Conformity signifies the joining of our own will to the will of God; but
uniformity signifies, further, our making of the divine and our own will
one will only, so that we desire nothing but what God desires, and his
will becomes ours. This is the sum and substance of that perfection to
which we ought to be ever aspiring; this is what must be the aim of all we
do, and of all our desires, meditations and prayers. For this we must
invoke the assistance of all our patron saints and our guardian angels,
and, above all, of our divine mother Mary, who was the most perfect saint,
because she embraced most perfectly the divine will.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori, from The Redeeming Love of Christ
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainta09.htm |
