Saint Alphonsus Mary de Liguori, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor
S. Alphonsi Mariae de Ligorio Episcopi Confessoris et Ecclesiae Doctoris
Saint Alphonsus Mary de Liguori, bishop and founder of the Redemptorists, was a tireless preacher of mercy and the foremost teacher of moral theology, honoured as a Doctor of the Church.
Saint Alphonsus Mary de Liguori was born in 1696 near Naples, in Italy, of a noble family. A youth of brilliant gifts, he received the doctorate in law while still very young and practised at the bar with distinction. But a stinging reverse in the courts, and the call of grace, turned his heart from the world; he laid aside his legal career, and against his father’s wishes gave himself to God, being ordained a priest.
Preacher and founder
As a priest Saint Alphonsus devoted himself above all to the poor and the abandoned, to those in the countryside and the back-streets who were seldom reached by the preaching of the Gospel. To carry the word of God and the mercy of Christ to such souls he founded, in 1732, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, whose members — the Redemptorists — were to preach missions among the most neglected. He himself preached tirelessly, in a manner plain and warm, that the simplest might understand, and he laboured to draw sinners to repentance through the tender mercy of God.
Alphonsus was also a writer of extraordinary fruitfulness. His many works on the spiritual life and on prayer, among them The Glories of Mary and his writings on the Passion and the Blessed Sacrament, nourished the devotion of the faithful; and his treatises on moral theology became a sure guide for confessors, steering souls between harshness and laxity. For this great body of teaching he is honoured as a Doctor of the Church, and has been named the patron of confessors and moral theologians.
Bishop and his holy death
Much against his own desire, Saint Alphonsus was made Bishop of the small see of Sant’Agata dei Goti, which he governed with zeal and charity, reforming his clergy and caring for his people, until ill health obliged him to resign and return to his congregation. His last years were marked by grievous sufferings of body and soul, borne with patience, and he died on the first of August, 1787, in his ninety-first year.
The collect of his feast prays that, as the Lord continually multiplied his Church by new offspring through Saint Alphonsus, so by his example and prayers we may attain the joys of heaven. In him the Church honours a doctor of mercy, a friend of the poor, and a faithful guide of souls. His feast is kept on the second of August.
The Collect
O God, who through blessed Alphonsus Mary, thy confessor and bishop, inflamed with zeal for souls, didst enrich thy Church with a new offspring: we beseech thee that, taught by his saving counsels and strengthened by his example, we may be able happily to come unto thee.
Deus, qui per beátum Alphónsum Maríam Confessórem tuum atque Pontíficem, animárum zelo succénsum, nova in Ecclésia tua prole foecundásti: quæsumus; ut, salutáribus eius monítis edócti et exémplis roboráti, ad te perveníre felíciter valeámus.
Patronage
He is venerated as the founder of the Redemptorists and is honoured as a patron of confessors and of moral theologians.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on 1 August, the day of his death.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori?
In the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal his feast is kept on 2 August as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on 1 August, the anniversary of his death.
Who was Saint Alphonsus Liguori?
He was an eighteenth-century Italian lawyer who became a priest and bishop, founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists), and wrote widely on the spiritual and moral life. He died in 1787 and is honoured as a Doctor of the Church.
Why is he important for moral theology?
His treatises on moral theology gave confessors a balanced and merciful guide, avoiding both harshness and laxity, and won him recognition as a Doctor of the Church and patron of confessors and moral theologians. His devotional works, such as The Glories of Mary, also nourished the prayer of the faithful.
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