Vatican Radio
REPORT Pope Benedict XVI resumed his weekly appointment with pilgrims this
Wednesday, who packed into Castel Gandolfo’s tiny “Freedom Square” to hear the
Pope’s latest installment in his School of Christian Prayer series. And
with one eye on the liturgical calendar, Pope Benedict dedicated his reflections
to one of the most popular 18th century Saints, Alphonsus of Liguria, founder
of the Redemptorist order who – said the Pope – teaches us to pray to God for
the grace to live wisely and well. Emer McCarthy reports Listen:
Below a Vatican Radio
translation of the Holy Father’s General Audience catechesis
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today marks the liturgical memorial of St. Alphonsus Maria de 'Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), patron of scholars of moral theology and confessors. St. Alphonsus is one of the most popular saints of the eighteenth century, for his simple, straightforward style, and for his teaching on the Sacrament of Reconciliation: in a time of great rigor, the result of the influence of Jansenism, he recommended confessors to administer this Sacrament expressing the joyful embrace of God the Father, who in His infinite mercy never ceases to welcome every repentant son. Today's celebration gives us the opportunity to dwell on the teachings of St. Alphonsus concerning prayer, even now precious and full of spiritual inspiration. The treaty, Prayer: The Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection, which he considered the most useful of his writings, dates back to 1759 . In fact, it describes prayer as "a means necessary to salvation and the graces we need to achieve it" (Introduction). This sentence synthesizes Alphonsian understanding of prayer.
First of all, saying it is a means, reminds of the ends: God created us out of love, to gift us life in abundance; but because of sin this goal, eternal life, has, so to speak, distanced itself as we all know and only the grace of God can render it accessible. To explain this basic truth and make immediately clear the real risk of man’s "becoming lost", St. Alphonsus coined a famous and very simple maxim: " He who prays is certainly saved; he who does not pray is certainly damned." Commenting on this precious phrase, he added: "to save one's soul without prayer is most difficult, and even [as we have seen] impossible…but by praying our salvation is made secure, and very easy” (II, Conclusion). And again: " if we do not pray, we have no excuse, because the grace of prayer is given to every one... if we are not saved, the whole fault will be ours; and we shall have our own failure to answer for, because we did not pray " (ibid.). Saying then that prayer is a necessary, St. Alphonsus wanted us to understand that in every situation of life we need to pray, especially in times of trial and difficulty. We must always knock at the door of the Lord with confidence, knowing that He cares for all His children. For this, we are asked not to be afraid to turn to Him with confidence and to submit to our petitions, in the certainty of receiving what we need.
Dear friends, this is the central question: what is really necessary in our lives? We answer together with St. Alphonsus: "The health and all the grace we need" (ibid.), meaning not only the health of the body, but primarily that of the soul which Jesus gifts to us. More than anything else we need his liberating presence that makes us truly fully human, and thus our existence full of joy. And only through prayer can we accept Him, His grace, which, by illuminating us in every situation, helps us discern the truth, and, by fortifying us, renders our will capable of implementing what we know to be good. We often know what is good, but are incapable of doing it. Through prayer, we can.The disciple of the Lord knows he is always exposed to temptation and in prayer never fails to ask God for help conquer it.
St. Alphonsus gives the example of St. Philip Neri, who "from the first moment when he woke in the morning, said to God:" My God, beware of Philip; otherwise he will betray you'"(III, 3). We too aware of our weakness, must seek the help of God with humility, relying only on the wealth of His mercy. St. Alphonsus says in another passage: " We are so poor that we have nothing; but if we pray we are no longer poor. If we are poor, God is rich "(II, 4). And, in the wake of St. Augustine, he invites all Christians not to be afraid to obtain from God, through prayers, the power we are lacking, that we need to do good, in the certainty that the Lord does not deny His help to those who pray with humility (cf. III, 3). Dear friends, St. Alphonsus reminds us that the relationship with God is essential in life and that only with a daily personal prayer and participation in the sacraments, can the Divine presence that directs, illuminates and makes safe and peaceful our path, even in the midst of difficulties and dangers, grow in us.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today marks the liturgical memorial of St. Alphonsus Maria de 'Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), patron of scholars of moral theology and confessors. St. Alphonsus is one of the most popular saints of the eighteenth century, for his simple, straightforward style, and for his teaching on the Sacrament of Reconciliation: in a time of great rigor, the result of the influence of Jansenism, he recommended confessors to administer this Sacrament expressing the joyful embrace of God the Father, who in His infinite mercy never ceases to welcome every repentant son. Today's celebration gives us the opportunity to dwell on the teachings of St. Alphonsus concerning prayer, even now precious and full of spiritual inspiration. The treaty, Prayer: The Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection, which he considered the most useful of his writings, dates back to 1759 . In fact, it describes prayer as "a means necessary to salvation and the graces we need to achieve it" (Introduction). This sentence synthesizes Alphonsian understanding of prayer.
First of all, saying it is a means, reminds of the ends: God created us out of love, to gift us life in abundance; but because of sin this goal, eternal life, has, so to speak, distanced itself as we all know and only the grace of God can render it accessible. To explain this basic truth and make immediately clear the real risk of man’s "becoming lost", St. Alphonsus coined a famous and very simple maxim: " He who prays is certainly saved; he who does not pray is certainly damned." Commenting on this precious phrase, he added: "to save one's soul without prayer is most difficult, and even [as we have seen] impossible…but by praying our salvation is made secure, and very easy” (II, Conclusion). And again: " if we do not pray, we have no excuse, because the grace of prayer is given to every one... if we are not saved, the whole fault will be ours; and we shall have our own failure to answer for, because we did not pray " (ibid.). Saying then that prayer is a necessary, St. Alphonsus wanted us to understand that in every situation of life we need to pray, especially in times of trial and difficulty. We must always knock at the door of the Lord with confidence, knowing that He cares for all His children. For this, we are asked not to be afraid to turn to Him with confidence and to submit to our petitions, in the certainty of receiving what we need.
Dear friends, this is the central question: what is really necessary in our lives? We answer together with St. Alphonsus: "The health and all the grace we need" (ibid.), meaning not only the health of the body, but primarily that of the soul which Jesus gifts to us. More than anything else we need his liberating presence that makes us truly fully human, and thus our existence full of joy. And only through prayer can we accept Him, His grace, which, by illuminating us in every situation, helps us discern the truth, and, by fortifying us, renders our will capable of implementing what we know to be good. We often know what is good, but are incapable of doing it. Through prayer, we can.The disciple of the Lord knows he is always exposed to temptation and in prayer never fails to ask God for help conquer it.
St. Alphonsus gives the example of St. Philip Neri, who "from the first moment when he woke in the morning, said to God:" My God, beware of Philip; otherwise he will betray you'"(III, 3). We too aware of our weakness, must seek the help of God with humility, relying only on the wealth of His mercy. St. Alphonsus says in another passage: " We are so poor that we have nothing; but if we pray we are no longer poor. If we are poor, God is rich "(II, 4). And, in the wake of St. Augustine, he invites all Christians not to be afraid to obtain from God, through prayers, the power we are lacking, that we need to do good, in the certainty that the Lord does not deny His help to those who pray with humility (cf. III, 3). Dear friends, St. Alphonsus reminds us that the relationship with God is essential in life and that only with a daily personal prayer and participation in the sacraments, can the Divine presence that directs, illuminates and makes safe and peaceful our path, even in the midst of difficulties and dangers, grow in us.
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
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AFRICA : S SUDAN : MARTYR'S DAY CELEBRATED
CISA NEWS REPORT:
JUBA, July 31, 2012 (CISA) -Thousands
gathered at John Garang Mausoleum in the South Sudan capital of Juba to
celebrate the country’s seventh annual Martyrs’ Day. The event is held each year
to remember the sacrifices made by the two million people who died during the
21-year civil war in Sudan before South Sudan declared its independence. This
year, many are calling on the state to help support the widows and orphans left
behind.
Martyrs’ Day began on this day six years ago, one year after Dr John Garang was killed in a helicopter crash. Garang was the founder of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and Movement, (SPLA/M) which is the ruling party in South Sudan. He is regarded as the founding father of the world’s newest country.
Abouch Bany, widow of the late SPLA commander William Nyon Bany, said the financial and emotional burdens of widows after the war are many.
“What we are facing now is not the loss of our husbands but how to raise the kids. It is not easy even if your husband is alive, you are the one to raise the child because men are the providers and we have to look after the kids,” she said.
Pitia Nyabor Nyombe’s father was an SPLA soldier killed during the war. He said that the austerity measures have made it difficult to provide for the nation’s orphans and encouraged others to contribute to the South Sudan War Orphans Association.
“The sole responsibility of this community-based organization is to collect enough data about the war orphans and to lobby for non-governmental organizations to help in providing sponsorship to them,” he said.
Thousands sang traditional songs, danced, and waved small flags as a military parade passed by in downtown Juba.
SHARED FROM CISA NEW S
Martyrs’ Day began on this day six years ago, one year after Dr John Garang was killed in a helicopter crash. Garang was the founder of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and Movement, (SPLA/M) which is the ruling party in South Sudan. He is regarded as the founding father of the world’s newest country.
Abouch Bany, widow of the late SPLA commander William Nyon Bany, said the financial and emotional burdens of widows after the war are many.
“What we are facing now is not the loss of our husbands but how to raise the kids. It is not easy even if your husband is alive, you are the one to raise the child because men are the providers and we have to look after the kids,” she said.
Pitia Nyabor Nyombe’s father was an SPLA soldier killed during the war. He said that the austerity measures have made it difficult to provide for the nation’s orphans and encouraged others to contribute to the South Sudan War Orphans Association.
“The sole responsibility of this community-based organization is to collect enough data about the war orphans and to lobby for non-governmental organizations to help in providing sponsorship to them,” he said.
Thousands sang traditional songs, danced, and waved small flags as a military parade passed by in downtown Juba.
SHARED FROM CISA NEW S
ASIA : VIETNAM : CONCERN OVER ACTIVIST'S IMPRISONMENT
UCAN REPORT:
Shockwaves after Christian activist's mother kills herself
Shockwaves after Christian activist's mother kills herself
Lieng, third from left, was protesting over her
daughter's continued detention
The US Embassy in Hanoi today said it was “deeply
concerned” at the self-immolation of a 63-year-old woman protesting against the
detention of her daughter, a Christian blogger.
An embassy statement said the US was “saddened” to hear of Dang Thi Kim Lieng’s death on Monday after she set herself alight in the southern city of Bac Lieu. The trial of her daughter Ta Phong Tan, along with three other bloggers, is scheduled for August 7 in Ho Chi Minh City.
“We call upon the government of Vietnam to release all three immediately,” the statement said. It also called on Hanoi to create a society where journalists could operate freely and without fear.
Tan, Dieu Cay and Anh Sa Sai Gon, the founding members of the ‘Free Journalists Club’, have been charged under Article 88, “which applies vaguely worded provisions to stifle free and open debate,” the statement added.
Authorities arrested the trio in September and charged them with anti-government activities ahead of a trial that had been scheduled for May and was later postponed.
Lieng’s funeral is due to take place tomorrow.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS
An embassy statement said the US was “saddened” to hear of Dang Thi Kim Lieng’s death on Monday after she set herself alight in the southern city of Bac Lieu. The trial of her daughter Ta Phong Tan, along with three other bloggers, is scheduled for August 7 in Ho Chi Minh City.
“We call upon the government of Vietnam to release all three immediately,” the statement said. It also called on Hanoi to create a society where journalists could operate freely and without fear.
Tan, Dieu Cay and Anh Sa Sai Gon, the founding members of the ‘Free Journalists Club’, have been charged under Article 88, “which applies vaguely worded provisions to stifle free and open debate,” the statement added.
Authorities arrested the trio in September and charged them with anti-government activities ahead of a trial that had been scheduled for May and was later postponed.
Lieng’s funeral is due to take place tomorrow.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS
AMERICA : HAITI : GUNFIRE CONTINUES TO CAUSE DEATHS
Agenzia Fides REPORT- At least 212 people were killed by
gunfire in Haiti between April and June due to the escalation of urban violence
that has hit the Country recently. This is what is reported in a statement sent
to Fides Agency, which cites a report by the Commission "Justice and Peace."
According to the report the killings in recent months is added to the increase
of assaults in streets, violent robberies and rapes, for a total of 307 cases.
The Commission has also reported an increase in lynchings (24 cases compared to
18 in the previous three months) and murders of police officers (11 cases).
The Haitian Catholic Church, always through the Commission for Justice and Peace, has indicated the lack of effective police investigation and the incompetence of the courts as the main obstacles in the fight against impunity in the Country. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 01/08/2012)
The Haitian Catholic Church, always through the Commission for Justice and Peace, has indicated the lack of effective police investigation and the incompetence of the courts as the main obstacles in the fight against impunity in the Country. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 01/08/2012)
AUSTRALIA : FR. AXELROD - DEATH AND BLIND PRIEST
Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese
REPORT
1 Aug 2012
The
only deaf-blind Catholic priest in recorded history, London-based Father Cyril
Axelrod, who arrived in Sydney last week, will mark Ephpheta Sunday this weekend
with a Mass for the city's deaf community at Punchbowl's Chapel of St France de
Sales.
More than 300 are expected to attend the 10.30 am Mass and will later join Fr Cyril for an informal get together and lunch at the Archdiocese of Sydney's Ephpheta Centre.
"Fr Cyril is not only an inspiration to the deaf and hard of hearing, but to everyone who meets him," says Nicole Clark, Hearing Interpreter and Assistant to the Director of the Ephpheta Centre.
Nicole, who is also Chair of the National Committee for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing established by the Australian Catholic Bishop's Conference (ACBC) says the Ephpheta Centre has been working on having Fr Cyril visit Australia for the past year.
"Fr Cyril has a non-stop schedule and works tirelessly for the deaf worldwide. He is in constant demand as a speaker, as well as being a prolific author and renowned for the many associations and schools for the deaf he has established in countries across the world. So when we heard he had agreed to come to Australia we were thrilled," she says and points out that not only is he a wonderful example of the power of faith, he is someone who has never seen his deafness or blindness as a disability or handicap.
"Most people's view of
deaf-blindness is that it is unspeakable, unthinkable, unimaginable," he
frequently tells those he meets and explains that for him this was never the
case. Instead being unable to hear or see offered him a new way of life, a new
direction and became "the best teacher of my life."
Nicole points out that most of Sydney's deaf community have never even met a deaf priest, let alone someone like Fr Cyril who is both deaf and blind.
"For all of us but particularly our younger members having Fr Cyril in Sydney is incredibly exciting and gives them a chance not only to feel empowered and see how anything and everything is possible," she says and adds that Fr Cyril also serves as an ongoing reminder of the broadness of the Church and to be open and welcoming to all people no matter what their race, beliefs, abilities or non-abilities.
The 70-year-old South African born Redemptoris priest was born with Usher's Syndrome. This relatively rare genetic condition is initially characterised by hearing loss and later by a gradual loss of vision. In Fr Cyril's case the impact on his sight occurred over many years. Initially he suffered night blindness then a loss of his peripheral vision and as the retina deteriorated further, finally a loss of sight altogether.
Ordained a
priest in Johannesburg when he was 28, Fr Cyril now lives in London where he is
with the Westminster Diocese working closely with the deaf in Camden town.
Despite celebrating 40 years as a priest two years ago, he continues to travel widely and is fluent in nine languages. Until recently this fluency of language was restricted to the many different sign languages used by the deaf, but advances in technology have changed all that.
These days Fr Cyril uses the latest in Braille communication devices to communicate with the deaf as well as the hearing across the world via the internet, blogs, email and smart phone texts.
He has always strongly believed that disabled people and children are "angels sent from God" to help us learn the valuable lessons of unconditional love, trust, hope,faith and inner peace. And although he is now completely blind, he retains a clear vision for a world of inclusion where the able and disabled live and work together, and learn from each other.
Last weekend he conducted a special retreat for 40 profoundly deaf or hard of hearing members of the Ephpheta Centre at the Chevalier Centre, Kensington.
This weekend on Ephpheta Sunday, 5 August, he will celebrate Mass at St Francis de Sales Church, Punchbowl. In addition Fr Cyril will meet with Deaf Seniors from 10 am until noon today at Burwood. On Friday, 3 August he will meet members of Sydney's Deaf Club at the Parramatta RSL at 7pm and on Thursday, 9 August will join members of the Ephpheta Centre for coffee at the Centre's famous Deaf Cafe. Saturday, 10 August he will be at the Deaf Society and on Sunday 12 August will celebrate Mass for the deaf at Mary Immaculate & St Athanasius Catholic Church, Manly.
In addition next week he will address social justice
students from Strathfield's St Patrick's College and Santa Sabina
College.
After his three week visit to Sydney, Fr Cyril will spend a week and a half in Melbourne followed by a week in Perth. He will then fly to South Africa to continue his work there with deaf adults and children, schools and churches before finally returning to London.
To find out more about Fr Cyril Axelrod's visit log on to www.ephpheta.org.au
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
1 Aug 2012
Fluent in nine languages,
Fr Cyril signs in Chinese sign
language on a visit to the deaf
in Hong Kong
Fr Cyril signs in Chinese sign
language on a visit to the deaf
in Hong Kong
More than 300 are expected to attend the 10.30 am Mass and will later join Fr Cyril for an informal get together and lunch at the Archdiocese of Sydney's Ephpheta Centre.
"Fr Cyril is not only an inspiration to the deaf and hard of hearing, but to everyone who meets him," says Nicole Clark, Hearing Interpreter and Assistant to the Director of the Ephpheta Centre.
Nicole, who is also Chair of the National Committee for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing established by the Australian Catholic Bishop's Conference (ACBC) says the Ephpheta Centre has been working on having Fr Cyril visit Australia for the past year.
"Fr Cyril has a non-stop schedule and works tirelessly for the deaf worldwide. He is in constant demand as a speaker, as well as being a prolific author and renowned for the many associations and schools for the deaf he has established in countries across the world. So when we heard he had agreed to come to Australia we were thrilled," she says and points out that not only is he a wonderful example of the power of faith, he is someone who has never seen his deafness or blindness as a disability or handicap.
Fr Cyril Axelrod will
celebrate Mass
in Sydney
on Ephpheta Sunday
this weekend
celebrate Mass
in Sydney
on Ephpheta Sunday
this weekend
Nicole points out that most of Sydney's deaf community have never even met a deaf priest, let alone someone like Fr Cyril who is both deaf and blind.
"For all of us but particularly our younger members having Fr Cyril in Sydney is incredibly exciting and gives them a chance not only to feel empowered and see how anything and everything is possible," she says and adds that Fr Cyril also serves as an ongoing reminder of the broadness of the Church and to be open and welcoming to all people no matter what their race, beliefs, abilities or non-abilities.
The 70-year-old South African born Redemptoris priest was born with Usher's Syndrome. This relatively rare genetic condition is initially characterised by hearing loss and later by a gradual loss of vision. In Fr Cyril's case the impact on his sight occurred over many years. Initially he suffered night blindness then a loss of his peripheral vision and as the retina deteriorated further, finally a loss of sight altogether.
Father Cyril Axelrod after a meeting
with Pope Benedict XVI is led
across St Peter's Square
with Pope Benedict XVI is led
across St Peter's Square
Despite celebrating 40 years as a priest two years ago, he continues to travel widely and is fluent in nine languages. Until recently this fluency of language was restricted to the many different sign languages used by the deaf, but advances in technology have changed all that.
These days Fr Cyril uses the latest in Braille communication devices to communicate with the deaf as well as the hearing across the world via the internet, blogs, email and smart phone texts.
He has always strongly believed that disabled people and children are "angels sent from God" to help us learn the valuable lessons of unconditional love, trust, hope,faith and inner peace. And although he is now completely blind, he retains a clear vision for a world of inclusion where the able and disabled live and work together, and learn from each other.
Last weekend he conducted a special retreat for 40 profoundly deaf or hard of hearing members of the Ephpheta Centre at the Chevalier Centre, Kensington.
This weekend on Ephpheta Sunday, 5 August, he will celebrate Mass at St Francis de Sales Church, Punchbowl. In addition Fr Cyril will meet with Deaf Seniors from 10 am until noon today at Burwood. On Friday, 3 August he will meet members of Sydney's Deaf Club at the Parramatta RSL at 7pm and on Thursday, 9 August will join members of the Ephpheta Centre for coffee at the Centre's famous Deaf Cafe. Saturday, 10 August he will be at the Deaf Society and on Sunday 12 August will celebrate Mass for the deaf at Mary Immaculate & St Athanasius Catholic Church, Manly.
Fr Cyril's books are as
inpsiring as the man himself
inpsiring as the man himself
After his three week visit to Sydney, Fr Cyril will spend a week and a half in Melbourne followed by a week in Perth. He will then fly to South Africa to continue his work there with deaf adults and children, schools and churches before finally returning to London.
To find out more about Fr Cyril Axelrod's visit log on to www.ephpheta.org.au
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 2012
| Matthew
13: 44 - 46
| |
| 44 | "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. |
| 45 | "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, |
| 46 | who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. |
TODAY'S SAINT: AUG. 1: ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI
St. Alphonsus Liguori
BISHOP, FOUNDER, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Feast: August 1
 Information:
|
|
Born
at Marianella, near Naples, 27 September, 1696; died at Nocera de' Pagani, 1
August, 1787. The eighteenth century was not an age remarkable for depth of
spiritual life, yet it produced three of the greatest missionaries of the
Church, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. Alphonsus
Liguori. Alphonsus Mary Antony John Cosmas Damian Michael Gaspard de' Liguori
was born in his father's country house at Marianella near Naples, on Tuesday, 27
September, 1696. He was baptized two days later in the church of Our Lady of the
Virgins, in Naples. The family was an old and noble one, though the branch to
which the Saint belonged had become somewhat impoverished. Alphonsus's father,
Don Joseph de Liguori was a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys. The
Saint's mother was of Spanish descent, and if, as there can be little doubt,
race is an element in individual character, we may see in Alphonsus's Spanish
blood some explanation of the enormous tenacity of purpose which distinguished
him from his earliest years. "I know his obstinacy", his father said of him as a
young man; "when he once makes up his mind he is inflexible". Not many details
have come down to us of Alphonsus's childhood. He was the eldest of seven
children and the hope of his house. The boy was bright and quick beyond his
years, and made great progress in all kinds of learning. In addition his father
made him practice the harpsichord for three hours a day, and at the age of
thirteen he played with the perfection of a master. Riding and fencing were his
recreations, and an evening game of cards; he tells us that he was debarred from
being a good shot by his bad sight. In early manhood he became very fond of the
opera, but only that he might listen to the music, for when the curtain went up
he took his glasses off, so as not to see the players distinctly. The Neapolitan
stage at this time was in a good state, but the Saint had from his earliest
years an ascetic repugnance to theatres, a repugnance which he never lost. The
childish fault for which he most reproached himself in after-life was resisting
his father too strongly when he was told to take part in a drawing-room play.
Alphonsus was not sent to school but was educated by tutors under his father's
eye. At the age of sixteen, on 21 January, 1713, he took his degree as Doctor of
Laws, although twenty was the age fixed by the statutes. He said himself that he
was so small at the time as to be almost buried in his doctor's gown and that
all the spectators laughed. Soon after this the boy began his studies for the
Bar, and about the age of nineteen practised his profession in the courts. In
the eight years of his career as advocate, years crowded with work, he is said
never to have lost a case. Even if there be some exaggeration in this, for it is
not in an advocate's power always to be on the winning side, the tradition shows
that he was extraordinarily able and successful. In fact, despite his youth, he
seems at the age of twenty-seven to have been one of the leaders of the
Neapolitan Bar.
Alphonsus,
like so many saints, had an excellent father and a saintly mother. Don Joseph
de' Liguori had his faults. He was somewhat worldly and ambitious, at any rate
for his son, and was rough tempered when opposed. But he was a man of genuine
faith and piety and stainless life, and he meant his son to be the same. Even
when taking him into society in order to arrange a good marriage for him, he
wished Alphonsus to put God first, and every year father and son would make a
retreat together in some religious house. Alphonsus, assisted by divine grace,
did not disappoint his father's care. A pure and modest boyhood passed into a
manhood without reproach. A companion, Balthasar Cito, who afterwards became a
distinguished judge, was asked in later years if Alphonsus had ever shown signs
of levity in his youth. He answered emphatically: "Never! It would be a
sacrilege to say otherwise." The Saint's confessor declared that he preserved
his baptismal innocence till death. Still there was a time of danger. There can
be little doubt but that the young Alphonsus with his high spirits and strong
character was ardently attached to his profession, and on the way to be spoilt
by the success and popularity which it brought. About the year 1722, when he was
twenty-six years old, he began to go constantly into society, to neglect prayer
and the practices of piety which had been an integral part of his life, and to
take pleasure in the attention with which he was everywhere received. "Banquets,
entertainments, theatres," he wrote later on—"these are the pleasures of the
world, but pleasures which are filled with the bitterness of gall and sharp
thorns. Believe me who have experienced it, and now weep over it." In all this
there was no serious sin, but there was no high sanctity either, and God, Who
wished His servant to be a saint and a great saint, was now to make him take the
road to Damascus. In 1723 there was a lawsuit in the courts between a Neapolitan
nobleman, whose name has not come down to us, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in
which property valued at 500,000 ducats, that to say, $500,000 or 100,000
pounds, was at stake. Alphonsus was one of the leading counsel; we do not know
on which side. When the day came the future Saint made a brilliant opening
speech and sat down confident of victory. But before he called a witness the
opposing counsel said to him in chilling tones: "Your arguments are wasted
breath. You have overlooked a document which destroys your whole case." "What
document is that?" said Alphonsus somewhat piqued. "Let us have it." A piece of
evidence was handed to him which he had read and re-read many times, but always
in a sense the exact contrary of that which he now saw it to have. The poor
advocate turned pale. He remained thunderstruck for a moment; then said in a
broken voice: "You are right. I have been mistaken. This document gives you the
case." In vain those around him and even the judge on the bench tried to console
him. He was crushed to the earth. He thought his mistake would be ascribed not
to oversight but to deliberate deceit. He felt as if his career was ruined, and
left the court almost beside himself, saying: "World, I know you now. Courts,
you shall never see me more." For three days he refused all food. Then the storm
subsided, and he began to see that his humiliation had been sent him by God to
break down his pride and wean him from the world. Confident that some special
sacrifice was required of him, though he did not yet know what, he did not
return to his profession, but spent his days in prayer, seeking to know God's
will. After a short interval—we do not know exactly how long—the answer came. On
28 August, 1723, the young advocate had gone to perform a favourite act of
charity by visiting the sick in the Hospital for Incurables. Suddenly he found
himself surrounded by a mysterious light; the house seemed to rock, and an
interior voice said: "Leave the world and give thyself to Me." This occurred
twice. Alphonsus left the Hospital and went to the church of the Redemption of
Captives. Here he laid his sword before the statue of Our Lady, and made a
solemn resolution to enter the ecclesiastical state, and furthermore to offer
himself as a novice to the Fathers of the Oratory. He knew that trials were
before him. His father, already displeased at the failure of two plans for his
son's marriage, and exasperated at Alphonsus's present neglect of his
profession, was likely to offer a strenuous opposition to his leaving the world.
So indeed it proved. He had to endure a real persecution for two months. In the
end a compromise was arrived at. Don Joseph agreed to allow his son to become a
priest, provided he would give up his proposal joining the Oratory, and would
continue to live at home. To this Alphonsus by the advice of his director,
Father Thomas Pagano, himself an Oratorian, agreed. Thus was he left free for
his real work, the founding of a new religious congregation. On 23 October of
the same year, 1723, the Saint put on the clerical dress. In September of the
next year he received the tonsure and soon after joined the association of
missionary secular priests called the "Neapolitan Propaganda", membership of
which did not entail residence in common. In December, 1724, he received minor
orders, and the sub-diaconate in September, 1725. On 6 April, 1726, he was
ordained deacon, and soon after preached his first sermon. On 21 December of the
same year, at the age of thirty, he was ordained priest. For six years he
laboured in and around Naples, giving missions for the Propaganda and preaching
to the lazzaroni of the capital. With the aid of two laymen, Peter Barbarese, a
schoolmaster, and Nardone, an old soldier, both of whom he converted from an
evil life, he enrolled thousands of lazzaroni in a sort of confraternity called
the "Association of the Chapels", which exists to this day. Then God called him
to his life work.
In
April 1729, the Apostle of China, Matthew Ripa, founded a missionary college in
Naples, which became known colloquially as the "Chinese College". A few months
later Alphonsus left his father's house and went to live with Ripa, without,
however, becoming a member of his society. In his new abode he met a friend of
his host's, Father Thomas Falcoia, of the Congregation of the "Pii Operarii"
(Pious Workers), and formed with him the great friendship of his life. There was
a considerable difference in age between the two men, for Falcoia, born in 1663,
was now sixty-six, and Alphonsus only thirty-three, but the old priest and the
young had kindred souls. Many years before, in Rome, Falcoia had been shown a
vision of a new religious family of men and women whose particular aim should be
the perfect imitation of the virtues of Our Lord. He had even tried to form a
branch of the Institute by uniting twelve priests in a common life at Tarentum,
but the community soon broke up. In 1719, together with a Father Filangieri,
also one of the "Pii Operarii", he had refounded a Conservatorium of religious
women at Scala on the mountains behind Amalfi. But as he drew up a rule for
them, formed from that of the Visitation nuns, he does not seem to have had any
clear idea of establishing the new institute of his vision. God, however,
intended the new institute to begin with these nuns of Scala. In 1724, soon
after Alphonsus left the world, a postulant, Julia Crostarosa, born in Naples on
31 October, 1696, and hence almost the same age as the Saint, entered the
convent of Scala. She became known in religion as Sister Maria Celeste. In 1725,
while still a novice, she had a series of visions in which she saw a new order
(apparently of nuns only) similar to that revealed to Falcoia many years before.
Even its Rule was made known to her. She was told to write it down and show it
to the director of the convent, that is to Falcoia himself. While affecting to
treat the novice with severity and to take no notice of her visions, the
director was surprised to find that the Rule which she had written down was a
realization of what had been so long in his mind. He submitted the new Rule to a
number of theologians, who approved of it, and said it might be adopted in the
convent of Scala, provided the community would accept it. But when the question
was put to the community, opposition began. Most were in favour of accepting,
but the superior objected and appealed to Filangieri, Falcoia's colleague in
establishing the convent, and now, as General of the "Pii Operarii", his
superior. Filangieri forbade any change of rule and removed Falcoia from all
communication with the convent. Matters remained thus for some years. About
1729, however, Filangieri died, and on 8 October, 1730, Falcoia was consecrated
Bishop of Castellamare. He was now free, subject to the approval of the Bishop
of Scala, to act with regard to the convent as he thought best. It happened that
Alphonsus, ill and overworked, had gone with some companions to Scala in the
early summer of 1730. Unable to be idle, he had preached to the goatherds of the
mountains with such success that Nicolas Guerriero, Bishop of Scala, begged him
to return and give a retreat in his cathedral. Falcoia, hearing of this, begged
his friend to give a retreat to the nuns of his Conservatorium at the same time.
Alphonsus agreed to both requests and set out with his two friends, John Mazzini
and Vincent Mannarini, in September, 1730. The result of the retreat to the nuns
was that the young priest, who before had been prejudiced by reports in Naples
against the proposed new Rule, became its firm supporter, and even obtained
permission from the Bishop of Scala for the change. In 1731, the convent
unanimously adopted the new Rule, together with a habit of red and blue, the
traditional colours of Our Lord's own dress. One branch of the new Institute
seen by Falcoia in vision was thus established. The other was not to be long
delayed. No doubt Thomas Falcoia had for some time hoped that the ardent young
priest, who was so devoted to him, might, under his direction, be the founder of
the new Order he had at heart. a fresh vision of Sister Maria Celeste seemed to
show that such was the will of God. On 3 October, 1731, the eve of the feast of
St. Francis, she saw Our Lord with St. Francis on His right hand and a priest on
His left. A voice said "This is he whom I have chosen to be head of My
Institute, the Prefect General of a new Congregation of men who shall work for
My glory." The priest was Alphonsus. Soon after, Falcoia made known to the
latter his vocation to leave Naples and establish an order of missionaries at
Scala, who should work above all for the neglected goatherds of the mountains. A
year of trouble and anxiety followed. The Superior of the Propaganda and even
Falcoia's friend, Matthew Ripa, opposed the project with all their might. But
Alphonsus's director, Father Pagano; Father Fiorillo, a great Dominican
preacher; Father Manulio, Provincial of the Jesuits; and Vincent Cutica,
Superior of the Vincentians, supported the young priest, and, 9 November, 1732,
the "Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer", or as it was called for seventeen
years, "of the Most Holy Saviour", was begun in a little hospice belonging to
the nuns of Scala. Though St. Alphonsus was founder and de facto head of the
Institute, its general direction in the beginning, as well as the direction of
Alphonsus's conscience, was undertaken by the Bishop of Castellamare and it was
not till the latter's death, 20 April, 1743, that a general chapter was held and
the Saint was formally elected Superior-General. In fact, in the beginning, the
young priest in his humility would not be Superior even of the house, judging
one of his companions, John Baptist Donato, better fitted for the post because
he had already had some experience of community life in another institute.
The
early years, following the founding of the new order, were not promising.
Dissensions arose, the Saint's former friend and chief companion, Vincent
Mannarini, opposing him and Falcoia in everything. On 1 April, 1733, all the
companions of Alphonsus except one lay brother, Vitus Curtius, abandoned him,
and founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, which, confined to the
Kingdom of Naples, was extinguished in 1860 by the Italian Revolution. The
dissensions even spread to the nuns, and Sister Maria Celeste herself left Scala
and founded a convent at Foggia, where she died in the odour of sanctity, 14
September, 1755. She was declared Venerable 11 August, 1901. Alphonsus, however,
stood firm; soon other companions arrived, and though Scala itself was given up
by the Fathers in 1738, by 1746 the new Congregation had four houses at Nocera
de' Pagani, Ciorani, Iliceto (now Deliceto), and Caposele, all in the Kingdom of
Naples. In 1749, the Rule and Institute of men were approved by Pope Benedict
XIV, and in 1750, the Rule and Institute of the nuns. Alphonsus was lawyer,
founder, religious superior, bishop, theologian, and mystic, but he was above
all a missionary, and no true biography of the Saint will neglect to give this
due prominence. From 1726 to 1752, first as a member of the Neapolitan
"Propaganda", and then as a leader of his own Fathers, he traversed the
provinces of Naples for the greater part of each year giving missions even in
the smallest villages and saving many souls. a special feature of his method was
the return of the missionaries, after an interval of some months, to the scene
of their labours to consolidate their work by what was called the "renewal of a
mission." After 1752 Alphonsus gave fewer missions. His infirmities were
increasing, and he was occupied a good deal with his writings. His promotion to
the episcopate in 1762 led to a renewal of his missionary activity, but in a
slightly different form. The Saint had four houses, but during his lifetime it
not only became impossible in the Kingdom of Naples to get any more, but even
the barest toleration for those he had could scarcely be obtained. The cause of
this was "regalism", the omnipotence of kings even in matters spiritual, which
was the system of government in Naples as in all the Bourbon States. The
immediate author of what was practically a lifelong persecution of the Saint was
the Marquis Tanucci, who entered Naples in 1734. Naples had been part of the
dominions of Spain since 1503, but in 1708 when Alphonsus was twelve years old,
it was conquered by Austria during the war of the Spanish Succession. In 1734,
however, it was reconquered by Don Carlos, the young Duke of Parma,
great-grandson of Louis XIV, and the independent Bourbon Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies was established. With Don Carlos, or as he is generally called, Charles
III, from his later title as King of Spain, came the lawyer, Bernard Tanucci,
who governed Naples as Prime Minister and regent for the next forty-two years.
This was to be a momentous revolution for Alphonsus. Had it happened a few years
later, the new Government might have found the Redemptorist Congregation already
authorized, and as Tanucci's anti-clerical policy rather showed itself in
forbidding new Orders than, with the exception of the Society of Jesus, in
suppressing old ones, the Saint might have been free to develop his work in
comparative peace. As it was, he was refused the royal exequatur to the Brief of
Benedict XIV, and State recognition of his Institute as a religious congregation
till the day of his death. There were whole years, indeed, in which the
Institute seemed on the verge of summary suppression. The suffering which this
brought on Alphonsus, with his sensitive and high-strung disposition, was very
great, besides what was worse, the relaxation of discipline and loss of
vocations which it caused in the Order itself. Alphonsus, however, was
unflagging in his efforts with the Court. It may be he was even too anxious, and
on one occasion when he was over-whelmed by a fresh refusal, his friend the
Marquis Brancone, Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs and a man of deep piety,
said to him gently: "It would seem as if you placed all your trust here below";
on which the Saint recovered his peace of mind. A final attempt to gain the
royal approval, which seemed as if at last it had been successful, led to the
crowning sorrow of Alphonsus's life: the division and apparent ruin of his
Congregation and the displeasure of the Holy See. This was in 1780, when
Alphonsus was eighty-three years old. But, before relating the episode of the
"Regolamento", as it is called, we must speak of the period of the Saint's
episcopate which intervened.
In
the year 1747, King Charles of Naples wished to make Alphonsus Archbishop of
Palermo, and it was only by the most earnest entreaties that he was able to
escape. In 1762, there was no escape and he was constrained by formal obedience
to the Pope to accept the Bishopric of St. Agatha of the Goths, a very small
Neapolitan diocese lying a few miles off the road from Naples to Capua. Here
with 30,000 uninstructed people, 400 mostly indifferent and sometimes scandalous
secular clergy, and seventeen more or less relaxed religious houses to look
after, in a field so overgrown with weeds that they seemed the only crop, he
wept and prayed and spent days and nights in unremitting labour for thirteen
years. More than once he faced assassination unmoved. In a riot which took place
during the terrible famine that fell upon Southern Italy in 1764, he saved the
life of the syndic of St. Agatha by offering his own to the mob. He fed the
poor, instructed the ignorant, reorganized his seminary, reformed his convents,
created a new spirit in his clergy, banished scandalous noblemen and women of
evil life with equal impartiality, brought the study of theology and especially
of moral theology into honour, and all the time was begging pope after pope to
let him resign his office because he was doing nothing for his diocese. To all
his administrative work we must add his continual literary labours, his many
hours of daily prayer, his terrible austerities, and a stress of illness which
made his life a martyrdom. Eight times during his long life, without counting
his last sickness, the Saint received the sacraments of the dying, but the worst
of all his illnesses was a terrible attack of rheumatic fever during his
episcopate, an attack which lasted from May, 1768, to June, 1769, and left him
paralyzed to the end of his days. It was this which gave St. Alphonsus the bent
head which we notice in the portraits of him. So bent was it in the beginning,
that the pressure of his chin produced a dangerous wound in the chest. Although
the doctors succeeded in straightening the neck a little, the Saint for the rest
of his life had to drink at meals through a tube. He could never have said Mass
again had not an Augustinian prior shown him how to support himself on a chair
so that with the assistance of an acolyte he could raise the chalice to his
lips. But in spite of his infirmities both Clement XIII (1758-69) and Clement
XIV (1769-74) obliged Alphonsus to remain at his post. In February, 1775,
however, Pius VI was elected Pope, and the following May he permitted the Saint
to resign his see.
Alphonsus
returned to his little cell at Nocera in July, 1775, to prepare, as he thought,
for a speedy and happy death. Twelve years, however, still separated him from
his reward, years for the most part not of peace but of greater afflictions than
any which had yet befallen him. By 1777, the Saint, in addition to four houses
in Naples and one in Sicily, had four others at Scifelli, Frosinone, St. Angelo
a Cupclo, and Beneventum, in the States of the Church. In case things became
hopeless in Naples, he looked to these houses to maintain the Rule and
Institute. In 1780, a crisis arose in which they did this, yet in such a way as
to bring division in the Congregation and extreme suffering and disgrace upon
its founder. The crisis arose in this way. From the year 1759 two former
benefactors of the Congregation, Baron Sarnelli and Francis Maffei, by one of
those changes not uncommon in Naples, had become its bitter enemies, and waged a
vendetta against it in the law courts which lasted for twenty-four years.
Sarnelli was almost openly supported by the all-powerful Tanucci, and the
suppression of the Congregation at last seemed a matter of days, when on 26
October, 1776, Tanucci, who had offended Queen Maria Carolina, suddenly fell
from power. Under the government of the Marquis della Sambuca, who, though a
great regalist, was a personal friend of the Saint's, there was promise of
better times, and in August, 1779, Alphonsus's hopes were raised by the
publication of a royal decree allowing him to appoint superiors in his
Congregation and to have a novitiate and house of studies. The Government
throughout had recognized the good effect of his missions, but it wished the
missionaries to be secular priests and not a religious order. The Decree of
1779, however, seemed a great step in advance. Alphonsus, having got so much,
hoped to get a little more, and through his friend, Mgr. Testa, the Grand
Almoner, even to have his Rule approved. He did not, as in the past, ask for an
exequatur to the Brief of Benedict XIV, for relations at the time were more
strained than ever between the Courts of Rome and Naples; but he hoped the king
might give an independent sanction to his Rule, provided he waived all legal
right to hold property in common, which he was quite prepared to do. It was
all-important to the Fathers to be able to rebut the charge of being an illegal
religious congregation, which was one of the chief allegations in the
ever-adjourned and ever-impending action by Baron Sarnelli. Perhaps in any case
the submission of their Rule to a suspicious and even hostile civil power was a
mistake. At all events, it proved disastrous in the result. Alphonsus being so
old and so inform—he was eighty-five, crippled, deaf, and nearly blind—his one
chance of success was to be faithfully served by friends and subordinates, and
he was betrayed at every turn. His friend the Grand Almoner betrayed him; his
two envoys for negotiating with the Grand Almoner, Fathers Majone and Cimino,
betrayed him, consultors general though they were. His very confessor and vicar
general in the government of his Order, Father Andrew Villani, joined in the
conspiracy. In the end the Rule was so altered as to be hardly recognizable, the
very vows of religion being abolished. To this altered Rule or "Regolamento", as
it came to be called, the unsuspecting Saint was induced to put his signature.
It was approved by the king and forced upon the stupefied Congregation by the
whole power of the State. a fearful commotion arose. Alphonsus himself was not
spared. Vague rumours of impending treachery had got about and had been made
known to him, but he had refused to believe them. "You have founded the
Congregation and you have destroyed it", said one Father to him. The Saint only
wept in silence and tried in vain to devise some means by which his Order might
be saved. His best plan would have been to consult the Holy See, but in this he
had been forestalled. The Fathers in the Papal States, with too precipitate
zeal, in the very beginning denounced the change of Rule to Rome. Pius VI,
already deeply displeased with the Neapolitan Government, took the fathers in
his own dominions under his special protection, forbade all change of rule in
their houses, and even withdrew them from obedience to the Neapolitan superiors,
that is to St. Alphonsus, till an inquiry could be held. A long process followed
in the Court of Rome, and on 22 September, 1780, a provisional Decree, which on
24 August, 1781, was made absolute, recognized the houses in the Papal States as
alone constituting the Redemptorist Congregation. Father Francis de Paula, one
of the chief appellants, was appointed their Superior General, "in place of
those", so the brief ran, "who being higher superiors of the said Congregation
have with their followers adopted a new system essentially different from the
old, and have deserted the Institute in which they were professed, and have
thereby ceased to be members of the Congregation." So the Saint was cut off from
his own Order by the Pope who was to declare him "Venerable". In this state of
exclusion he lived for seven years more and in it he died. It was only after his
death, as he had prophesied, that the Neapolitan Government at last recognized
the original Rule, and that the Redemptorist Congregation was reunited under one
head (1793).
Alphonsus
had still one final storm to meet, and then the end. About three years before
his death he went through a veritable "Night of the Soul". Fearful temptations
against every virtue crowded upon him, together with diabolical apparitions and
illusions, and terrible scruples and impulses to despair which made life a hell.
at last came peace, and on 1 August, 1787, as the midday Angelus was ringing,
the Saint passed peacefully to his reward. He had nearly completed his
ninety-first year. He was declared "Venerable", 4 May, 1796; was beatified in
1816, and canonized in 1839. In 1871, he was declared a Doctor of the Church.
"Alphonsus was of middle height", says his first biographer, Tannoia; "his head
was rather large, his hair black, and beard well-grown." He had a ;pleasant
smile, and his conversation was very agreeable, yet he had great dignity of
manner. He was a born leader of men. His devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and
to Our Lady was extraordinary. He had a tender charity towards all who were in
trouble; he would go to any length to try to save a vocation; he would expose
himself to death to prevent sin. He had a love for the lower animals, and wild
creatures who fled from all else would come to him as to a friend.
Psychologically, Alphonsus may be classed among twice-born souls; that is to
say, there was a definitely marked break or conversion, in his life, in which he
turned, not from serious sin, for that he never committed, but from comparative
worldliness, to thorough self-sacrifice for God. Alphonsus's temperament was
very ardent. He was a man of strong passions, using the term in the philosophic
sense, and tremendous energy, but from childhood his passions were under
control. Yet, to take anger alone, though comparatively early in life he seemed
dead to insult or injury which affected himself, in cases of cruelty, or of
injustice to others, or of dishonour to God, he showed a prophet's indignation
even in old age. Ultimately, however, anything merely human in this had
disappeared. At the worst, it was only the scaffolding by which the temple of
perfection was raised. Indeed, apart from those who become saints by the
altogether special grace of martyrdom, it may be doubted if many men and women
of phlegmatic temperament have been canonized. The differentia of saints is not
faultlessness but driving-power, a driving-power exerted in generous
self-sacrifice and ardent love of God. The impulse to this passionate service of
God comes from Divine grace, but the soul must correspond (which is also a grace
of God), and the soul of strong will and strong passions corresponds best. The
difficulty about strong wills and strong passions is that they are hard to tame,
but when they are tamed they are the raw material of sanctity.
Not
less remarkable than the intensity with which Alphonsus worked is the amount of
work he did. His perseverance was indomitable. He both made and kept a vow not
to lose a single moment of time. He was helped in this by his turn of mind which
was extremely practical. Though a good dogmatic theologian—a fact which has not
been sufficiently recognized—he was not a metaphysician like the great
scholastics. He was a lawyer, not only during his years at the Bar, but
throughout his whole life—a lawyer, who to skilled advocacy and an enormous
knowledge of practical detail added a wide and luminous hold of underlying
principles. It was this which made him the prince of moral theologians, and
gained him, when canonization made it possible, the title of "Doctor of the
Church". This combination of practical common sense with extraordinary energy in
administrative work ought to make Alphonsus, if he were better known,
particularly attractive to the English-speaking nations, especially as he is so
modern a saint. But we must not push resemblances too far. If in some things
Alphonsus was an Anglo-Saxon, in others he was a Neapolitan of the Neapolitans,
though always a saint. He often writes as a Neapolitan to Neapolitans. Were the
vehement things in his letters and writings, especially in the matter of rebuke
or complaint, to appraised as if uttered by an Anglo-Saxon in cold blood, we
might be surprised and even shocked. Neapolitan students, in an animated but
amicable discussion, seem to foreign eyes to be taking part in a violent
quarrel. St. Alphonsus appeared a miracle of calm to Tannoia. Could he have been
what an Anglo-Saxon would consider a miracle of calm, he would have seemed to
his companions absolutely inhuman. The saints are not inhuman but real men of
flesh and blood, however much some hagiographers may ignore the fact. While the
continual intensity of reiterated acts of virtue which we have called
driving—power is what really creates sanctity, there is another indispensable
quality. The extreme difficulty of the lifelong work of fashioning a saint
consists precisely in this, that every act of virtue the saint performs goes to
strengthen his character, that is, his will. On the other hand, ever since the
Fall of Man, the will of man has been his greatest danger. It has a tendency at
every moment to deflect, and if it does deflect from the right path, the greater
the momentum the more terrible the final crash. Now the saint has a very great
momentum indeed, and a spoiled saint is often a great villain. To prevent the
ship going to pieces on the rocks, it has need of a very responsive rudder,
answering to the slightest pressure of Divine guidance. The rudder is humility,
which, in the intellect, is a realization of our own unworthiness, and in the
will, docility to right guidance. But how was Alphonsus to grow in this so
necessary virtue when he was in authority nearly all his life? The answer is
that God kept him humble by interior trials. From his earliest years he had an
anxious fear about committing sin which passed at times into scruple. He who
ruled and directed others so wisely, had, where his own soul was concerned, to
depend on obedience like a little child. To supplement this, God allowed him in
the last years of his life to fall into disgrace with the pope, and to find
himself deprived of all external authority, trembling at times even for his
eternal salvation. St. Alphonsus does not offer as much directly to the student
of mystical theology as do some contemplative saints who have led more retired
lives. Unfortunately, he was not obliged by his confessor, in virtue of holy
obedience, as St. Teresa was, to write down his states of prayer; so we do not
know precisely what they were. The prayer he recommended to his Congregation, of
which we have beautiful examples in his ascetical works, is affective; the use
of short aspirations, petitions, and acts of love, rather than discursive
meditation with long reflection. His own prayer was perhaps for the most part
what some call "active", others "ordinary", contemplation. Of extraordinary
passive states, such as rapture, there are not many instances recorded in his
life, though there are some. At three different times in his missions, while
preaching, a ray of light from a picture of Our Lady darted towards him, and he
fell into an ecstasy before the people. In old age he was more than once raised
in the air when speaking of God. His intercession healed the sick; he read the
secrets of hearts, and foretold the future. He fell into a clairvoyant trance at
Arienzo on 21 September, 1774, and was present in spirit at the death-bed in
Rome of Pope Clement XIV.
It
was comparatively late in life that Alphonsus became a writer. If we except a
few poems published in 1733 (the Saint was born in 1696), his first work, a tiny
volume called "Visits to the Blessed Sacrament", only appeared in 1744 or 1745,
when he was nearly fifty years old. Three years later he published the first
sketch of his "Moral Theology" in a single quarto volume called "Annotations to
Busembaum", a celebrated Jesuit moral theologian. He spent the next few years in
recasting this work, and in 1753 appeared the first volume of the "Theologia
Moralis", the second volume, dedicated to Benedict XIV, following in 1755. Nine
editions of the "Moral Theology" appeared in the Saint's life-time, those of
1748, 1753-1755, 1757, 1760, 1763, 1767, 1773, 1779, and 1785, the "Annotations
to Busembaum" counting as the first. In the second edition the work received the
definite form it has since retained, though in later issues the Saint retracted
a number of opinions, corrected minor ones, and worked at the statement of his
theory of Equiprobabilism till at last he considered it complete. In addition,
he published many editions of compendiums of his larger work, such as the "Homo
Apostolicus", made in 1759. The "Moral Theology", after a historical
introduction by the Saint's friend, P. Zaccaria, S.J., which was omitted,
however, from the eighth and ninth editions, begins with a treatise "De
Conscientia", followed by one "De Legibus". These form the first book of the
work, while the second contains the treatises on Faith, Hope, and Charity. The
third book deals with the Ten Commandments, the fourth with the monastic and
clerical states, and the duties of judges, advocates, doctors, merchants, and
others. The fifth book has two treatises "De Actibus Humanis" and "De Peccatis";
the sixth is on the sacraments, the seventh and last on the censures of the
Church.
St.
Alphonsus as a moral theologian occupies the golden mean between the schools
tending either to laxity or to rigour which divided the theological world of his
time. When he was preparing for the priesthood in Naples, his masters were of
the rigid school, for though the center of Jansenistic disturbance was in
northern Europe, no shore was so remote as not to feel the ripple of its waves.
When the Saint began to hear confessions, however, he soon saw the harm done by
rigorism, and for the rest of his life he inclined more to the mild school of
the Jesuit theologians, whom he calls "the masters of morals". St. Alphonsus,
however, did not in all things follow their teaching, especially on one point
much debated in the schools; namely, whether we may in practice follow an
opinion which denies a moral obligation, when the opinion which affirms a moral
obligation seems to us to be altogether more probable. This is the great
question of "Probabilism". St. Alphonsus, after publishing anonymously (in 1749
and 1755) two treatises advocating the right to follow the less probably
opinion, in the end decided against that lawfulness, and in case of doubt only
allowed freedom from obligation where the opinions for and against the law were
equal or nearly equal. He called his system Equiprobabilism. It is true that
theologians even of the broadest school are agreed that, when an opinion in
favour of the law is so much more probable as to amount practically to moral
certainty, the less probable opinion cannot be followed, and some have supposed
that St. Alphonsus meant no more than this by his terminology. according to this
view he chose a different formula from the Jesuit writers, partly because he
thought his own terms more exact, and, partly to save his teaching and his
congregation as far as possible from the State persecution which after 1764 had
already fallen so heavily on the Society of Jesus, and in 1773 was formally to
suppress it. It is a matter for friendly controversy, but it seems there was a
real difference, though not as great in practice as is supposed, between the
Saint's later teaching and that current in the Society. Alphonsus was a lawyer,
and as a lawyer he attached much importance to the weight of evidence. In a civl
action a serious preponderance of evidence gives one side the case. If civil
courts could not decide against a defendant on greater probability, but had to
wait, as a criminal court must wait, for moral certainty, many actions would
never be decided at all. St. Alphonsus likened the conflict between law and
liberty to a civil action in which the law has the onus pro-bandi, although
greater probabilities give it a verdict. Pure probabilism likens it to a
criminal trial, in which the jury must find in favour of liberty (the prisoner
at the bar) if any single reasonable doubt whatever remain in its favour.
Furthermore, St. Alphonsus was a great theologian, and so attached much weight
to intrinsic probability. He was not afraid of making up his mind. "I follow my
conscience", he wrote in 1764, "and when reason persuades me I make little
account of moralists." To follow an opinion in favour of liberty without
weighing it, merely because it is held by someone else would have seemed to
Alphonsus an abdication of the judicial office with which as a confessor he was
invested. Still it must in fairness be admitted that all priests are not great
theologians able to estimate intrinsic probability at its true worth, and the
Church herself might be held to have conceded something to pure probabilism by
the unprecedented honours she paid to the Saint in her Decree of 22 July, 1831,
which allows confessors to follow any of st. Alphonsus's own opinions without
weighing the reasons on which they were based.
Besides
his Moral Theology, the Saint wrote a large number of dogmatic and ascetical
works nearly all in the vernacular. The "Glories of Mary", "The Selva", The True
Spouse of Christ", "The Great Means of Prayer", "The Way of Salvation", "Opera
Dogmatica, or History of the Council of Trent", and "Sermons for all the Sundays
in the Year", are the best known. He was also a poet and musician. His hymns are
justly celebrated in Italy. Quite recently, a duet composed by him, between the
Soul and God, was found in the British Museum bearing the date 1760 and
containing a correction in his own handwriting. Finally, St. Alphonsus was a
wonderful letter-writer, and the mere salvage of his correspondence amounts to
1,451 letters, filling three large volumes. It is not necessary to notice
certain non-Catholic attacks on Alphonsus as a patron of lying. St. Alphonsus
was so scrupulous about truth that when, in 1776, the regalist, Mgr. Filingeri,
was made Archbishop of Naples, the Saint would not write to congratulate the new
primate, even at the risk of making another powerful enemy for his persecuted
Congregation, because he thought he could not honestly say he "was glad to hear
of the appointment." It will be remembered that even as a young man his chief
distress at his breakdown in court was the fear that his mistake might be
ascribed to deceit. The question as to what does or does not constitute a lie is
not an easy one, but it is a subject in itself. Alphonsus said nothing in his
"Moral Theology" which is not the common teaching of Catholic
theologians
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SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/A/stalphonsusliguori.asp#ixzz1TnaqzeSZ
