St. Alphonsus Liguori

Founder of the Redemptorists, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus was born in Marianella near Naples on 27th September 1696 to Don Giuseppe Liguori, an officer the Neapolitan naval forces, and his wife, Donna Anna Cavalieri. Alphonsus studied in the university of Naples from 1708 until he graduated as doctor of civil law on 21st January 1713 Until 1723 he practiced with outstanding success at the Neapolitan bar; but he abandoned his legal career owing to a grievous disappointment over a case in which he had been engaged. In his own home he began the study of theology under the guidance of Don Giulio Torni. He became a member of the Congregation of the Apostolic Missions, popularly known as the Propaganda, an institute of secular priests, and was active in their missions from 1724. He was ordained priest on 21st December 1726. From 1729 he resided in the College of The Holy Family, Called the Chinese College, still under the direction of its founder, Father Matteo Ripa.

At the earnest request of his spiritual director, Father Tommaso Falcoia of the Pii Operarii, Bishop of Castellammare di Stabia since 1730, Alphonsus helped and encouraged Sister Maria Celeste Crostarosa and the other nuns of Scala, who were considering a new religious rule. His balanced judgment and prudent direction contributed substantially to the inauguration in 1731 of the Order of the Most Holy Savior, later called of the Most Holy Redeemer, an institute of contemplatives devoted to the perfect following of Christ the Redeemer.

On 9th November 1732 with five companions and under Falcoia as Director, he established, also at Scala the Congregation of the Most Holy Savior. With Pontifical approbation in 1749 the title was changed to Most Holy Redeemer The new institute, devoted to the care of the most neglected, pursued its objectives by means of missions and catechetical instructions. In spite of his reluctance Alphonsus was made Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. On 20th June 1762 he was consecrated by Cardinal Rossi, Prefect of the Congregation of the Council, in the church of the Minerva, Rome. From 1768 a disabling illness made pastoral work extremely difficult, but it was not until 1775 that the Holy See accepted his resignation from the bishopric. The closing years of his life were clouded by a sorrow in addition to his illness. In an attempt to gain royal approbation for the Congregation he found himself presented by the court of Naples with a Regolamento quite incompatible with the Pontifical Rule of 1749. The Holy See reacted by dividing the institute, placing the houses in the Papal States under an autonomous major superior. Alphonsus died in Pagani near Salerno on 1st August 1787 before the Congregation he had founded had been reunited. He was beatified by Pius VII on 15th September 1816, canonized by Gregory XVI on 26th May 1839 and on 23d March 1871 declared Doctor of the Church by Pius IX. Finally, on 26th April 1950 Pius XII named him Patron of confessors and moralists. Though he wrote much about prayer and union with God with an assurance that could only have come from personal experience, St. Alphonsus was distinguished principally by his pastoral spirit. His own life and that of his Congregation were dedicated to bringing to mankind the redemption won by Christ. To that he devoted a long life of extraordinary activity. In addition to his duties as supreme moderator of the Redemptorists from 1743 until his death and the care of his diocese he found time for much more in the service of redeemed mankind. He was actively engaged in missions for thirty-four years, and to the same pastoral purpose he consecrated his outstanding literary and musical skills.

It is impossible to give a full account of his enormous literary production. Between 1728 and 1778 he published no fewer than 111 works, and further material appeared posthumously. During his lifetime 402 editions of his writings appeared; and his popularity has continued. Father M. De Meulemeester by 1933 had identified 4110 editions of his original texts and 12,925 of translations in 61 languages. Since that date the numbers have continued to increase.

The most important of his writings is his Theologia Moralis, the first edition of which appeared in 1748, being little more than annotations to the Medulla theologiae moralis of H. Busenbaum. Altogether nine editions appeared in his lifetime, the third (1757) being in more or less definitive form and more his own original composition than notes on Busenbaum.

The name of St. Alphonsus is linked particularly with the moral system known as equiprobabilism, which successfully avoids the extremes of rigor and laxity. It is an excellent expression of his pastoral prudence a compassionate understanding of redeemed man in his present life. The same quality is to be found in his writing for preachers and confessors.

His understanding of God's mercy and man's dependence on it made him the inexorable foe of the Jansenism that was still prevalent in his times. These themes are admirably elaborated in his dogmatic and spiritual writings. He taught that with the help o grace, given especially in answer to prayer, man can attain to that perfect love of God which consists in conformity to the Divine Will.

St. Alphonsus had a decisive influence on the development of moral theology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In other fields, too, of the sacred sciences he has left his mark: in Mariology, in the treatment of Papal authority, actual grace and in his spiritual doctrine. His voluminous writings continue the work he achieved during the ninety One years of his life. In the Church's history he remains a figure that is truly monumental.

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