Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori - a model of a priest
About such figures as St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori we can write in bloated biographies and treatises. He was the founder of the Redemptorists, He was a phenomenon - painter, poet, musician and architect. He had an artist's soul. To this let us add his early practice as a lawyer, and then he dedicated his live to the priesthood, and above all – to holiness that unites all these talents. Coming from an aristocratic family, this zealous devotee to Mary took a liking to the poor and in the simple language he spoke to the people of southern Italy. This is always the holy priest that the Church and the world need, especially in today's moral crisis.
A Fulfilled Prophecy ...
St. Alphonsus Liguori was born on September 27, 1696 in Marianella near Naples. Two days later he was baptized. Once St. Francis de Geronimo preached In Naples. He was invited to the Liguori Family and he spoke prophetic words over the child: He will live over 90 years, will become a bishop and will make great merits for the Church. They came true one hundred percent. His parents - Joseph and Anna - came from aristocratic families, hence St. Alphonsus received a comprehensive education. He completed his studies at the University of Naples at the age of 16, obtaining doctorates in canon and civil law. After graduation, he started his lawyer career in Naples. In 1723, after an unfairly lost trial, he decided to do something he had thought about before - he entered the theological seminary. On December 21, 1726, he was ordained a priest. During the first years of his priesthood, he was associated with one of the Neapolitan parishes, where he immediately devoted himself to preaching and hearing confessions.
In addition to his usual duties, he served as a priest in the poorest and most abandoned neighborhoods of the city and spent a lot of time with the homeless and morally neglected youth of Naples. He founded "Evening Chapels" for them. At the end of his life, 72 such chapels were in operation.
In 1732, Alphonsus Liguori founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, or Redemptorist Order, whose task is to proclaim the Gospel among the poor and most abandoned through public missions and retreats. It was then that he took the middle name Maria in honor of the Mother of God. In 1762 he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Santa Agata dei Gotti. After 13 years, he resigned from the administration of the diocese and returned to the monastery in Pagani, where he died on August 1, 1787. He was also buried there. During his long life, he wrote many wonderful works that constitute the foundation of Catholic theology today: Moral Theology, Praise of Mary, Visitation of the Blessed Sacrament, Love of Jesus Christ in Daily Life and many others. In 1816, Pope Pius VII proclaimed Alphonsus blessed, and Gregory XIV canonized him in 1839. Pope Pius IX awarded him in 1871 with the title of Doctor of the Church. Pius XII proclaimed St. Alphonsus the patron saint of confessors and moralists, and we celebrate his liturgical commemoration on August 1.
A call to holiness
St. Alphonsus taught that holiness is a universal vocation for all people. First of all, he spoke about God's love for man, about Christ who suffers for us, and about how man can respond to such great love of God. The sermons about Jesus crucified gave special power to his words. He said: If someone does not love Jesus crucified, he will never love him. With the preaching of St. Alphonsus of God's love and the love of the suffering Jesus were united by a consistent exhortation to radical conversion. In fact, it was meant to respond to God's love with the holiness of everyday life.
Outstanding preacher
St. Alphonsus was a man of deep prayer and an outstanding preacher. He had every predisposition to do so. He was a poet, so he had the right sense of the word. He was a composer and musician, so he had a sensitivity to the "melody of a verbal phrase". He was also a painter, so he had imagination useful in his sermons. As a lawyer by training, he could speak convincingly. But most of all, Alphonsus Liguori was a holy man who, while preaching, cared only for God's glory and man's salvation. Hence his preaching was free from any pretentiousness, form over substance, willingness to please the audience or false modesty. Apparently, he never gave a sermon that was not understood by the simplest peasant girl in the church. In simple words, he spoke about God's love, about His infinite Fatherly mercy.
Patron of confessors
St. Alphonsus deserved the later title of patron saint of confessors. According to the Redemptorist founder, the confessor was to bemore merciful, loving father than a strict judge. He treated each penitent extremely seriously, trying to reach the deepest layers of his conscience. He was always able to use the medicine appropriate to the case. For St. Alphonsus, the ministry of confession was directly related to the work of evangelization, one of the basic tasks of the priestly vocation.
About Mary, there is never enough!
St. Alphonsus Liguori was a great worshiper of the Mother of God - the mediator of all graces. In almost every treatise, he mentions the name and entrusts himself to the protection of her who is the most perfect creation of God. It is even more incomprehensible, and even painful, that some of the saint's biographers today, wanting to diminish or even omit his veneration to the Mother of God, insistently emphasize his "Christocentrism". And what can a saint of the Catholic Church be if not "Christocentric", who recognizes Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world? Only he, like all saints, understood perfectly well that Mary is our Mother, given to us by the Crucified Christ, and as such is a sure guide to Heaven. He knew that Mary, as a model of piety and devotion, perfectly leads to her Son. He wrote beautifully in the Exaltation of Mary: “There are so many reasons why we should love our most compassionate heavenly Queen, that if Mary were worshiped all over the world, if all sermons only spoke of Mary, if all people gave their lives for Mary, it would still be small gratitude and a small devotion for her immense love for people.”
Commentary on Today Gospel – Mt 14:1-12
John the Baptist did not hesitate to go to the king and admonish him: “It is not lawful for you to have her”. He knew he was risking his life. In fact, he was finally murdered for pleading for God's law to be contested.
Two other Bible prophets come to our mind. The prophet Nathan had the courage to go to King David and tell him firmly: “Why have you spurned the LORD and done evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites." (2 Samuel 12:9) Nathan was risking his life too. He was lucky that King David was converted and repented. But when the prophet Elijah went to rebuke King Ahab for the murder of the king on Naboth in order to plunder his vineyard, he had to go into hiding, because he was in danger of death.
Even today, it can be dangerous to stand up for an offended law of God or to call by name the sin of someone who can take revenge, even today can be something dangerous. Even for simply proclaiming the truth that is against the public opinion or going against the dictatorship of the mass media, one can be punished with social isolation and labeled as a fanatic and obscurant. However, if there were no such brave prophets as Nathan, Elijah or John the Baptist, our world would have long time ago turned into a jungle.