Subj : August 1st - St. Alphonsus Liguori To : All From : rich Date : Wed Jul 31 2019 09:23:36 From: rich August 1st - St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) =C2 =C2 Alphonsus, was declared patron of moral theologians by Pius XI= I in 1950. In his day, he fought for the liberation of moral theology from the rigidity of Jansenism. His Theologia Moralis (Moral Theology), which went through 60 editions in the century following him, concentrated on the practical and concrete problems of pastors and confessors. Americans owe much to St. Alphonsus de'Liguori. He was = the founder of the Redemptorist Fathers, who have contributed so much to the Church in the United States over the past two centuries. Alphonsus was born near Naples of a distinguished family. A brilliant youth, he won his doctorate of civil and church law when only 16, and then for several years engaged in a successful legal law practice. One day, however, when he was triumphantly defending a client in a lawsuit, it was shown to him that he had made an error in reading the law and had defended an unjust cause. He, therefore, not only gave up the case, he gave up his legal practice. Actually Alphonsus, though up to then a layman, had been lately attracted towards becoming a priest. He now took priestly studies and in 1726 was ordained. Then he began to work as a missionary throughout rural southern Italy. An able missionary he was, too. In an age in which it was stylish to preach bombastically, he could say, =E2=80=9CI have never preached a sermon which = the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand.=E2=80=9D In an = age in which the errors of =E2=80=9CJansenism=E2=80=9D demanded unreasonable st= rictness in moral behavior, Alphonsus preached common sense Christian morality. This was also the kind of moral doctrine that he wrote volumes about, for he was the greatest moral theologian of his age =E2=80=93 a fact that would win him after canonization the title of =E2=80=9Cdoctor of the church= =E2=80=9D. While engaged in home missionary work as a diocesan priest, Alphonsus assisted in the foundation of the Redemptoristine nuns. A year or so later he established the Redemptorist Fathers as a missionary organization. When de'Liguori was sixty-six, Pope Clement XIII name= d him bishop of the diocese of Sant' Agata dei Goti. He tried to get = out of it, but the pope insisted. It was a small diocese, but needed reform very badly. Bishop de'Liguori gave it that reform. Meanwhile= he was stricken with a rheumatic arthritis so severe that his chin was almost buried in his chest. He asked the pope permission to resign as bishop in 1775. By that time he had such a reputation for goodness and zeal that, as one churchman said of the man still alive, =E2=80=9CIf I were pope, I would canonize him without any process.=E2=80=9D If Alphonsus, on retiring, thought he could live out his life in peace, he was mistaken. Now began for this 80-year-old priest, his years of greatest trial =E2=80=93 largely because of red tape. Naples was a separate kingdom in those days. King Charles III, a Bourbon, shared the idea of the Enlightenment that a King should keep close control over church affairs. Now he required that the Redemptorists, already approved by the Pope, be given state approval, too. But his policy would not allow him to approve any religious orders (these he considered old-fashioned and unprogressive), only societies of secular priests. Unfortunately, St. Alphonsus's adviso= rs just showed the saint the state regulations when they asked for his signature. Poor Bishop Alphonsus at that point could not read more than the initial words, because of failing eyesight. Thus he unwittingly approved of a law that the pope had to denounce. Pope Pius VI, therefore, declared that the Naples Redemptorists were no longer Redemptorists because they had changed the rule and that only those in the Roman province of the order were such. He named another priest, located in Rome, as Redemptorist general superior. Thus Alphonsus, the founder of the order, found himself demoted from office and his order abolished in the Kingdom of Naples. In addition to this martyrdom to red tape, Alphonsus was at the same time suffering severe temptations against faith; yet these dark hours were intermittently lighted by hours of great prayerfulness and grace. More importantly, he accepted his double burden with supreme patience. In peace of soul, he foretold that the divided order would be reunited after his death. He died at 90. Three years later the Neapolitan Redemptorists were readmitted to membership; and in 1796 Pius VI, who had felt obliged to exclude Alphonsus from his order, gave Alphonsus the title of venerable in 1796. He was declared a saint in 1839, by Gregory XVI, and Doctor of the Church by Pius IX in 1871. It is impossible to give a full account of his enormous literary production. Between 1728 and 1778 he published no fewer than 111 works. A researcher in 1933 identified 4110 editions of his original texts and 12,925 editions of translations in 61 languages. Since that date the numbers have continued to increase. =E2=80=93Father Robert Saint Quote: "God measures out according as we measure out and forgives as we forgive, and comes to our rescue with the same tenderness as he sees us having toward others." -- Father Luis de Leon, Commentary on the life of Job Bible Quote: 49 But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.=E2=80= =9D =C2 (Luke 6:49)=C2 RSVCE <><><><> Prayer for a Family O Dear Jesus, I humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family. May our home be the shrine of peace, purity, love, labor and faith. I beg You, dear Jesus, to protect and Bless all of us, absent and present, living and dead. O Mary Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, pray to Jesus for our family, for all the families of the world, to guard the cradle of the newborn, the schools of the young and their vocations; Blessed Saint Joseph, holy guardian of Jesus and Mary, assist us by your prayers in all our necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which He granted to you, to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and dying, so that with Mary and with you, heaven may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .