Publisher's Synopsis
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) was an Italian bishop, writer and poet. He founded the religious congregation of the Redemptorist Fathers. He studied at the University of Naples and by the age of 16 was already graduated in Civil and Canon Law. As a lawyer he achieved renown but abandoned everything to dedicate himself to religious life.St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) was born in Marianella, near Naples in Italy, on September 27. He was the son of one of the oldest and noblest families in Naples. His father was a Captain of the Royal Navy and his fervent Catholic mother. As a child, he received from St. Francis of Jerome of the Society of Jesus, the following prophecy: "This child will not die until he is 90 years old. He will be a bishop and will accomplish wonders in the Church of God".His father dedicated him to the study of liberal arts, exact sciences and legal disciplines, achieving rapid and surprising progress. At the age of sixteen he obtained his doctorate in civil and ecclesiastical law and began his work in the forum. His father had already prepared a rich and noble bride for his son, but in Alphonsus' heart there was only room for religious life.As a lawyer, already renowned, he received a cause of great importance from Duke Orsini against the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He has meticulously studied the case, reviewed the file, and checked documents. He made a brilliant defense in the forum. The victory seemed more than guaranteed when the counter-attacker called his attention to a small fault that had gone unnoticed. Afonso recognized that he had made a mistake and exclaimed: "O fallacious world, now I know you! Goodbye courts!". This event determined the most profound turn of his life.St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, a young and brilliant lawyer, abandoned the practice of law definitively to dedicate himself to evangelical causes. He completed his theology studies and was ordained priest at the age of thirty on December 21, 1726. This change cost him many disagreements with his father, who could not conform to the choice made by his son, renouncing the titles of nobility and the rich heritage of the family.Since then Alphonsus has put his knowledge of oratory at the service of Christ, he has dedicated himself, especially to preaching, with the motto: "God sent me to evangelize the poor. He was looking for the poor and abandoned children on the streets of Naples. He moved to the Chinese Fathers' Hospice and seriously thought about going to the pagan missions. However, God's plans eventually led him to a convent of sisters in Scala, near Amalfi, where he went because he fell ill and needed rest. In that convent Sister Maria Celeste Crostarosa revealed the vision she had had on October 3, 1731: "Alphonsus was appointed by God to found a Congregation.The duel between God and the Saint's humility began. The struggle was a true martyrdom for Alphonsus. St. Alphonsus, God does not want him in Naples, he is calling him to found a new Institute. He had to face tremendous opposition from his father, who reproached his son. But grace won and on November 9, 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Redemptorist Fathers in Scala, which at the beginning had the name of Institute of the SS. Salvador. Alphonsus' first companions were all priests, and soon they began to dedicate themselves to preaching.Soon disunity appeared in the ideas. They wanted the Institute, besides preaching, to dedicate itself to teaching. Afonso insisted on the exclusivity of preaching to the poor in the regions of abandoned people, in the form of missions and retreats. He won his point of view. In 1749 Pope Benedict XIV approved the Rules of the Institute, which had as its goal the imitation of Jesus Christ and the preaching of missions and retreats in preference to the most abandoned class.
