Feast of St Alphonsus Liguori, 1st August

St Alphonsus, known as the greatest moral theologian of Church history, founded the Congregation of the Redemptorists in 1732. Earlier in life Alphonsus had trained as a lawyer; he was also a member of the Secular Oratory in Naples (the second Oratorian foundation after Rome). Alphonsus experienced many trials in the foundation of his Congregation but his work bore great fruit in his own time and in succeeding centuries. Later in life he was made Bishop of Sant’Agata dei Goti in Southern Italy in which his pastoral zeal was tireless, although he was obliged to step down from his post after thirteen years due to ill health. His preaching and writing were deeply marked by a spirit of compassion combined with a powerful call to conversion; his devotion to the Blessed Mother, expressed in works such as The Glories of Mary, has had a lasting influence on Catholics. Pope Benedict XVI taught: “St Alphonsus states that devotion to Mary will be of great comfort to us at the moment of our death. He was convinced that meditation on our eternal destiny, on our call to participate for ever in the beatitude of God, as well as on the tragic possibility of damnation, contributes to living with serenity and dedication and to facing the reality of death, ever preserving full trust in God’s goodness.” St Alphonsus is honoured as a Doctor of the Church.