Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Founder of the Redemptorists, Bishop, Doctor of the Church, Patron of Confessors
and Moral Theologians, and one of the greatest moral theologians and spiritual writers in the history of the Church.
The founder of the Redemptorists, St. Alphonsus was born near Naples on September 27, 1696. Alphonsus studied in the University of Naples
and graduated as a Doctor of Civil and Church Law. He practiced with outstanding success in the Neapolitan courts for ten years but he
abandoned his legal career owing to a grievous disappointment over an important case that he lost, probably due to a bribed judge.
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He fell into a depression and, at his recovery, he spent his time caring for prisoners and the incurably sick. During one hospital visit,
he had a profound religious experience that led to his decision to become a priest.
While still a seminarian, he became a member of a society of secular priests and seminarians dedicated to preaching missions (revivals) in parishes. After his ordination he continued this work andalso began to form small communities of laity in the poorest districts of Naples who regularly gathered for mutual spiritual support.
At the earnest request of his spiritual director, Bishop Tommaso
Falcoia, Alphonsus helped and encouraged Sister Maria Celeste Crostarosa and the other nuns of a convent in Scala (a town overlooking the Amalfi coast) in inaugurating the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, an institute of contemplative nuns devoted to the perfect following of Christ the Redeemer. This Order has grown to 48 convents throughout the world.
In his work with the nuns he began to feel a call to gather a group of men to bring the Gospel message to the neglected peasants in the hills of southern Italy. On November 9, 1732 with five companions and under
Falcoia as Director, he established, also at Scala, the Congregation of the Most Holy Savior. When the pope approved the group in 1749 as a new religious order, the title was changed to Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists). The new Institute, devoted to the care
of the most neglected, pursued its objectives by means of founding its residences in unchurched areas from which the members could spend most of the year conducting missions and catechetical programs throughout wide regions where the poor folk were spiritually abandoned.
In spite of his reluctance, Alphonsus was ordained Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti, a poor diocese in the hills of southern Italy where poverty and famine made physical care of the people as necessary as spiritual. 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 great sorrow in addition
to his illness. In an attempt to gain royal approbation for the Congregation he found his community presented by the court of Naples with a revised rule that Alphonsus accepted, either because he did not understand it because of his age and illness or because he considered it an empty formality since the Congregation would continue following the papal rule. But the Holy See, which was in conflict with the King over its rights, reacted by rejecting the revision. It divided the institute, placing the houses in the Papal States under an autonomous major superior and withdrawing its recognition from the houses in the Kingdom of Naples where Alphonsus lived. Alphonsus was greatly wounded by this political action and died in Pagani near Salerno on August 1, 1787 before the Congregation he had founded could be reunited.
Though he wrote much about prayer and union with God with an assurance that could only have come from personal experience, Alphonsus has been honored principally for his pastoral spirit. His own life and that of his Congregation were dedicated to bringing to the poor the redemption won by Christ. To that he devoted a long life of extraordinary activity. In addition to his duties as leader of the Redemptorists for almost forty-five years and to the care of his diocese, he was actively engaged in missions for thirty-four years, and consecrated his outstanding literary, artistic, and musical skills to the same pastoral purpose. His hymn Tu scendi dalle stelle is to Italy what Silent Night is to an American Christmas.
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.
The most important of his writings is his textbook Theologia Moralis
(Moral Theology), the first edition of which appeared in 1748. Nine editions appeared in his lifetime.
Alphonsus developed an approach to conscience and to moral decision-making that successfully avoids the extremes of rigor and laxity. It is an excellent expression of his pastoral prudence, a compassionate understanding of the redeemed person as he or she actual lives. This work led to his being declared a Doctor of the Church (1871) and the Patron of Confessors and Moral Theologians (1950).
His understanding of God's mercy and human dependence on it made him the inexorable foe of Jansenism, a movement toward moral rigorism that was prevalent in the Church of his time. These themes are elaborated in his spiritual writings. He taught that with the help of grace, given especially in answer to prayer, anyone could attain to a love of God that results in conformity to the Divine Will.
Alphonsus was the most decisive influence on the development of Catholic moral theology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His views on the primacy of conscience have led to the renewal of moral theology in the post-Vatican II era. In other fields, too, he has left his mark: in the theology of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the treatment of papal authority, in the appreciation of the interaction of prayer and grace, and in spiritual guidance. Many of his works, notably The Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, the Glories of Mary, and Prayer, the Great Means of Salvation, are classics of Catholic spirituality.
Saint Clement Hofbauer (1751-1820) Redemptorist missionary who brought the Congregation to northern Europe from where it spread to the Americas, Asia, and Africa. An apostle to the poor and an influential figure in Catholic Romanticism.
St. Clement was born in Moravia (the present Czech Republic) on December 26, 1751. In baptism he received the name of John. The death of his father in 1757 reduced the family to such poverty that John had little time for schooling in his early years. He became a servant in a monastery and learned the trade of baker. He used much of his free time for study with a view to becoming a priest.
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In his thirties, he lived as a hermit, first in Austria and then in Tivoli near the chapel of Quintiliolo. Here he changed his name to Clement.
He returned to Vienna where the generosity of friends enabled him to study in the university. In 1784, dissatisfied with the pervading Josephism of the University of Vienna, he made a journey to Rome, accompanied by a fellow student, Thaddeus Hübl. The two pilgrims were attracted to the Redemptorists, newly established in the Church of San Giuliano, and were received as candidates. After a shortened novitiate they were professed in March 1785 and ten days later they were ordained priests.
He returned to Vienna where the generosity of friends enabled him to study in the university. In 1784, dissatisfied with the pervading Josephism of the University of Vienna, he made a journey to Rome, accompanied by a fellow student, Thaddeus Hübl. The two pilgrims were attracted to the Redemptorists, newly established in the Church of San Giuliano, and were received as candidates. After a shortened novitiate they were professed in March 1785 and ten days later they were ordained priests.
With Father Hübl, Clement returned to Austria, hoping to establish the Redemptorist Congregation in Vienna. When that proved impossible under Josephist laws, he went to Warsaw, where in 1787 he was given charge of the German church of St. Benno's. There he inaugurated a vigorous pastoral activity and drew a rapid increase of candidates to join himself and Father Hübl. The church of St. Benno's became the scene of a "perpetual mission" with each day a busy program of preaching, instruction, confessions, and devotions. There were also orphanages and schools for both boys and girls. This activity continued until 1808, when at the order of Napoleon, St. Benno's was closed and its community dispersed.
With one companion Clement established himself in Vienna, where
he remained until his death. As chaplain to the Ursuline convent and church he exercised an extraordinary influence throughout the city and much further afield. In particular he was able to advise and encourage some of the most important personages of the new Romantic Movement as well as others who were working for the Catholic revival in German-speaking lands. His ceaseless activity drew on himself the attention of the police.
From the time he came to Warsaw, he repeatedly attempted to extend the Congregation, especially in South Germany and Switzerland. But he did not live to see this. His prayers were answered only a few weeks after his death when the Redemptorists received permission to begin a community. But from this community the Redemptorists spread throughout northern Europe and into North and South America.
St. Clement died in Vienna on March 15, 1820. When Pope Pius VII heard the news he declared: "Religion in Austria has lost its chief support." Redemptorists venerate him as their greatest leader for spreading their apostolate throughout the world.
Saint Gerard Majella (1726-1755) Redemptorist Brother, Patron Saint of new mothers and families; guide to simple prayer.
St. Gerard was born in southern Italy on April 6, 1726. His father died while Gerard was still young, forcing him to be apprenticed to a tailor. His frail health, quiet disposition, and gentle ways led him to being bullied by fellow workers and by his employers.
He was refused admission to the Capuchin Order on account of his youth, so he lived for a time as a hermit. His great love for Jesus crucified caused him to lead a very ascetical lifestyle.
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Getting to know the Redemptorists, he applied to them but was initially rejected because of his poor health. On his insisting, however, he was reluctantly accepted and sent to the novitiate with a note saying: "I am sending you a useless lay brother."
Gerard was professed in July 1752, and quickly disproved the prediction of his uselessness by his excellent service as porter, tailor, and sacristan. His prayerfulness and dedication began to be too great to overlook and so he gained a reputation for sanctity. This brought a large number of persons to him for guidance in the spiritual life. He readily responded, revealing a remarkable gift for sensing the deep interior reality of a person. Because of this genius, of his ability to bring relief to the sick, and of his care for women in childbirth, many miracles were attributed to him and he gained the nickname "The Wonderworker."
His popularity eventually led to accusations of sexual misconduct,
which he bore patiently until they were proven false.
He died on October 16, 1755, worn out by his austerities and by tuberculosis. Very many Catholics throughout the world honor him as the special patron of new mothers and of families, and his reputation as "The Wonderworker" continues to our day.
Saint John Neumann (1811-1860) Redemptorist missionary to the United States; Bishop of Philadelphia, founder of the parochial school system in the United States, author of the first Baltimore Catechism; only American man canonized.
St. John Neumann (pronounced Noi-man to distinguish him from the English writer, John Cardinal Newman) was born in Bohemia on March 28, 1811. He attended school in Budweis and entered the seminary there in 1831. Two years later he passed to the university in Prague, where he studied theology.
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When his preparations for the priesthood were completed in 1835, he could not be ordained for his own diocese of Budweis because of the limit placed on the number of priests. He offered himself, therefore, for work in a "mission country," the United States. On his arrival in New York almost penniless, he was accepted into the diocese and was ordained priest in June 1836. He was assigned to mission churches near Buffalo, where he labored zealously for four years.
He then felt the need for spiritual support and applied to the Redemptorists. He became the first priest to enter the Congregation in America when he took his vows in Baltimore in January 1842. From the beginning he was highly regarded for his evident holiness, for his zeal and affability. His knowledge of six languages made him particularly apt for work in the multilingual American society of the nineteenth century.
After working in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, in 1847 he was appointed
superior of the Redemptorists in the United States. Father Frederick von Held, superior of the Belgian province to which the American houses belonged, said of him: "He is a great man who combines piety with a strong and prudent personality." He needed these qualities during the two years he was in office as the American foundation was passing through a trying period of adjustment from its European background. Shortly after his period of service as superior, Redemptorists of the United States were ready to become an autonomous province in 1850.
Father Neumann was named Bishop of Philadelphia and was consecrated in Baltimore in March 1852. His diocese was a very large one and was going through a period of considerable development. He gave particular attention to organizing a diocesan education system of parish schools and providing religious Sisters and Brothers to teach in them. He also founded the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis to provide teachers. Among the more than eighty churches built during his episcopate, was the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, which he began.
St. John Neumann was a short man, never robust in health, but in his short lifetime he also found time for a considerable literary activity in addition to his pastoral duties. As well as numerous articles in Catholic papers, he published two catechisms.
He continued to be active right to the end. On January 5, 1860 he collapsed in a Philadelphia street and died. When he was canonized in June 1977, he became the first man who was a United States citizen to be declared a saint.
Blessed Peter Donders (1809-1887) Redemptorist missionary who spent his life caring for lepers, slaves, and native peoples in South America. Blessed Kaspar Stanggassinger (1871-1899) Young German Redemptorist teacher with special love for the Eucharist; youth guide and consoler.
Peter Donders was born in Holland in October 1809. Because his family was poor, the two sons could be given little schooling but had to work to support the family. From an early age, however, Peter had formed the desire of becoming a priest.
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At the age of twenty-three with the assistance of his parish, he was able to attend the seminary and be ordained priest in June 1841.
While still in his theological studies he was guided by the seminary directors to go to the Dutch missions in Surinam (Dutch Guyana) on the north coast of South America. He arrived in Paramaribo, the principal city, in September 1842 to begin his pastoral work. His first duties included regular visits to the plantations along the rivers of the colony, where he preached and administered the Sacraments mainly to slaves. His letters express his indignation at the treatment of the African peoples forced to work on the plantations.
In 1856 he was sent to the leper station of Batavia and this was to be, with few interruptions, the scene of his labors for the rest of his life. In his charity he not only provided the benefits of religion to the patients, but also cared for them personally until he was able to persuade the authorities to provide nursing services. He was able to improve the conditions of the lepers by energetically bringing their needs to the attention of the colonial authorities.
When the Redemptorists arrived in 1866 to take charge of the mission of Surinam, Father Donders and one of his fellow priests applied for admission into the Congregation. The two candidates took their vows in June 1867. Father Donders then returned to Batavia.
Because of the help he now had in caring for the lepers, he was able to devote time to a work he had long wished to undertake. The new Redemptorist turned his attention to the native peoples of Surinam. He continued with this work, previously neglected through lack of manpower, almost until his death. He began to learn their languages and to instruct the natives in the Christian faith, until failing strength compelled him to leave.
In 1883 the Vicar Apostolic, wishing to spare him the heavy burdens he had so long carried, transferred him to Paramaribo and later to Coronie. He returned, however, to Batavia in November 1885. He resumed his previous occupations until weakening health finally confined him to bed in December 1886. He lingered for two weeks until his death on January 14, 1887. The fame of his sanctity spread beyond Surinam and his native Holland until Pope John Paul II beatified him in May 1982.
Blessed Gennaro Sarnelli (1702-1744) Close friend of St. Alphonsus, who gave special care to the poor, an ardent social reformer to remove the scandal of Neapolitan youngsters whose poverty forced them into prostitution. Author of many books on spirituality.
Gennaro Maria Sarnelli, the son of the baron of Ciorani, was born in Naples on September 12, 1702. At the age of 14, he decided to become a Jesuit, but his father dissuaded him because of his youth. So he began the study of law and received a doctorate in ecclesiastical and civil law in 1722.
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He distinguished himself in the courts. He enrolled in a religious confraternity for members of the legal and medical professions. Among the rules of this association there was the practice of visiting the terminally sick in the Hospital of the Incurables. It was here he heard the call of the Lord to become a priest. In September 1728 he became a seminarian and in the following year decided to join a society of missionary preachers, the Congregation of the Apostolic Missions.
During these years, he was known for his care of the poor, not only in the hospital, but also by devoting himself to catechizing and helping young children forced into
child labor. He visited the elderly in a nursing home and the galley slaves in the hospital at the docks. During these years he developed a friendship with St. Alphonsus Liguori and joined his apostolate of organizing spiritual communities led by lay people in the poor sections of Naples. In July 1732 he was ordained a priest.
Following his ordination he was assigned as director of religious instruction in a parish in one of the poorer quarters. There he became aware of the rampant evil of forcing young girls into a life of prostitution. He decided to direct all his energy against the conditions that made this prostitution an economic necessity. In the same period he tenaciously defended St. Alphonsus against unjust criticism after he had founded the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer outside Naples on November 9, 1732. In June of the same year, Gennaro went to help his friend during a mission and decided to become a Redemptorist, while continuing to be a member of the
Apostolic Missions.
After his entrance into the Congregation in April 1736, he committed himself unsparingly to parish missions and to writing and lobbying in defense of "young girls in danger." He also wrote on the spiritual life and worked so hard he was almost at death's door. With the consent of St Alphonsus, he returned to Naples for treatment and there renewed his apostolate for the rescue of prostitutes.
As well as taking part in the Redemptorist apostolate and that of the Apostolic Missions, he promoted meditation in common among the laity. In 1741 he planned and took part with St. Alphonsus in a vast preaching program in the environs of Naples led by Cardinal Spinelli, the Archbishop, and eventually took over leadership of the project. Despite his poor health, he continued the project until the end of April 1744, when he was forced to retire to Naples where he died at the age of 42 on June 30.
Sarnelli has left us thirty works on meditation, mystical theology,
spiritual direction, law, pedagogy, and other moral and pastoral themes. By his social action in favor of women he was ahead of his time and is considered one of the pioneers on this subject in Europe in the first half of the eighteenth century. In May 1996, Pope John Paul II beatified him.
Blessed Francis Seelos (1819-1867) Great Redemptorist missionary throughout the United States; ministered especially to the sick, and died from yellow fever contracted from victims during the plague in New Orleans. His beatification took place in 2000.
Francis Seelos was born in the diocese of Augsburg on January 11, 1819. He studied philosophy and began the course of theology in the University of Munich before he considered joining the Redemptorists. After visiting their house in Altötting he decided to go to America to enter the Congregation.
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He made his profession in Baltimore in May 1844 and was ordained priest there in December. In the following year he was sent to Pittsburgh, where he ministered with St. John Neumann. After being rector in Pittsburgh in 1857 he was affected by a very serious illness of the lungs with hemorrhaging. In spite of all fears, he was cured and was able to fill further posts as novice master, director of students and rector of the house of studies of the American province.
Father Seelos was always an active and highly successful missioner, particularly devoted to the confessional and was revered as an exceptional confessor and spiritual director. He was greatly relieved to learn that he had escaped the bishopric of Pittsburgh for which his name bad been proposed.
His pastoral sense was deep and moved him to spend a great deal of effort caring for the poor, sick, and neglected. While caring for yellow fever victims in New Orleans, a year after being appointed there, he contracted the disease himself and died of it on 1867. Francis Seelos was beatified in 2000.
Blessed Kaspar Stanggassinger (1871-1899) In 1899 the Redemptorists opened a seminary in Gars, Bavaria. Father Stanggassinger was sent there as director. He was 28 years old at the time, but was only able to preach one retreat to the students and to participate in the opening of the school year before succumbing to a case of peritonitis on September 26. His simple holiness was of such power that in April 1988 Pope John Paul II declared him "blessed," a saintly model of Christian life.
"Saints have special intuitions", wrote Father Stanggassinger. "What is important for me, who am not a saint, are the simple eternal truths: the Incarnation, the Redemption, and the Holy Eucharist."
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Kaspar Stanggassinger, born in 1871 in southern Germany, was the second of sixteen children of a respectable farming family. From his youth he had a growing desire to become a priest. When he was ten years old, he went to Freising to continue his schooling where he found the studies rather difficult. His father told him that if he did not pass his exams he would have to leave school. So he made up his mind, dedicated himself faithfully to prayer, and began to make steady progress in his studies. During vacations, he formed boys' clubs to occupy the youngsters and keep them out of trouble. Every day the groups attended Mass, went hiking, or made a pilgrimage. Kaspar's dedication extended even to risking his life to save one boy in danger when mountain climbing.
He entered the diocesan seminary in 1890 and from his writings of that period we can see his efforts to reach spiritual maturity. To better discern the Will of God he voluntarily followed a rigorous prayer schedule. It was soon clear to him that the Lord was calling him to live as a religious. After a visit to the Redemptorists, he was inspired to follow their vocation as missionaries. In spite of his father's opposition, he entered the Redemptorist novitiate in 1892 and was ordained a priest in 1895.
Kaspar had entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer with the intention of being a missionary. But instead, he was appointed to educate future missionaries in a seminary. To this task he dedicated himself wholeheartedly, seeing this as a response to the vow of obedience he had taken as a religious. During the week he taught classes and counseled the students. On weekends he always assisted at churches in neighboring villages, especially by preaching. Although very busy, he was ever patient and understanding of others, especially of the students who saw in him more a friend that a teacher. Although education procedures in that day age were very strict, he never acted harshly and took care to immediately apologize if he thought he had wronged someone.
He was deeply devoted to the Eucharist and in his preaching invited all to have recourse to our Sacramental Lord in times of need and anxiety, speaking to Christ as a friend. His preaching was a constant reminder to the faithful to take the Christian life seriously, growing in faith by means of prayer and continual conversion. His style was direct and appealing, and he did not have recourse to the threats of punishment that were common in the preaching of the time.
In 1899 the Redemptorists opened a seminary in Gars, Bavaria. Father Stanggassinger was sent there as director. He was 28 years old at the time, but was only able to preach one retreat to the students and to participate in the opening of the school year before succumbing to a case of peritonitis on September 26. His simple holiness was of such power that in April 1988 Pope John Paul II declared him "blessed," a saintly model of Christian life.