Alphonse de Ligouri, Saint’s Day of St. (August 1)

Alphonse de Ligouri (1696–1787) was the founder of the Redemptorist order and one of the most influential moral theologians in Roman Catholic history.
He was born into a noble family in Naples, received a good education in law (receiving his degree at the age of 16), and practiced for several years.

Upon losing a suit against the Grand Duke of Tuscany involving a large sum, Alphonse became disenchanted, withdrew, and started living an abstemious, religious life. Influenced of Bishop Tommaso Falcoia (1663–1743), he became committed to the religious life and founded the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer, an order that received both men and women as members. The order focused on work among the poor, and it was approved by Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740–1758) in 1749–1750.
Alphonse’s talents were recognized in 1862 when he was named bishop of Saint Agatha of the Goths, a position he held until his retirement in 1775.

Alphonse deviated from the flamboyant preaching that dominated his era and chose a style that he saw as speaking more directly from the heart. He also opposed the rigorist, puritanical moral teachings of the Jansenists, offering instead a morality of the heart, which he published in his two-volume Theologia Moralis (1753, 1755). His approach is termed “equiprobism,” in which he sought a middle way between moral rigorism and laxity.

Alphonse may be more remembered for his spiritual devotional writings which remain in print to the present and have been translated into a number of languages, such as Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin (1745), Novena of the Heart of Jesus (1758), The Means of Prayer (1759), and The Way of Salvation (1767). He stressed God’s mercy and desire for repentance over any exercise of His wrath. His approach also led to his assuming a role in the revival of veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He authored several Marian classics, including The Glories of Mary, Marian Devotion, and The True Spouse of Jesus Christ.
He was beatified in 1816 and was canonized in 1839. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871.

References
Aphonsus Maria de Liguori. Selected Writings. Edited by Frederick M. Johns. New York: Paulist, 1999. Aphonsus Maria de Liguori. The Way of Salvation and Perfection. Edited by Eugene Grimm. St. Louis, MO: Redemptorist Fathers, 1926. Jones, Frederick M. St. Alphonse de Liguori. Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1992. Rey-Mermet, The´odule. Moral Choices: The Moral Theology of Alphonsus Liguori. Liguori, MO: Liguori, 1998.

Alphonse de Ligouri, Saint’s Day of St. (August 1) 2019-11-07T01:08:00-08:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: mc