St. Alphonsus Liguori, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, A.D. 1787.
by VP
Posted on Friday August 02, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
" If Priests and Religious did all recite the Office as it ought to be recited, the Church would not behold herself in the miserable state to which she is reduced. How many sinners would be delivered from the slavery of the devil, and how many souls would love God with much greater fervor! And how would priests themselves not find themselves ever the same, imperfect, irritable, jealous, attached to their own interests, and led away by vanities! Our Lord has promised to hear every one who prays to him. (Luke xi. 10).
And how comes it that a priest offering up so many prayers in a day, were it only in the Office which he recites, is yet never heard? He is always the same, as weak and prone as ever to fall not only into slight sins (to which he is habituated, and takes neither pains nor care to correct himself of them,) but into grievous sins against charity, justice, or chastity; hence when he recites the Office, he pronounces sentence of condemnation against himself, in these words: Maledicti qui declinant a mandatis tuis. And what is still worse, he feels little remorse, excusing himself as being of the same flesh and blood as other men, and not able to restrain himself.
But if he said the Office with fewer distractions and less negligence, accompanying with his heart the many prayers which he offers to God in reciting it, he certainly would not be so weak but would acquire fortitude and strength to resist all temptations, and to lead a holy life, such as becometh a Priest of God." Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office by Saint Alphonse de Liguori
Biography: "He was born near Naples in the year 1696. His mother instilled into him a tender piety, and particularly a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and great zeal for the glory of God. He embraced the profession of the law, and soon rose to great eminence. But he ever preserved the strictest justice, and practiced the most exemplary virtue. He heard Mass every morning before going into court, and punctually observed the fasts and other precepts of the Church. He approached to the Sacraments every week, and made a spiritual retreat every year.
St. Alphonsus was advancing to the highest degree of professional eminence, when he determined to abandon all his temporal prospects, and embrace the ecclesiastical state. From the moment that he was ordained priest, his life became a continual exhortation to virtue. In the year 1732, he founded the congregation of our most Holy Redeemer, whose members
were to employ themselves in preaching to the poor, and affording the comforts of religion to those deprived of them. He surpassed all his companions in the exact observance of rule; and it was a wonder how he could live considering his severe fasts and mortification. He wore continually rough hair shirts with small iron chains, and a girdle of camel's hair. He rose early to meditation, and his prayer was unceasing. He consecrated all his actions to the glory of God, to whom he often turned by fervent ejaculations and aspirations. His whole demeanor breathed devotion and edification.
His wonderful life and apostolic labors made many dioceses wish to have him for their bishop. He was appointed to the see of St. Agatha of the Goths, and consecrated bishop in 1762. He continued to practice the same rigid poverty. He slept, as before, upon a straw bed, and his rooms were quite unfurnished. His food was of the most inferior kind, and even this he sprinkled with bitter herbs.
It may be easily conceived with what zeal he labored to extirpate scandals from his diocese, and to propagate virtue and piety. He expelled a company of players from his diocese, lest they should corrupt his flock; and he converted many bad women and public sinners. He gave all to the poor, except a small sum for his own support, and other necessary expenses. He suffered much in his bodily health for many years; but persevered in performing all the duties of his office. At length, on account of his declining health, and earnest entreaties, he was permitted by Pope Pius VI. to resign his bishopric, and retired to a house of his order in 1775. There he still preached and instructed the faithful, particularly the poor, and composed many works of theology and piety. After a long and fervent preparation for eternity, he passed to the glory of Jesus, and the peace of the saints, on the 1st of August, 1787, in the ninety-first year of his age." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
- "Unless a Priest esteem the Holy Sacrifice as it deserves, he can never celebrate it with suitable devotion. Assuredly there is no action, which man can perform, so sublime, so sacred, as the celebration of Mass. God Himself could not enable a man to perform anything greater than the celebration of Mass." Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office, St. Alphonsus Liguori 1861
- "The entire Church cannot give to God as much honor, nor obtain so many graces, as a single priest by celebrating a single Mass; for the greatest honor that the whole Church without priests could give to God would consist in offering to Him in sacrifice the lives of all men." Source: St. Alphonsus Liguori (The Dignity and Duties of the Priest)
Holy Name Cathedral, Raleigh NC, TLM Sept 14, 2017
Prayer for Priests (St. Alphonsus Liguori): My God, I believe in the sublime dignity
conferred on Thy ministers by priesthood – the supreme dignity of all,
says St. Ignatius; a divine dignity says St. Denis; a dignity surpassing
that of kings and angels, says St. Ambrose. O my God! Thy priests are
the leaders of Thy people (St. P. Damian), the guardians of Thy Church
(St. Bernard), the light of the world (Matt. V. 14), the dispensers of
the sacraments (St. P. Damian,) the vicars of Jesus Christ (St.
Augustine), and His coadjutors in the work of salvation (1 Cor. iii 9).
I believe, O Lord! That at the very instant when Thy priest
consecrates, the Incarnate Word makes it a duty to obey him by coming
into his hands under the sacramental species; I also believe that at the
moment when the priest gives absolution to a penitent sinner, that
sinner is changed from being an enemy of God and a slave of hell into
being an inheritor of heaven, and that thus the priest may indeed be
rightly named the door-keeper of heaven (St. Prosper).
Grant then, O Lord, to me and to all the faithful, to have the same
respect and submission to the person, words, and counsels of Thy
ministers as for Thine own, since Thou Thyself didst say to them: “He
that heareth you heareth Me, and he that despiseth you despiseth Me”
(Luke x .26).
Lastly, my God, I ask of Thee for all the priests in the world, and
specially for those who have done any good to my soul, by seeking to
sanctify it, the grace of loving Thee much and making Thee to be loved
by others, so that by their piety, their virtues, and the ardor of their
zeal they may merit a place with Thy apostles and most faithful
servants.
O Mary, Mother of Jesus! Do thou second the efforts of all thy Son’s priests, and sanctify their lives and souls. Amen
St. Alphonsusʼ Prayer Book by Father Edward Saint Omer, Redemptorist. 1888
