The 𝐷𝑜𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑍𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑠 and the Prince of Moral Theologians

St. Alphonsus Liguori has a pedigree that is hard to beat. Unlike many patron saints whose patronage can seem like a stretch (there are many patron saints of beekeepers because of the sweetness of their preaching…) his associations with the faithful are obvious and earned to anyone familiar with his life. Alphonsus Liguori bears two prominent titles: doctor of the church and prince of moral theologians. In popular piety, he is the patron saint of the towns he presided in or over as a true and dedicated shepherd (Pagani, Cancello, Naples), as well as arthritis, lawyers, confessors, moralists (moral theologians), and vocations. He is personally the most intimate companion I have in heaven, so, please, bear with me as I reiterate (in a very condensed way) a little bit of information to help us become more familiar with him.

As a labor of love, I want to affirm and express the fittingness of Alphonsus’s titles and his patronage by recounting his life. By all accounts, Alphonsus Liguori was a remarkable lawyer receiving his canon and civil law degrees at the age 16! He loved our Blessed Mother and defended the immaculate conception before he had ever penned his beloved devotional Glories of Mary (and before the Pope had dogmatically declared it). Despite his success in law, he realized his call to the priesthood and upon ordination preached missions in Naples and spent a large amount of time with the poor and imprisoned. He eventually realized there needed to be a particular community of religious dedicated to the understanding of mission the Lord had placed on his heart. He founded the Redemptoristine Sisters and the Redemptorists. Many flocked to his community and it was a veritable vocational success. It was said by the pope, “he who keeps this rule will be a saint!”

He was made a bishop and lived up to the additional vow he took. Normally religious take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, but Alphonsus added a fourth: to never waste a moment of time. As a result, he wrote numerous devotional works throughout his life that are still read to this day. Alphonsus Liguori is in the running for best-selling author of all time! In a study done in 1960, Alphonsus Liguori had over 7,000 more published editions of his works than Shakespeare. One could very well consider this little old saint, often depicted with a hunched back and crooked chin, to be the most popular and beloved author who ever lived! His devotional works, known as his ascetical works, easily amount to over 13 volumes of collected material. They are all excellent (and I would know, I have 10 of them on my shelf and they are frequent companions to the chapel). In addition, he wrote many beautiful hymns throughout his life. They were sung by his missionaries and the Catholics of his diocese. They were simple, catchy, and profound and many are still sung today in Italy. They are beautiful prayers from the heart to the lips that inspire ardent love of Jesus in those who have the privilege of singing them.

Alphonsus was not merely a popular author. The saint devoted a large amount of his time to constructing his magnum opus Moral Theology. This is a four-volume manual spanning over 4,000 pages to assist priests in balancing the fine line between laxity and rigor in moral judgements. His work was of such achievement that it has been praised by virtually every single pope since his death and awarded him the title of “Prince of Moral Theologians.” According to a papal decree in 1831 a priest, at least for hundreds of years, could follow Alphonsus’s moral opinions in the confessional without needing to understand the arguments at play. Alphonsus Liguori’s primary goal was to assist the priest in tenderly leading the confessing Christian to encounter the love of God by eradicating sin from their life, removing the near occasions of sin, and assisting them so that they can persevere in living a life of grace as a Christian. He sought the best of medicine, science, theology, and philosophy of his time to make his assessments and to accompany the penitent. One of his greatest spiritual insights was to pray each day for two graces: love of God and perseverance. This spiritual advice captures the reality that we need to take our faith one day at a time, allowing it to be renewed each morning by the love of Jesus while never taking it for granted.

He tenderly devoted much time to the confessional and admitted at the end of his life that he had never turned down absolution to a soul, but not for the reasons we might think. Many souls came to him with hardened hearts, yet, upon encountering his lamblike mercy and kindness, they would resolve themselves to change their lives, remove near occasions of sin, and return with all the necessary dispositions to make a holy confession. People left the confessional feeling a great horror at sin, but an even greater presence of the love of Jesus Christ through Alphonsus. He encouraged priests to confront the powers of hell that were ensnaring the faithful with even greater kindness to win over a sinner to repentance, snatching their souls out of the hands of the devil and into the loving arms of Jesus. I have heard it attributed to him that a priest ought to be a lion in the pulpit and a lamb in the confessional. This is sound advice and shows why even Pope St. John Paul II affirmed and re-stated for the world to remember that Alphonsus is the patron saint of confessors.

Given the mountain of achievements under his belt in life Alphonsus Liguori was very quickly recognized by the Church upon his death for his contribution to the faithful. He died in 1787 and was beatified 29 years later. Within only 52 years of his death, he was canonized. In less than 100 years (only 84) he was declared a Doctor of the Church. Within that short period, it was undeniable the influence Alphonsus had made in the Church through his devotional writings which revitalized eucharistic adoration and Marian piety. His moral works saved people from the error of overemphasizing God’s justice against His mercy. He is known as the doctor zelantissimus (Most Zealous Doctor). For he was a zealous man. He was a rare bird, one which bore in his person a multitude of complexities. He was a brilliant intellectual and yet incredibly warm and passionate. He was a tender, precise, and merciful confessor, yet suffered tremendously with scrupulosity himself. He never wasted a moment, worked miracles, wrote popular hymns and books and yet felt that he didn’t do enough for God and was not worthy of his rank as bishop. He diligently studied all ancient and new authors to understand their opinions on the moral life, yet he was able to independently form his counsel speaking in a manner that was relevant to the unique needs of priests of his time. He was born a nobleman, yet lived a life of poverty in solidarity with his flock. He was a man of contradictions like our Lord, but one thing is certain: he was a saint and knew it was all by the grace of God.

All of these are reasons alone for someone to admire and seek out Alphonsus’s intercession. Yet what has always struck me was how he suffered throughout his life. Alphonsus had serious physical afflictions, chief among them arthritis. They ensured that he was in constant pain, eventually bound in a wheelchair, and, in his old age, they even prevented him from being able to lift his chin off of his chest. He died, as they say, basically blind, deaf, and disabled. Yet his relational sufferings were greater. When he was in his 80s members of his community conspired against him, betraying him to sign a paper he couldn’t read which drastically altered his community’s rule of life and fractured it in two causing him to die virtually cut off from his community as it was officially recognized by Rome. It would only be mended after his life. His last three years were a drawn-out crucifixion of scruples, despair, and demonic attack. The only way he was sustained was through his devotion to Mary. Each day his caretakers would assist him in praying the rosary and the angelus. At night he would dimly look at his image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It was the same one that he kept near him throughout his entire life, especially when he wrote. Throughout all of this, Alphonsus asked God daily for greater love of Him and perseverance despite his inadequacies (up to very shortly before his death, despite all the achievements listed, Alphonsus still feared he had failed to serve God as much as he was called to). Yet when the Lord’s time came for him he knew it. He simply said to his caretakers, “Give me my Madonna.” Upon being given the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help he spent the night in prayer, held by our Mother, and died during the noon Angelus on August 1st at the age of 91.

It is easy to read the lives of the saints and to say, “I could never do that!” I could never found a religious community. I could never give away everything I have. I could never keep a vow to never waste a moment. I couldn’t write the most popular works of my day on the faith and not be a hypocrite in the process. I could never write the most influential work assisting priests in the confessional and as spiritual directors. If I suffered the way Alphonsus did physically and relationally I could never persevere amidst such afflictions. Alphonsus thought the same. Yet, Alphonsus did them all. The saints, including Alphonsus Liguori, knew they couldn’t do the great deeds they did on their own. Only God can. Yet, they lived in faith. And here is the great news. God did the impossible! He fulfilled what He called them to do. He has a calling for each of us. For some, it is hidden. For some, it might be as public as Alphonsus.  Regardless, he desires to do great, seemingly impossible deeds through each one of us. Alphonsus’s story is beautiful because it was his. We should let our stories bring others to Jesus too. Yes, the entirety of our stories with all of their sufferings and triumphs. The only way through, for our sanctification and for God’s mission to be done in us, is to take up Alphonsus Ligouri’s recommended practice of daily prayer for the two things necessary, love of God and perseverance, and to follow Him wherever he leads us. Then we will become the patron saints of many things that we cannot even imagine ourselves to be.

As I write this, I am sitting looking at the vintage volumes of Alphonsus Liguori's little works of love that I have on my shelf. I can imagine the many, many hands that flipped through the pages and had their hearts struck by the darts of burning love written within. Many consciences must have been better formed through his inspiring maxims for life, his touching encouragements, and reminders of the great love Jesus Christ has for us. I remember flipping through The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ the first time in a side chapel and realizing that I had struck gold and that my heart would never be the same. Alphonsus helped me discover the love that Jesus Christ personally had for me, and why He would die of love for me. He spoke, despite being a man from the 1700s (situating him, historically, as a contemporary of Voltaire), in a way that resonated deeply with my own heart and still does. The tenderness with which he approached our Lady has inspired my heart and helped fan the flames of my devotion to Mary when they grow tepid. Every time I look at the certified replica of the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that I inherited from my late grandmother my heart is moved with love for our Mother; Alphonsus’s, mine, Jesus’s. His kindness toward men who had made him his enemy inspires me to follow Jesus’s command to love mine. His ardent concern for saving the faithful from a cold and rigid Catholicism that hid the mercy of God combined with his truly pastoral attention to detail and assisting of the faithful entrusted to his care in the purification of their souls serves as an example of what learning, teaching, and being given authority is for: servant love unto wholeness and holiness. 

I pray that you discover the burning, overflowing love God has for your life. There are saints he has already raised along the way to walk with each one of us in that ongoing, lifelong discovery. May we become the saints that the men and women of tomorrow need for inspiration and encouragement as they too follow and heed the call of the Lord.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us.