With St Alphonsus de Liguori in Lent

The Rosarium Aureum of the Blessed Virgin Mary was the point of departure for this blog in June 2018, incorporating an early form of the Rosary wherein each of the 50 beads represents a mystery of Our Lord's life, shown to us through the eyes of His Blessed Mother.

The Rosarium has continued to provide inestimable help in unimaginable ways, guiding our footsteps in an unforeseen manner in 2019 towards the sublime writings of two great Marian saints:

• Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort (1673-1716), whose Treatise on True Devotion to Mary featured in 33 daily posts starting in January and culminating in February on the feast of the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes.
• Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), whose sublime Praises of the Virgin Mother were posted starting in February immediately thereafter and concluded yesterday.

Mater dolorosa. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

Our path now leads to a third Marian saint: Alphonsus Maria de Liguori ( 1696-1787). Starting tomorrow (DV), we shall be posting selected meditations from his remarkable writings, beginning with the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?    

Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold? 

 (From the 13th century Stabat Mater Dolorosa)

Saint Alphonsus - A Life

Unknown date. (www.introibo.fr CC BY-SA 3.0)

Alphonsus Maria de Liguori was born in 1696 near Naples, Italy. A prodigious student, he received an exceptional education in philosophy, literature, and the arts. He was only 16 when he gained doctorates of civil and canon law. Alphonsus left the legal profession and was ordained a priest in 1726. In 1732 founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). During their missions, Redemptorist priests and brothers would come to preach and conduct religious activities. St. Alphonsus was a brilliant preacher. Three great images were central to Alphonsus’ preaching and teaching:

• Jesus as an infant in the crib, 
• Jesus crucified on the Cross, and 
• Jesus in the Eucharist. 

To this he added the image of Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer.

Alphonsus was a talented musician, composer and artist. He composed the music and lyrics, for example, of the Christmas carol Tu scendi dalle stelle (Thou comest down from the stars); originally played by peasants on their bagpipes and shawns, it remains ever-popular to this day.  Other hymns familiar from my childhood include: Look Down, O Mother Mary, O Bread of Heaven! Beneath This Veil, O Mother Blest! Whom God Bestows and Glory Be to Jesus.

In the course of his long life, Alphonsus wrote more than 100 books, including many on Our Blessed Lady, such as The Glories of Mary. He strongly encouraged the daily recitation of the rosary and such was his devotion to Mary that all his thousands of letters began and ended with the words, “Long live Jesus and Mary.”  He spent his last night in prayer with an image before him of the Blessed Mother. He died at the age of 91 in 1787. St. Alphonsus was canonized in 1839 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871. He was recognized as a patron of confessors and moral theologians in 1950. His feast day is the 2nd of August.