St. Alphonsus

Tomorrow brings with it the feast of St. Alphonsus Maria De Liguori, who in infancy St. Francis Jerome predicted would "be blessed with length of days, not see death before his ninetieth year, be a bishop and do great things for Jesus Christ." Those great things included founding the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer to labour amongst the most neglected Catholics in rural Italy, writing works which would earn him the titles of doctor of the Church and patron of moral theologians, dealing several blows to the Jansenist heresy, defending and spreading devotion to Our Lady, particularly through his work The Glories of Mary, composing hymns for layfolk, providing counsel through correspondence with hundreds of souls, of which nearly 1500 letters are extant, and being gifted with supernatural graces such as bilocation, healing and prophecy. St. Alphonsus is also known for the great austerities he imposed on himself and the sufferings he experienced at the hands of others, including Church officials, the king of Naples and members of his own Order.

St. Alphonsus' whole life was dedicated to the salvation and sanctification of souls, saintly and sinful alike, through prayer and preaching missions. The following is his prayer for preachers:

Saviour of the World, who art little known and loved less by the world, especially through the fault of Thy ministers; Thou who didst give up Thy life for the salvation of souls - I beseech Thee through the merits of Thy Passion, to enlighten and inflame so many priests who might convert sinners and sanctify the entire earth if they preached Thy Word with humility and simplicity, as Thou and Thy disciples preached it.

But, alas!, they do not do so; they preach themselves and not Thee, and thus the world is full of preachers and in the meantime hell is crowded with souls.

O Lord, repair this mighty ruin which preachers cause in Thy Church, and if it be necessary, humble, I pray Thee, as an example to others, by some visible sign, those priests who for their own glory adulterate Thy holy Word, that they may amend, and they may not thus obstruct the spiritual profit of the people.

Thus I hope, thus I pray. Amen