Eighteenth-century Italian bishop and Doctor of the Church who founded the Redemptorists and wrote on moral theology and devotion.
Life
Saint Alphonsus Liguori was born in 1696 into a noble family near Naples, Italy. He became a brilliant lawyer at a young age, but after a painful failure in court he set aside worldly success and was ordained a priest in 1726.
To bring the Gospel to poor country people, he founded the Redemptorists in 1732. He wrote widely on moral theology to help confessors, as well as devotional books such as The Glories of Mary, and from 1762 served as bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti.
He died in 1787, was canonized in 1839 and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871. The Church remembers him on August 1.
Spirituality
Alphonsus's spirituality is the warm and simple sharing of God's mercy. He taught confessors to embrace sinners rather than burden them with excessive harshness. He spoke about visits to the Blessed Sacrament, love for Mary and the necessity of prayer in words anyone could understand.
Reflection
Alphonsus taught firmly that those who pray will be saved. In the middle of a busy day, could you stop by a church for a few minutes and simply talk with the Lord before the Blessed Sacrament?