Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Who they were

Alphonsus was born in Naples, eldest of eight children of a noble family. At twelve he passed the entrance exam to study law before the philosopher Giambattista Vico, and at sixteen was practising as a lawyer, soon the best in the city. Visiting the sick in the hospital of Naples drew him away from the law, and in 1726 he was ordained priest, giving himself to the poor of the city as preacher and confessor.

In 1730, resting in the mountains above Amalfi, he found the shepherds there abandoned in body, mind and faith, and founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, approved by Benedict XIV in 1749. His Moral Theology is still studied. In 1762, aged 66, he was made bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti, resigning fifteen years later in ill health; he died in 1787.

The miracles

Pius IX proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1871, and in 1950 Pius XII named him patron of all confessors and moral theologians.

Why that counted as sanctity

Alphonsus gave up a brilliant legal career to serve the poor and the forgotten, and taught confessors to be merciful. He urged Christians to keep calling on God like fledgling swallows crying to their mother.

Connected on this site

• John Joseph of the Cross Saint Teacher
• Pius IX Blessed
  “Pius IX proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1871, and in 1950 Pius XII named him patron of all confessors and moral theologians.” — this site's research
• Pius XII Venerable
  “Pius IX proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1871, and in 1950 Pius XII named him patron of all confessors and moral theologians.” — this site's research