Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Ever Ancient, Ever New
A series on Saints with a special devotion to the Eucharist


Saint Alphonsus Liguori, CSsR (1696-1787) is recognized in the Catholic Church as a patron of confessors and moral theologians. 

He is known for his extraordinary devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which resulted in many inspiring spiritual works, e.g., “Visits to the Blessed Sacrament,” “The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ” and “The Glories of Mary.” 

Liguori was an Italian bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, theologian, and the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists). 

Born at Marianella, near Naples in Italy, as the son to a captain in the Royal Navy and a devoted mother of Spanish descent, Liguori received his education at the University of Naples, and his doctorate in law at the age of 16. 

His professional career as a lawyer was short. After a crushing loss of an important court case, Liguori left the profession, experienced a radical spiritual transformation and ultimately committed his life to Christ. 

He was ordained to priesthood in 1726 at the age of 30 and lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. He founded the Evening Chapels serving as centers for prayer, preaching, community activities and education. 

In 1732, he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) dedicated to the ministry “among the people.” He was also chosen as Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti in 1762.

Liguori’s piety as a priest was considered remarkable and manifested itself in his tender charity towards everyone in trouble, his invincible drive to save a vocation and his determination to even take death in order to prevent sin. 

His plain and simple preaching encouraged many faithful to frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and he noted: “Good friends find pleasure in one another’s company. Let us know pleasure in the company of our best friend, a friend who can do everything for us, a friend who loves us beyond measure. Here in the Blessed Sacrament we can talk to him straight from the heart. We can open our souls to him, tell him what we need, beg him for powerful graces. We are perfectly free to approach the king of the universe with full confidence and without fear.”

Liguori frequently emphasized the value of adoring Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament: “Know … that you will probably gain more by praying 15 minutes before the Blessed Sacrament than by all the other spiritual exercises of the day … Be assured that the time you will thus spend with devotion before this Most Divine Sacrament will be the most profitable to you in life, and the source of your greatest consolation in death and in eternity.”

His appreciation for the Most Holy Sacrament as a gift which has proceeded from God’s pure and unconditional love, found expression in his exaltation prayers: “O God-Man present in this sacrament for me — what a comfort, what a privilege to know I kneel before God! And to think that this God loves me!... Mary, my mother, help me to love him in return.”

The Holy Mother Mary is said to have been rewarded for his love for her at the hour of his death. Stricken with many infirmities (partially deaf and blind, asthmatic, with rheumatic pains which left incurable bending of his neck) Alphonsus Liguori died at the age of 91 at the stroke of the Noon Angelus, holding an image of Mary in his hands.

He was beatified in 1816 by Pope Pius VII, canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI, and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871. 

Saint Alphonsus Liguori is the author of the Act of Spiritual Communion approved by the Catholic Church: “My Jesus, I believe that thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love thee above all things and I desire thee in my soul. Since I cannot now receive thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though thou were already there, I embrace thee and unite myself wholly to thee; permit not that I should ever be separated from thee.”

Information compiled from the Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association, the Redemptorists – Baltimore Province and Catholic Encyclopedia.

Jad Ziolkowska is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.