Saint Philip Neri
His feast is celebrated on May 26
Biography of Saint Philip Neri
He was born in Florence (Italy) in 1515, the son of the notary Francesco Neri and Lucretia, a pious and wealthy couple who had four children in total. His mother passed away soon, but his father’s second wife was a wonderful mother to them.
Since he was a child, Felipe was affable, obedient and a lover of prayer, which is why he was called “Felipe the good”. In his youth, he liked to visit the Dominican fathers of the San Marco Monastery and according to his own testimony, these fathers inspired him to virtue.
At the age of 17 he was sent to San Germano, near Monte Casino, as an apprentice to Romolo, a merchant cousin of his father. His stay there was not very long, since after a short time Felipe had the mystical experience that he would later call his “conversion” and, from that moment, business ceased to interest him. He left for Rome, without money and without any project, trusting only in Providence. In the Eternal City he stayed in the house of a Florentine customs officer named Galeotto Caccia, who gave him an attic and gave him what he needed to eat in exchange for educating his children, who -according to the testimony of his own mother and an aunt – behaved like angels under the direction of the saint. Felipe did not need much, since he only ate once a day and his diet was reduced to bread, olives and water. In his room there was nothing but the bed, a chair, a few books, and a clothesline.
Apart from the time he devoted to teaching, Philip lived the first two years he spent in Rome like an anchorite, giving himself day and night to prayer. This was a period of interior preparation, in which his spiritual life was strengthened and his desire to serve God was confirmed. At the end of those two years, Philip studied philosophy and theology at Sapienza and Sant’Agostino. He was very given to study, however it was difficult for him to concentrate on them because his mind was absorbed in the love of God, especially when contemplating the crucifix. He understood that Jesus, the source of all the wisdom of philosophy and theology, filled his soul in the silence of prayer. After three years of study, when the tenacity and success with which he had worked opened up a brilliant career before him, Felipe suddenly abandoned his studies. Probably moved by divine inspiration, he sold most of his books and devoted himself to the apostolate.
The religious life of the people of Rome left much to be desired, serious abuses abounded in the Church. Everyone recognized it, but very little was done to remedy it. The Medici ruled in the College of Cardinals, so that many cardinals behaved more like secular princes than like ecclesiastics. The revival of classical studies had replaced Christian ideals with pagan ones, with a consequent weakening of faith and a lowering of moral standards. The clergy had fallen into indifference, if not into corruption; the majority of the priests did not celebrate Mass but rarely, allowed the churches to be ruined and disregarded the spiritual care of the faithful. The people, therefore, had turned away from God. Saint Philip’s work was to re-evangelize the city of Rome and he did it with such success that one day he would be called “the Apostle of Rome”.
The beginnings were modest. Felipe went to the street or to the market and began to talk with the people, particularly with the employees of the banks and shops in the Sant’Angelo neighborhood. Since he was very nice and had a good sense of humor, it was not difficult for him to strike up a conversation, in the course of which he would drop some opportune word about the love of God or the spiritual state of his interlocutors. This is how, little by little, many people changed their lives. The saint used to greet his friends with these words: “Well, brothers, when are we going to start being better?” If they asked him what they should do to get better, the saint took them with him to care for the sick in hospitals and to visit the seven churches, which was one of his favorite devotions.
Felipe consecrated the whole day to the apostolate; but in the evening he retired to solitude to enter into deep prayer, and often spent the night in the portico of some church, or in the catacombs of Saint Sebastian, by the Via Appia. He was there, precisely, on the eve of Pentecost 1544, asking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, when he saw a globe of fire coming from heaven that entered his mouth and dilated in his chest. The saint felt possessed by a love of God so enormous that it seemed to suffocate him; he fell to the ground, as if knocked down and exclaimed with an accent of pain: Enough, Lord, enough! I can’t take it anymore!” When he regained full consciousness, he discovered that his chest was swollen, having a lump the size of a fist; but it never caused him any pain. From then on, Saint Philip experienced such accesses of God’s love His whole body trembled. Often he had to uncover his chest to relieve a little of the burning that consumed him; and he prayed to God to mitigate his consolations lest he die of joy. So strong was the palpitation of his heart that others could hear and feel them, especially years later, when as a priest, he celebrated Holy Mass, confessed or preached. There was also a celestial radiance that emanated heat from his heart. After his death, the autopsy of the saint’s corpse revealed that he had two broken ribs and that these had arched to leave more room for the heart.
Saint Philip, having received so much, gave himself fully to the corporal works of mercy. In 1548, with the help of Fr. Persiano Rossa, his confessor, who lived in San Girolamo della Carita, and about 15 laymen, Saint Philip founded the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity, known as the confraternity of the poor, which met for the spiritual exercises in the church of San Salvatore in Campo. This brotherhood, which was in charge of helping pilgrims in need, helped San Felipe spread the devotion of the forty hours (Eucharistic adoration), during which he used to give brief reflections full of love that moved everyone. God blessed the work of the brotherhood and soon founded the famous hospital of Santa Trinita dei Pellegrini; in the jubilee year of 1575. The members of the brotherhood attended 145,000 pilgrims there and were later responsible for caring for the poor during convalescence. Thus, at thirty-four years of age, Saint Philip had already done great things.
he becomes a priest
His confessor was convinced that Felipe would do even greater things if he received priestly ordination. Although the saint resisted this, out of humility, he ended up following the advice of his confessor. On May 23, 1551 he received holy orders. He was 36 years old. He went to live with Fr. Rossa and other priests at San Girolamo della Carita. From that moment on, he exercised his apostolate above all in the confessional, where he sat from dawn until noon, sometimes until the evening hours, attending to a multitude of penitents of all ages and social conditions. . The saint had the power to read the thoughts of penitents about him and achieved numerous conversions. With patience, he analyzed each sin and with great wisdom prescribed the remedy. With gentleness and great compassion, he guided penitents on the path to sainthood. He taught his penitents the value of mortification and practices that help them grow in humility. Some received penance begging for food or other practices of humiliation. One of the benefits of the war against the ego is that it opens the door to prayer. He said: “A man without prayer is an animal without reason.” He taught the importance of filling the mind with holy thoughts and thought that to achieve this one should do spiritual reading, especially of the saints. He was a confessor of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He called it “bell” because of the many who, through it, called God.
He celebrated daily Mass with great devotion, something that many priests had abandoned by then. He frequently experienced ecstasy during mass and was observed levitating on a few occasions. In order not to attract attention, he tried to celebrate the last Mass of the day, when there were fewer people.
He believed that training was very important. To aid in spiritual growth, he would host spiritual conversations in which the lives of saints and missionaries were read and prayed for. These meetings ended with a visit to the Blessed Sacrament in some church or with attendance at vespers. There were so many who attended the spiritual conversations that a large room was built in the church of San Girolamo for the conferences of San Felipe and several priests began to help him in the work. The people called them “the Oratorians”, because they rang the bell to call the faithful to pray in their oratory. The meetings were taking structure with mental prayer, Gospel reading, commentary, reading of the saints, history of the Church and music. Musicians, including Giovanni Palestrina, attended and wrote music for the meetings. The results were extraordinary. Many prominent members of the curia attended what was called “the oratorio”.
The example of the heroic life and death of Saint Francis Xavier moved Saint Philip to volunteer for the missions; he wanted to go to India and about twenty companions of the oratory shared the idea. In 1557 he consulted with Father Agustín Ghettini, a holy Cistercian monk. After several days of prayer, Father Ghettini’s special patron Saint John the Evangelist appeared to him and informed him that Philip’s India would be Rome. The saint heeded his advice by putting all his attention on Rome.
One of their worries was the carnivals in which, under the pretext of “preparing” for Lent, they indulged in debauchery. Saint Philip proposed the holy diversion of visiting seven churches in the city, a pilgrimage of some twelve miles, praying, singing, and having lunch in the open air.
San Felipe had many successes but also great opposition. One of these was Cardinal Rosaro, vicar of Pope Paul IV. The saint was called before the cardinal accused of forming a sect. He was forbidden to confess and to have any further meetings or pilgrimages. His prompt and complete obedience edified his sympathizers. The saint understood that it was God who was testing him and that the solution was prayer.
Cardinal Rosaro died suddenly. The saint did not hold any resentment towards the cardinal nor did he allow the slightest criticism against him.
The Congregation of the Oratory
In 1564 Pope Pius IV asked Saint Philip to assume responsibility for the Church of San Giovanni of the Florentines. Three of his own disciples were then ordained, who also went to St. John. They lived and prayed in community, under the direction of San Felipe. The Saint…