University of Chicago libraries GIFT ST.ALPHONSUS MARIA DE LIGUORI BISHOP AUD DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH OF Tire COXOREGAHGX oi; TITC MUST HOLY REDEEMER ft: A'':iv.iT.'.' ; .J.r^.-.-'f..rfiE. I i 1 biL.HOF A:iO f.OC . Of-. OF TELE OP ST. ALPHOISUS LIGKJORI, BISHOP, CONFESSOR, AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE MOST HOLT REDEEMER. BY A MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF MERCY, AUTHORESS OF "THE LIFE OF CATHARINE MCAULEY/' "ANGEL DREAMS/' "GLIMPSES OF PLEASANT HOMES," "HAPPY " HOURS OF CHILDHOOD," BY THE SEASIDE/' ETC. At the first sound of the bell, the -villagers hastened to the Church : "Let us " go," they cried oat, let us go to hear our saint that loves us, and that smooths our path to heaven-!" TASNOU.'B MBMOIES. "Would that sweet spirit, Saint Alfonso, have been half as lax had he been " but half so holy 1 FABBB. "Lord, Thou knowest that all I have thought, said, done, and written, has been for souls and for Thee." ST. ALPHONSUS. NEW YORK: P. O'SHEA, 27 BAECLAY STREET. 1874. .US'* ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874 by P. O'SHEA, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. ' / '"/' ,'- S* > ',' / / -- St ' ' I/- ;. -i '</-/ STEREOTYPED AND FEINTED AT THE HEW YOBK CATHOLIC PROTECTORY, WBBT CHESTEB, H. T. 1362215 TO " THAT SWEET SPIRIT, THIS FEEBLE ATTEMPT TO PORTRAY * HIS LABORS AND HIS SANCTITY, IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED; IN GRATITUDE FOR THE EDIFICATION AND INSTRUCTION IMBIBED IN THE PERUSAL OF HIS WORKS, AND THE GRACES RECEIVED THROUGH HIS POWERFUL INTERCESSION. V APPROBATIONS. Having submitted to a careful examination the works, original and translated, of a member of the Order of Mercy residing in our diocese, we cordially and earnestly recommend them to the faithful under our charge. X NAPOLEON. JOSEPH, Archbishop of New Orleans, La. NEW ORLEANS, January 10, 1873. The book entitled "Life of St. Alphonsus Liguori," byamemberof the Order of Mercy, authoress of "The Life of Catharine McAuley," etc., having been carefully examined by learned priests, who have given me a perfectly satisfactory account of it, I recommend it to all classes of readers, as useful both to the members of the clergy and to the faithful at large. I* N. J. PERCHE, Archbishop of New Orleans, La. We cheerfully concur in the above approbation of the most Rev. Archbishop Perche. lit AUG. MARIA, Bishop of Natchitoches, La. & WILLIAM HENRY, Bishop of Natchez, Miss. of tfr JOHN QUINLAN, Bishop Mobile, Ala. tjf C. M. DUBUIS, Bishop of Galveston, Texas. >* EDWARD FITZGERALD, Bishop of Little Rock, Ark. % JAMES F. WOOD, Bishop of Philadelphia, Pa. ijf S. H. ROSENCRANS, Bishop of Columbus. lit E. GILMOUR, Bishop of Cleveland, O. of fff JOHN, Archbishop New York. *fr LOUIS DE GOESBRIAND, Bishop of Burlington. >* JOHN J. CONROY, Bishop of Albany, N. Y. ^ W. O'HARA, Bishop of Scranton, Pa. tjf LOUIS M. FINK, Coad. of Vicar Apostolic of Kansas. vi Approbations. RICHMOND, January 12, 1873. * I cheerfully unite with the most Rev. Archbishop Perche, in recommending to the Catholic public the new life of St. Alphonsus, written by a. Sister of Mercy, and carefully examined by two- learned priests of New Orleans. * JAMES GIBBONS, D. D., Bishop of Richmond, Va., and Administrator Apostolic of North Carolina. SAVANNAH, August 21, 1873. It affords me very great pleasure to unite with Monseigneur Perche" in recommending to the public the Life of the latest Doc- tor of the Universal Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori just writtea by a Sister of Mercy. ig WILLIAM N. GROSS, C. SS. R., Bishop of Savannah. With full confidence in the judgment of the most Rev. Arch- bishop of New Orleans, and -the priests deputed by him to examine the aforesaid work, I earnestly concur in recommending it to the Catholic public. % RICHARD V. WHELAN, Bishop of Wheeling. I yield very willingly to the request to add my name to the fore- going approbations of a good book. tjf J. B. PURCELL, D. D., Archbishop of Cincinnati, O. A new Life, in the English language, of the great Saint, illus- trious missionary, and eminent Doctor of these modern times, can- not fail to prove exceedingly interesting to every lover of our Holy Church, and it affords me great pleasure to recommend it to the- faithful. if AUGUSTIN VE"ROT, Bishop of St. Augustine, Fla. " I take great pleasure in recommending to Catholics the Life of St. Alphonsus Liguori," written by a Religious of the illustrious- Order of Mercy, and approved by the learned Archbishop of New Orleans. \ % WILLIAM, Bishop of Louisville* Approbations. vii From the approbation given by the most Rev. Archbishop and suffragan Bishops of the Archdiocese and Province of New Or- leans, I have no hesitation in recommending the "Life of St. Alphonsus Liguori," by a member of the Order of Mercy, and authoress of the "Life of Catharine McAuley," etc., as a work edifying and instructive both to clergy and people. % STEPHEN VINCENT, Bishop of Buffalo, N. Y. SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 12, 1873. Any good work on St. Alphonsus should be dear to every Catholic I therefore take in ; great pleasure giving my approbation. to the Life of the Saint, by a Member of the Order of Mercy, " authoress of the Life of Catharine McAuley," etc., relying on the recommendations it has received from the learned and most worthy Archbishop of New Orleans, and other high dignitaries. gi JOSEPH S. ALEMANY, O. P., Archbishop, San Francisco. MARYSVILLE, CALV Sept. 27, 1873. DEAR SISTER IN CHRIST : You honor me highly by asking my approbation of your forthcoming "Life of St. Alphonsus Liguori," the last, but not the least illustrious Doctor of the Catholic Church. Let me assure you, dear sister, that I hail your Life of St. Alphonsus as much as " " I do the admirable Vindication of his Theology by the Redemptorist Fathers ; convinced as I am that both these works will put the great Doctor's sanctity and learning in a clearer light, and promote throughout this country the devotions which your favorite Saint had so much at heart, I remain, dear sister, Your obliged servant in Christ, i E. O'CONNELL, Bishop of Marysville. " yiii Approbations. Extract front a letter to the Authoress, approving the "Life of St. Alpkonsus" ST. JOSEPH, Mo., Oct. 25, 1873. MY DEAR SISTER: I hope your book will soon be out of press. I could not hesitate to write my name in recommendation of anything coming from your pen; for you have already very much surprised and edified myself and many others by your successful labors, in which I am glad to learn that you are persevering. I have read all your books, and some of them several times over. I remain, Your most devoted servant in Christ, * JOHN J. HOGAN, Bishop of St. Joseph. PREFACE. THE great bishop of St. Agatha appears wonder- ful, even among the Saints of God, yet it would scarcely be possible to select a biography more instructive, and even interesting, to readers of every class and condition. A transcendent model for laymen, priests, religious and secular, superiors of communities, and rulers in the Church of God a man who was a hero to his ; valet, of whom his own officials affirmed that " a hundred bishops would not do what he did alone;" of whom Clement XIV said, when refusing to accept his resignation of the mitre: " He can the diocese from his bed his govern " ; shadow is sufficient to it a mis- very govern ; sionary through whom the Holy Ghost spoke so forcibly that some of his auditors actually died of the grief and contrition his burning words a sons still recall inspired ; Founder, whose to our minds his lineaments, and, thanks to God, his virtues, his contagious simplicity, his ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Mother a ; contemplative who passed whole nights kneeling absorbed before his Love; an author who has enriched Catholic theology with over a hundred works, sufficient to earn for x Preface. a well-merited a scholar many immortality ; who has quoted in his writings nearly eight hun- dred Christian authors Italian, Spanish, German, and American a Irish, English, Scotch, African, ; preacher whose zeal never flagged, who was often known to preach several times a day; a con- fessor who was always the first to enter the confessional and the last to leave it ; and, most wonderful of all, a man who, having lived over " ninety years, returned to his Creator, without a spot, the stole of innocence he had received in baptism," as the acts of his canonization attest. When we add his many foundations, missions given and repeated in almost every town and hamlet in the kingdom of Naples, innumerable souls guided in the higher paths of the spiritual life, conventual and educational establishments founded or reformed, we may well revert to the marvellous industry of the earlier monastic founders, which our saints alone have been able to rival in modern times, to Columbanus, who ordained that his monks should go to rest so fatigued as to fall asleep on the way, and get up before had what they slept enough ; for, was the whole life of our saint but an heroic and successful effort to keep religiously the appalling vow by which he bound himself never to waste a moment of time. This work, undertaken through obedience, has been for us a labor of love and devotion. It is hoped that it will become, if we may so speak, a p'opular life of the great Doctor, the size and price of which will place it within the reach of the multi- " tude.