Saint of the day 26 May
Saint Philip Neri (1515–1595), affectionately known as the “Apostle of Rome” was one of the most vibrant, eccentric, and influential figures of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. At a time when Rome was plagued by corruption, political tension, and the shock of the Protestant Reformation, Philip revolutionized religious life not through rigid austerity, but through joy, humour, charity, and beautiful music.
Early Life and the Move to Rome
Born to a noble but struggling family in Florence, Italy, Philip was known from childhood as Pippo Buono (“Good Little Phil”) because of his naturally sweet and cheerful disposition. He had a younger brother, who died in early childhood, and two younger sisters, Caterina and Elisabetta.
Philip’s father, Francesco was friends with the Dominicans; and it was from the friars of San. Marco, that Philip received many of his early religious impressions.
At the age of sixteen he was sent to help his father’s cousin in business at San. Germano, near Monte Cassino. However, he would often withdraw for prayer to a little mountain chapel belonging to the Benedictines of Monte Cassino, built above the harbour of Gaeta in a cleft of rock which tradition says was among those rent at the hour of Our Lord’s death. It was here that he was called to be the Apostle of Rome; and in 1533 with no money and no concrete plans he set out for Rome.
For his first few years in Rome, he lived as a near-destitute layman, working as a live-in tutor to the two sons of a Florentine customs official, Galeotto Caccia. He spent his nights praying in the dark, abandoned catacombs of the city and his days wandering the public squares, engaging everyday Romans in friendly, casual conversations about virtue, faith, and the state of their souls. While serving as a tutor to the boys, he wrote most of the poetry which he composed both in Latin and in Italian. Before his death he burned all his writings, and only a few of his sonnets have come down to us.
His active apostolate began with solitary and unobtrusive visits to the hospitals. He then encouraged he others to accompany him. Around 1544, he befriended St. Ignatius. Many of his disciples joined the infant Society of Jesus; but the majority remained in the world, and formed what later became the Brotherhood of the Little Oratory.
The Miracle of the Enlarged Heart (1544)
On the vigil of Pentecost in 1544, while praying in the Catacombs of San Sebastiano, Philip experienced a massive mystical phenomenon. Bacci, who made a minute examination of the Saint during the processes of canonization, describes it thus: “While he was with the greatest earnestness asking of the Holy Ghost His gifts, there appeared to him a globe of fire, which entered into his mouth and lodged in his breast; and thereupon he was suddenly surprised with such a fire of love, that, unable to bear it, he threw himself on the ground, and, like one trying to cool himself, bared his breast to temper in some measure the flame which he felt. When he had remained so for some time, and was a little recovered, he rose up full of unwonted joy, and immediately all his body began to shake with a violent tremor; and putting his hand to his bosom, he felt by the side of his heart, a swelling about as big as a man’s fist, but neither then nor afterwards was it attended with the slightest pain or wound.”He saw a globe of fire hover before him and then enter directly into his mouth, filling his chest with an immense, burning heat of divine love.
After his death, an autopsy revealed a startling medical anomaly: two of his ribs had broken and curved outward to make physical room for an internal heart that had miraculously enlarged to twice its natural size. For the rest of his life, whenever he prayed, celebrated Mass, or spoke of spiritual things, his entire chest would violently throb and vibrate, warming anyone who sat near him.
Founding the Oratory
Urged by his spiritual director, Philip was finally ordained a priest in 1551. He moved to the church of San Girolamo della Carità and transformed his small apartment into a gathering place for young people, artists, and aristocrats alike.
These informal gatherings quickly evolved into The Oratory. Philip’s model was completely unpretentious:
- The Format: They would read a passage of scripture or a biography of a saint, share practical spiritual reflections, sing beautiful hymns, and go out into the streets together to feed the poor or comfort the sick in local hospitals.
- The Birth of the Oratorio: Philip believed deeply in the spiritual power of beauty and sacred music. He collaborated with great Renaissance composers like Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina to develop a new genre of sacred, dramatic choral music performed during these meetings—giving birth to the musical form known today as the oratorio.
In 1575, Pope Gregory XIII formally recognized Philip’s community as a new religious congregation: The Congregation of the Oratory (commonly known as the Oratorians).
The Saint of Humility and Wit
What truly set Philip apart in Counter-Reformation Rome was his total rejection of self-righteous piety. He deeply feared spiritual pride and went to extraordinary, hilarious lengths to ensure people didn’t treat him like a living saint.
His famous underlying maxim was: “A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.”
Death and Legacy
Philip Neri died on May 25, 1595, at the age of 79, after spending his final day hearing confessions and greeting visitors with his customary warmth. He was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV alongside other towering counter-reformation titans: Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Teresa of Ávila.
Today, his body rests in a magnificent shrine in the Chiesa Nuova (the Santa Maria in Vallicella), the mother church of the Oratorians in Rome. He remains the beloved patron saint of Rome, humorists, and musicians.
Source:
Catholic Encyclopaedia on Newadvent.org