St. Philip Neri

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Philip Neri.

St. Philip was born on July 21, 1515. Ever since a very young age St. Philip had a very large devotion to Jesus. St. Philip threw away a great chance to become a successful businessman, and he decided to move to Rome from Florence, and when he arrived he devoted his entire life and individuality to God.

After St. Philip had spent three years studying philosophy and theology, he decided to give up any thought of ordination. The next 13 years of his life were spent in a vocation which was very unusual at the time. St. Philip served as a layperson and he was actively engaged in prayer and the apostolate.

When the Council of Trent (1545-63) was reforming majority of the Church on a doctrinal level, St. Philip’s appealing and very kind personality was allowing him to attract friends from all levels of society, these people included many different types of people such as beggars to cardinals.

St. Philip rapidly gathered a very large and great group of laypersons who were all won over by his audacious spirituality. Initially, all these people met as an informal prayer and discussion group, and they also served all the poor people in Rome.

Eventually due to the fact that a lot of people felt St. Philip should be a priest, St. Philip was ordained a priest and soon after he had become a very powerful and outstanding confessor himself. St. Philip was truly gifted with the ability of being able to see through the lies and illusions of others, though always in a charitable manner and often with a joke.

St. Philip also arranged many different talks, discussions, and prayers for his penitents in a room that was located above the church. St. Philip would also sometimes lead “excursions” to other churches, often music would play and a picnic would occur on the way.

Many of St. Philip’s followers decided to become priests and they ended up living in a large community together. During this time the beginning of the Oratory was occurring. A very cool thing that occurred during their daily life was a daily afternoon service of four informal talks, with vernacular hymns and prayers.

Giovanni Palestrina who was a very famous composer and artist was one of St. Philip’s followers, Giovanni actually composed a lot of the music that was used for the services. The Oratory was eventually approved after suffering through a very long period of accusations of being an assembly of heretics, where laypersons preached and sang vernacular hymns.

St. Philip’s advice was very impactful and it was used by many of the prominent figures that were present during his lifetime. St. Philip is one of the most impactful and influential figures of the Counter-Reformation, due to the fact that he was able to convert many people and influence people within the Church itself. St. Philip’s characteristic virtues were humility and joy.

On May 26, 1595, after St. Philip had spent a day hearing many confessions and receiving many visitors, St. Philip sadly suffered a hemorrhage and died on the feast of Corpus Christi.

St. Philip was later beatified during the year 1615 and he was canonized during the year 1622. St. Philip’s feast day is celebrated on May 26.

Prayer to St. Philip:

St. Philip pray that we may obediently listen to the calling we receive from Christ. Help us to gain the strength and humility we need to guide more people to Christ and be a better example of our faith. St. Philip help us to also repent for our sins so that we may be able to deepen our intimacy with Christ .

We ask this through Christ Our Lord and Mary Our Mother in Heaven

Amen

St. Philip pray for us

St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works Cited

Information (read from, not taken):

Franciscan Media. "Saint Philip Neri. ”Saint Philip Neri | Franciscan Media. Accessed 26, May 2021.

Images:

Saint Philip Neri. May 26, 2021. Saint Philip Neri - Google Search.