Saint Philip Neri

Philip Neri was born in Florence on July 21, 1515. As a young man he was sent to work with a relative in business near Monte Cassino, but around 1533 he went to Rome instead, where he lived poorly, tutored boys, studied, and spent nights praying in the catacombs. There, on the eve of Pentecost in 1544, he experienced an overwhelming outpouring of the Holy Spirit that, he said, set his heart on fire. In 1551 he was ordained a priest.

Philip gathered young men and others for informal meetings of prayer, Scripture, the lives of the saints and music in a room called the oratory. In 1575 Pope Gregory XIII approved his Congregation of the Oratory, based at Santa Maria in Vallicella. Known for his gentleness and playful humor, he was a much-loved confessor to popes and street children alike. He died in Rome on May 26, 1595, and was canonized in 1622.

Romans call him their "second apostle" and celebrate at the Chiesa Nuova, where his body rests. Oratorian communities around the world, including in England and the United States, keep his feast with music; the musical form called the oratorio takes its name from his gatherings. Some families revive his pilgrimage to Rome's Seven Churches.