Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Alphonsus Maria de Liguori was born near Naples on September 27, 1696, into a noble family. He earned a doctorate in law at sixteen and became a successful lawyer, but after losing an important case he decided to give his life entirely to God. He was ordained a priest in 1726 and spent his energy preaching to the poor in the countryside and the back streets of Naples.

In 1732 he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, to bring the Gospel to the most abandoned. He wrote more than a hundred works, including The Glories of Mary, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and a popular Way of the Cross, and his moral theology taught confessors to be gentle and merciful. He served as bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti from 1762 to 1775, suffered long illness and trials in old age, and died at Pagani on August 1, 1787. He was canonized in 1839 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1871.

Redemptorist parishes around the world celebrate him with novenas and parish missions. Many Catholics still pray his Stations of the Cross during Lent and his Visits to the Blessed Sacrament.

In Italy he is remembered as the author of the beloved Christmas carol Tu scendi dalle stelle, sung every December in homes and churches.