Saint Philip Neri

Saint Philip Neri was a priest and the founder of the Oratory. For sixty years he lived in Rome, where he heard confessions and gathered young people around him, and so he is called the apostle of Rome. The Church commemorates him on May 26.

He was born in Florence on July 21, 1515. His parents were Francesco Neri, a notary, and Lucrezia Soldi. As a young man he was sent by his father to a wealthy relative at San Germano, near Monte Cassino, to go into trade, and the relative wished to make him his heir. Philip, however, gave up that path and in 1534 came to Rome as a poor pilgrim known to no one.

In Rome he studied philosophy and theology, lived in great poverty, and gave much time to prayer. He visited the seven principal churches of the city and often spent the night in prayer in the catacombs. John Paul II recalled that in 1544, on the vigil of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave him a “heart of fire.” On his advice and with his help the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity was founded, which cared for pilgrims and convalescents. For some seventeen years he carried on this apostolate as a layman.

At his confessor’s bidding he was ordained a priest in 1551 and went to live at the church of San Girolamo della Carità. He spent many hours in the confessional, and in his room he talked about the things of God with those who came to him for advice. He thought of going to the missions in India, but a devout Cistercian told him that Rome was to be his India. From the conversations in his room grew the Oratory, where, as the Roman Martyrology says, people devoted themselves to spiritual reading, singing, and works of charity. John Paul II called it Philip’s “true invention.”

In 1575 Pope Gregory XIII approved the Congregation of the Oratory and entrusted to it the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella. Its members were priests living in community without religious vows. One of Philip’s disciples was Cesare Baronius, later a cardinal, whom the saint urged for years to write the “Ecclesiastical Annals.” Among those who confided in him were Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Charles Borromeo.

He cared in a special way for the young. The bull of canonization says that he led them along the paths of Christian joy, on pilgrimages to the seven churches of Rome and to the hospitals. John Paul II called him the saint of joy and recalled his words: “State buoni, se potete,” that is, “Be good, if you can.” He heard confessions until the evening of the last day of his life. He died in Rome in the early hours of May 26, 1595. His body rests in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella.

In 1615 Pope Paul V declared him blessed. Gregory XV canonized him on March 12, 1622, in the Vatican Basilica, together with Isidore the Farmer, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Teresa of Ávila. John Paul II recalled that Philip Neri is a co-patron of Rome.