St Philip Neri

by Admin · May 23, 2023

A Florentine by birth, Philip was in his late teens when his father sent him to live with the former’s cousin, a merchant. He spent his spare time praying in a mountain chapel and, after a year, decided to head to Rome. At the time, the city was rife with lewd entertainment, and the Church was seeking to enact reforms aimed at the moral and spiritual life of the clergy. Philip entered the scene with an infectious fervour. For thirteen years, he carried out a full-time apostolate of charity and friendship, drawing people in with his passion for the Scriptures, his good cheer, and his incisive spiritual maxims.

In 1551, at the urging of his confessor, Philip became a priest, and began an extraordinary ministry of mercy in the confessional. His informal gatherings with friends grew into the Oratory—daily meetings for spiritual reading, prayer, music, and pilgrimage—that soon drew hundreds of people from all walks of life.

The Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri was canonically established in 1575. “The most beautiful prayer we can make,” St Philip Neri taught, “is to say to God, ‘As you know and will, O Lord, so do with me.’”