ST. PHILIP NERI

New Zealand Tablet, 27 May 1915, Page 13

ST. PHILIP NERI

(By J. Kelly, Ph.D.)

(Concluded from last week.)

In 1551, the Council of Trent sat for the second period. The Church was 'growing in vigor, more ■capable than ever, and more efficient for the conquests still before her. The middle of the sixteenth century was full of clamor and bloodshed all over Europe. Holland and France had their share of it. England, too, had her baptism of blood; and England's vain efforts to make Ireland Protestant drove the ' mere Irish' out ■of their own land in thousands to become apostles of •the faith in other countries. Huguenots and Calvinists and gueux were making history vigorously. But so was the new Order of Jesuits, and so, too, was the Council of Trent. In 1551, Philip Neri was ordained priest. He left the house of Caccia now and went to dwell at San 'Girolamo dell a Carita with some other priests. From the beginning of his sacerdotal life his guiding maxim was Sace alter Christ us. In faith, in charity, his new life became the reflex of the life of Christ. In the process of his canonisation we are told Uiat he had to exercise special vigilance, during the celebration of Holy Mass for so vivid was his realisation of the grea£"sacrifice that he was prone to fall into ecstasies and protract it for hours. On the altar his face shone with radiance, the consecration was a moment of rapture, and the whole Mass a miracle of fervor. But it was as a confessor that the divine attributes were most manifest in Philip's life. All the love and compassion of Him, Who, in His last breath, prayed for his executioners, Who, by Jacob's Well, touched the heart of the Samaritan, Who taught in the case of Magdalene that love, which many waters can not quench, pardons all, Who received the dying thief, and Who confounded the hypocrites who had no pity for the .sinful woman, was before Philip whenever he sat in the tribunal of Penance. Every morning he came to his confessional in the Church of San Girolamo, and remained there usually till noon. He never seemed to weary of it. Men and women, young and old, innocent boys and girls, and hardened sinners were attracted to him in large numbers. And slowly and surely by this means a great reformation was taking place in the lives of the people of Rome. Frequent confession and Communion had not been practised up to his time. The greatest work of.his life was surely that, during fortyfive years as a priest, he taught the people to know the height and the depth of the love of Christ as manifested in the great sacraments of Penance and the Blessed Eucharist. As a layman, Philip began to preach the Gospel with a simplicity and a sweetness such as went with Christ's own words the same qualities marked his preaching as a priest. Detachment from the world, the beauty of virtue, the happiness of the good were his favorite subjects. Imperceptibly his discourses administered a powerful antidote to the contemporary evils of society. His ministry was a burning centre radiating charity and fervor through all grades of Roman society, growing in intensity every year, and bearing almost incredible fruit. Readers will recall how an illustrious son of St. Philip describes the peace and calm which flooded the soul of a convert oh the day of his reception into the Church, how he seemed like a ship that, after long battling with the storms, had come to anchor in a tranquil harbor. The first year of Philip's priesthood was a period of great peace. Brit after its calm there came the storm. The heart of man is an inscrutable abyss; and now there were not wanting those to whom Philip's very goodness and winningness became an offence and a stumbling block. A certain Vincenzo Teccosi and

two ex-religious began to spread evil reports about the Saint. All the mean resources of small minds were exhausted in their .efforts to persecute him, and to impede him in his work. For two years this petty persecution went on. Philip bore it in patience, embracing it as a cross and welcoming the humiliation it entailed. No complaint escaped his lips, nor did he pray to be delivered from the trial from which he came forth with the added glory of perfect self-conquest. Interior temptations beset him about this time with such fury, that he seemed to see the hosts of hell around him even on the altar. Nor were exterior attacks on his virtue spared him. By the way of arduous conflicts and glorious victories the virtue of purity, which had been conspicuous in his life as a layman, reached a degree almost angelic in his priesthood. ' His virginal candor,' says Bacci, 'shone in his countenance, particularly in his eyes, which even to the end of his life remained so clear and resplendent that no artist ever succeeded in portraying them.' In 1555, Paul IV. succeeded the short-lived Marcellus 11. on the Throne of Peter. In his first pronouncement he proclaimed himself a reformer: ' We promise and swear to do all in our power to bring about the reformation of the Universal Church and of the Court of Rome.' The same year saw an enlargement in Philip's field of action. The rooms at San Girolamo were now too small to hold his disciples who surrounded him as a family around a beloved father. They formed a sort, of school in which all the scholars were penetrated with the spirit of the teacher, and all bound together by ties of strong love. In their lives they reflected the simple piety of the Apostles. Rich and poor, noble and plebeian, united in one grand Christian brotherhood, met on equal terms as followers of St. Philip. His fire warmed them; and each in his turn became a force for good in the Eternal City. Now they began to go about the city together, and to hold reunions in some of the larger churches, especially in the Minerva, dear to Philip on account of his old associations with the Dominicans of San Marco. In this way the good work being done became more and more manifest, and the number of disciples increased wonderfully. For a time he cherished the idea of going abroad and following in the footsteps of Francis Xavier, whose glorious death had just crowned a life of marvellous zeal. In his rooms he used to read the letters of St. Francis for Tils spiritual children, and gradually the desire to imitate the Apostle of the Indies became a fixed resolution. After long deliberation and fervent prayer he sought the advice of Augustine Ghettini, a Cistercian monk, renowned for learning and sanctity. Ghettini's answer was: 'Your Indies are in» Rome.' The simple words were full of light for Philip. He recognised that his work was at the centre of Christianity ; that his mission was to sow there seeds of virtue and sanctity which would bear harvest throughout the entire Catholic world. lie now obtained permission to build over the nave of San Girolamo, a little church which he called ' The Oratory.' There, dating from the year 1558, his disciples— Modio, Baronius, Bordini, and Fucci began under his guidance to preach, though laymen. The virtues, the lives of the saints, the history of the Church gave them material for their discourses, which were modelled on the, same simple lines as his own. Every evening they met at the Oratory, and soon to prayer and preaching they added mortification. Philip always put spiritual mortification first; for him corporal severity served merely as a means to maintain the supremacy of the will, and to keep the rebellious senses in order. I think the keynote of his ascetic school was the insistence of the importance of interior spirituality. His saying, that piety can be covered with three fingers, meant that its seal is in the brain ; a right intention and a will schooled to absolute obedience. Priests and laymen met at the Oratory, and there learned to serve God in gladness. A mutual love held them together under Philip's paternal direction. While Protestantism was striving to bring about the separation of priests and laity, Philip was welding them together

in Rom© in these little reunions which had in them much that was like the gatherings of the early Christians in the Roman Catacombs. Like St. Ambrose, Philip loved music and appreciated its influence. In time music and hymns were introduced before and after the discourses, and nothing was left undone to make the meetings attractive and delightful. A favorite devotion with the Saint was the visit to the Seven Churches. The children of the Oratory would meet at St. Paul's, and form a procession which soon became very large, being made up of clergy and laity and many members of religious Orders. Singing hymns and psalms, they walked to St. Sebastian's, where Mass was celebrated. From St. Sebastian's they often went to the beautiful Villa Matteo, where, in the open air. they had breakfast and a little recreation. Prom there they went on to the Later to Santa Croce, San Lorenzo, and Santa Maria Maggiore. Philip insisted on virtue not narrowness, on modesty not prudery for him religion was a thing of joy and sweetness, and had nothing in common with puritanical severity and lugubriousness. These processions largely helped to infuse into others the holy serenity and happiness which shone in his own countenance. No man ever-caught the spirit of Christ so wholly as Philip: Unless ye become like little children you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.' Philip knew that to possess the kingdom on earth too, it was essential to cultivate the candor, the affection, the . purity, the trustfulness of a child's heart. For him, as for Christ Himself, to put on the face of an official mourner, to affect a cast-down, crawling demeanour, to manifest great exterior show of humility and sanctimoniousness in no way made up for the vanity, the want of charity, the mean vices, the worship of self, that lurk in the inside of the cup in such cases. Philip's conception was nothing short of perfect Christian manhood in the world and out of'it; carrying oneself erect and upright as God made man to walk : if suffering, suffering patiently and in silence : diffusing light not gloom; with the love of God and the love of man in the heart not on the lips; truthful, not shifty: honest, not knavish in a word, walking as near as man can do in the footsteps of Christ. Christ's own life gave scandal to the Pharisees, and now the success of Philip's labors drew on him the attacks of jealous, malevolent men, who could not understand his greatness. They said he was ambitious and vainglorious, that he was a sower of dissension and of strange doctrines. The lies and calumnies increased till whispers became tempests, and jealousies persecutions Cardinal Spoleto, the Vicar-General, was prejudiced and treated Philip harshly. This was the hardest blow of all, to be misjudged by his superiors, who held for him the place of the Divine Master for Whose sake he labored. But his obedience and his patience were perfect. To his followers he said : ' This persecution is for me and not for you. God wishes to make me humble and patient, and when I have reaped the fruit from it that God wishes it will cease' He was prohibited from hearing confessions and preaching for some weeks, during which he went about with the same tranquil brave countenance as ever, finding in closer union with God all the strength he needed. Then he was brought before an ecclesiastical court, and his conduct completely justified. One of his judges, Cardinal Spoleto, had prohibited frequent public prayers and Communions. At the time of the trial he died suddenly of apoplexy, unshriven and without a prayer. The Pope was deeply moved by the injustice done to the Saint. He sent gifts to Philip with a message that he had full authority to resume his apostolate on the same lines as of old. And so the trial passed, and the day closed with prayers and hymns of joy in-the little "'Oratory. All said that God was with Philip, and that Philip had given them all a grand example of humility and patience. In 1559, Cardinal Angelo de Medici was elected Pope, taking the name of Pius IV. One of the first and most important acts of his reign was the elevation of his nephew, Charles Borromeo to the Cardinalate. The young Cardinal was a man of rare intellectual and spiritual gifts, and one of the grandest luminaries of

the Sacrejl College. He was drawn irresistibly to Philip. Charles lacked the sweetness and suavity of Philip, but both had in common a boundless charity and a burning desire for the restoration of all things in Christ. In 1562, the Florentines in Rome, who had long their own- Church of St. John in the Eternal City, asked the Pope to send St. Philip to them. Philip obtained permission to remain at San Girolamo, taking over also, St. John of the Florentines, and, sending there three of his priests, one of whom was Baronius. Later he sent two others, and for the five he drew up a few rules of community life. The Fathers came and went daily between the two institutions; and from San Girolamo and San Giovanni grew the Congregation of the Oratory. To the left of the colonnades in front of St. Peter's the Janiculum rises over the City of Rome. On the slope of the hill at this side stands the Church of St. Ouofrio, looking down on the domes and towers of the city, on the winding waters of the Tiber, and the Campagna Romana, stretching far towards the Alban and the Sabina Hills. The view is magnificent and the scenes below throng with historic memories. The church, too, has a thrilling interest for the Christian sight-seer. It contains beautiful pictures by Domenichino, representing the life of St. Jerome ; and in the adjoining monastery is the room where the great Italian poet, Tasso, died. St. Philip's soul felt all the beauty of this charming spot, and St. Onofrio, soon became a favorite place for his reunions. He made piety attractive by introducing music and hymns, and with the same end he drew his flock to St. Onofrio that in the beauty of the locality he might find a means to draw them to the source of all beauty and perfection. Nothing could be more beautiful than the simplicity of the gatherings on the Janiculum. First a hymn of praise was sung. Then a boy recited an artless moral discourse; then another hymn or perhaps some, music: then a familiar instruction from one of the Fathers, and then music again. The sermon, preached by a boy, was a peculiarity of these festive gatherings. Contemporary writers tell us that the majority of those present at St. Onofrio on such occasions were youths. For the young people Philip had a great love. Genial hearted people like him are prone to love the young; but Philip had another motive besides this. He loved them because God's grace manifests itself in them with greater beauty and vigor; and also because the young are the heirs of the future, and in their hands is its destiny. He knew that these young hearts would bear fruit which would mould the coming ages, and that in them lay a great force for lasting and real reform. On their part they flocked to him readily. His winning manner, the unction of his words, his goodness of heart appealed to fresh young hearts and made them captive. And Philip himself never grew old. To the end he had a boy's heart, full of gaiety and wit, —a perfume of youth, as one of his spiritual children so well puts it. The boys followed him everywhere, in the city, in the villas, and in his home. Once when some of the Fathers scolded them, Philip said : ' Let them complain ! You go on and be joyful ; all I want is that you avoid sin.' Stale, Allegri (be joyful) was one of his great maxims. And the end of all' this was clear. The young people around him learned to love virtue and to hate vice. They loved him so much that they would do anything rather than displease him. Three things especially he impressed on them: frequent confession and Communion, a love of purity, and a hatred of idleness. Thus he taught them the secret of preserving the youthfulness of their hearts and with it the fitness for the Kingdom of Heaven. In December, 1563, the Council of Trent closed. It was a grand rally of Catholic forces which speedily had effect in the moral and religious life of the whole Church. It inculcated frequent instruction, frequent confession, and frequent Communion, laying down the plan of reform exactly on the lines along which Philip's energies had for years been directed. It wrought no change in his interior life: but from this time he was sought after by prelates and cardinals, and the Pope

himself | delighted to ' honor ; the ■ man who, had done such magnificent- pioneer r work -in " his own •; quiet, irresistible way.. 'i ._ ' ' H '■ :^,'''-■-■/^'^-\: ;\ Many priests sought out Philip and chose him for' their f guide and director. The number 'increased so quickly/: that in the year 1572 fully a hundred acknowledged 'him as'their Father in Christ. Gradually, the idea of forming a congregation of: priests took root in his mind.* His humility long kept him from fulfilling this V impulse; but at length after much prayer and deliberation, and with the authority of the Pope, he founded th// Congregation of the Oratory. In its name he perpetuated the memory of the old Oratory where his great mission had sucn humble beginnings another reason for the name was his great desire that prayer should become the life' and soul of. his priests, " and that the Oratory in reality as in name ; should be a house of prayer. The Congregation was founded in 1575, and by the end of the-next century it had a hundred branch houses in Italy alone. It spread in France, and -Spain, and Austria, and Poland, and finally was introduced into England by John Henry Newman, thus' preserving and perpetuating in many lands the spirit of St. Philip. - Twenty years longer the Saint lived in a new Rome —renewed in piety and Christian morals, chiefly under God, by his own labors. These years were filled with heavenly joys, and in each of them there were new manifestations of his great sanctity. The account of his miracles, of his relations with the Popes, with St. Charles and St. Ignatius and St. Catharine would unduly prolong this sketch. He died calmly on the night of Corpus Christi, in 1595, and was canonised twenty-seven years later. • Christ said: 'ln My Father's house are many mansions.' In the spiritual life, too, there are many different ways. Souls are as God made them, and the ways of one are not those of another. Ignatius and Charles and Philip all walked in Christ's footsteps, and yet how different was the spirit of each, though each so beautifully reflected the one source of light. Philip was born at" the end of the Middle Ages, and on the. threshold of modern times. He lived in the heart of a busy city, in contact with people of all classes, and for half his life as a layman. There was about his spirituality a certain youthful vigor and a certain aptness to modern life which may be said to be characteristic of his spirit. His nature was gentle and loving, like that of Francis of Assisi, and a great tenderness was the peculiar note of his love for all. It was specially manifest in his dealings with sinners. To his disciples he said: 'I don't like confessors to make the way of virtue too difficult for sinners. Let all our labor be to inflame them with the love of-God, which alone can work great wonders.' * "Unlike many saints, Philip did not insist strongly on corporal mortification. But on the question of spiritual mortification he was inexorable. Humility, self abasement, blind obedience, annihilation, of selfishness was his real discipline. ' The whole importance of the Christian life consists in the mortification of the intellect' ; ' Sanctity can be covered by three fingers ' ; 'Overcome yourselves in small things if you would succeed in greater,' were sayings constantly on his lips, and they luminously reveal to us how he comprehended the greatness of the universal evil of pride, the first and the last obstacle to spiritual progress. Pride and arrogance of intellect were begotten of the Protestant reformation. Humility and charity were the weapons by which Philip brought about the real reformation in R°"- e - , • I. • T 1 • -4-1 Philip's love for music, his friendship with Auimuccia and Palestrina, and his influence in reforming Church music, in which he was assisted by St. Charles, are themes which I can do no more than mention here. They all help us to bring before our mind the beautiful character of the Florentine Saint, "whose marvellous graces and gifts merited for him the glorious title of the Second Apostle of Rome, and who, more than any saint since the days of that John whom the Florentines loved, taught men how to find the yoke sweet and the burden light. ' :/ "~~~- \ ,