Congregation of the Oratory (C.O.), Pharr, TX

On September 29th 2006 begins the jubilee year for the IV centenary of the death of Cardinal Cesar Baronius of the Oratory, with a Holy Mass celebrated by His Excellency Monsignor Giovanni Lajolo at Santa Maria in Vallicella, "Chiesa Nuova", in Rome.

Cardinal Cesare Baronius (1538-1607) was the first superior of the Roman Oratory after Saint Philip. He is known beyond Oratorian circles for his monumental twelve-volume history of the Church: The Ecclesiastical Annals, which he wrote in obedience to Saint Philip. One of his observations was often repeated during debates about the Copernican system of astronomy and its relation to the Bible: `God revealed not how the heavens go but how to go to heaven.’

About Cesare Cardinal Baronius from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The Apostle of Rome - Founder of the Oratory

Liturgical Feast Day is May 26

Saint Philip Neri was born in Florence in 1515. From a very early age, he was attracted to virtue, and was awakened to the love of God through the Dominicans at San Marco, where the memory of Savonarola was still very much alive and the frescoes by the Blessed Fra Angelico still had their vibrant colours. In his late teens, he was sent by his family to live with an uncle in San Germano near the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino, with the understanding that he would become heir to his uncle’s business and great wealth. But, through prayer, Philip soon discovered that earthly riches could never satisfy his heart. So he renounced the inheritance and left San Germano for Rome, where he arrived probably in 1533, at the age of eighteen.

Once in Rome, Philip lived as a layman for nearly twenty years. He was given room and board in a family home in exchange for tutoring the children. This gave him much free time to learn about God and to speak familiarly about Him to people of all walks of life. For a time, Philip attended lectures in theology given by the Augustinians; but his deepest lessons about God came through prayer. It was while he was praying in the catacombs of St Sebastian on the feast of Pentecost in 1544, that the Holy Spirit descended into him as a ball of fire and lodged in his heart. From this time onwards, Philip always felt his heart to be dilated and filled with a great heat. (After his death, an autopsy revealed that his heart had in fact been enlarged and that two of his ribs were broken to make room for it.)

While still a layman, Philip encouraged the people of Rome to raise their minds and hearts to God. He was instrumental in popularizing the Forty Hours’ Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. And he effectively organized works of charity such as the care of the sick, and lodging and feeding pilgrims who came to Rome. Because of his humility, Philip did not aspire to the priesthood, but in obedience he submitted to his confessor’s wishes and was ordained in 1551.

As a priest, Philip was able to win more souls for God through the confessional. He was also able to preach with more authority. Soon, the informal discourses on the Word of God, which took place in his room, developed into daily sermons in a small chapel which he had built for the purpose. This chapel, called an Oratory, would eventually lend its name to the community of priests who, under Philip, devoted themselves to this apostolate. By the time that this initiative received its first papal recognition in 1575, there were close to forty priests taking part in the afternoon exercises, which featured four talks, interspersed with music.

One of the remarkable things about Philip’s apostolate was the wide spectrum of people it attracted. Cardinals and other prelates, priests and religious, nobles and servants, musicians and artists, tradesmen, shopkeepers, soldiers, and people on the edge of respectable society – and sometimes beyond it – could all be found at the Oratory and among Philip’s penitents. Philip’s joyful character was irresistible and his talents for devising paths to holiness were legendary. To keep people away from the sinful excesses of various carnivals, he began a pilgrimage to seven of Rome’s most renowned churches. He took large numbers of people to the outskirts of Rome to enjoy a picnic in which religious truths were as much a part of the fare as good food and entertainment and Christian charity. And he counselled his penitents to put their faith into practice by visiting the sick in hospitals and helping the poor to find means to better their lot.

Saint Philip knew that humility was the indispensable requirement for sanctity. He counselled the mortification of the intellect rather than prolonged fasts and the wearing of hair shirts. Think little of being thought little of – despise being despised – was one of his oft-repeated sayings, as was the advice to love to be unknown – amare nesciri.

But Philip’s humility and total dedication of himself to God could not remain hidden for long. Stories abound of the Saint’s wisdom, insight, and holiness (and miraculous interventions) as he brought people from all walks of life closer to God. The second reading for the Mass in his honour shows the breadth of his imagination in his work for the Gospel: ‘Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things’ (Phil. 4:8).

Philip died on 26 May 1595, on the day after the feast of Corpus Christi, just two months shy of his eightieth birthday. During his lifetime, Philip had counted many canonized Saints among his friends – Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Felix of Cantalice, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Camillus of Lellis, Saint John Leonard, to name just a few. So it is appropriate that he was canonized in 1622 on the same day as four other Saints – Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Saint Isidore the Farmer.

Blessed Juvenal Ancina (1545-1604) was the only one of the beatified Oratorians who knew Saint Philip personally. Towards the end of his life, Juvenal was commanded by the Pope to accept the bishopric of Saluzzo, in northern Italy, where he died, soon after his arrival, the victim of poisoning.

Liturgical Feast Day is August 30

Giovan Giovenale (Juvenal) Ancina was born in 1545 in Fossano, a small town in Piedmont. His parents christened him Juvenal, not in honour of the Roman poet, but in honour of the local patron Saint whom they wished to thank for the recovery of their child who seemed to be dying at the time of birth. Saint Juvenal, the patron of Fossano, had been a physician, a priest, and a bishop; the child Juvenal was to be all these and a Blessed as well.

Since the Ancina family was well off, both Juvenal and his brother Giovan Matteo, who would also become a priest of the Oratory, could pursue higher education. For Juvenal this meant philosophy and medicine. He earned a doctorate in both fields; and he was appointed professor of medicine at the University of Turin when only twenty four years old.

In the early years of his manhood, Juvenal led the life of a devout layman. He saw his profession as a means for spreading the faith, by his attitude to his patients as well as by explicit instruction. He was devoted to the poor, often treating them without demanding payment; and he would spend much time in devising medicines that could be made from inexpensive materials. Realizing that the care of the soul is more important than the care of the body, Juvenal would always urge the sick to turn to a priest for spiritual healing before he would start treatment. For recreation, Juvenal would listen to music, compose Latin verse, and play chess. He belonged to a religious confraternity and studied theology on his own, although it seems that he must have had some association with the Augustinians.

Such was the life that Juvenal was leading when he went to a Requiem Mass at the Augustinian monastery. The words of the Dies Irae filled him with an overwhelming fear of judgment. On his way home the words of the prophet Zephaniah tormented him: ‘The day of the Lord is near; the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter.’ Although he had led an objectively blameless life, Juvenal realized that he could do more with the wonderful talents God had given him. That very day, he decided to give up what little of worldly vanity he indulged in and to devote himself to seeking the Will of God alone. He applied himself to prayer and spiritual reading to determine what God wanted of him.

In 1574, Juvenal was asked to accompany the ambassador of the Duke of Savoy to Rome as his personal physician. He arrived in the city the following year and found that he had plenty of free time. Juvenal decided to take advantage of the situation and began to study theology full time, under no less a master than Saint Robert Bellarmine.

Surprisingly enough, Juvenal had been in Rome for over a year before he visited the newly-established Congregation of the Oratory. Obviously taken by the Oratory, Juvenal started to attend the daily exercises. He wrote of this in one of the many letters he sent to his brother, Giovan Matteo:

For some days past I have taken up a new habit, for I have been frequenting in the afternoons the Oratory of San Giovanni de Fiorentini, where every day most beautiful spiritual discourses are delivered upon the Gospel, the virtues and vices, history, ecclesiastical history, and the lives of the Saints. Every day there are four or five who preach; and the audience includes bishops, prelates, and other distinguished men... Those who preach are persons well versed in theology, and of edifying lives, and of as great a spirituality as can be found in Rome. At their head is a certain Reverend Don Filippo, now an old man of sixty, but stupendous in many respects, and especially for his sanctity of life, his admirable prudence, and his ingenuity in devising and promoting spiritual exercises.

Juvenal also wrote that Philip had a great reputation for discerning religious vocations and that he would ask the Saint about joining the Carthusians as he and Giovan Matteo were planning to do. Both brothers were both greatly edified by a successful lawyer form Turin who gave up all to become a Carthusian and they determined to do the same. Saint Philip, however, dissuaded the brothers from carrying out this plan. Rather, after putting Juvenal off for some time in order to test his sincerity, he suggested the Oratory to them. They were both accepted as postulants on the first of October 1578.

Four years later, Juvenal was ordained. And four years after that, in 1586, he was sent to the new Oratory in Naples. During his stay in Rome, Juvenal put into practice the teachings of his holy superior. He loved to be unknown, taking upon himself hidden tasks. And he was always obedient, for in that virtue he saw the best antidote to pride and the best teacher of humility. In order to remain firmly rooted in his vocation and perhaps to remind himself of the powerful conversion he experienced during the Requiem Mass, Juvenal would meditate on the inevitability of death. He kept a skull in his room with the following lines written under it: O thou who lookest now on me, As thou art now, I once have been, As I am now thou soon wilt be. Think upon this and walk with God.

Juvenal spent ten years in Naples, leading a life that would have been singularly pleasing to Saint Philip, had the holy father gone to Naples to see for himself. Apart from his preaching, almsgiving, and spiritual direction, two activities stand out. Ever the doctor, and ever the son of Philip, Juvenal had great concern for the sick. He set up an association of Christian ladies to help alleviate the suffering in hospitals; and he insisted that the group have its weekly prayer meetings in the hospital lest it lose sight of its original purpose. Juvenal also put his talent for poetry to use. The Neapolitans had a passion for music. Unfortunately many beautiful melodies were debased by offensive lyrics. Juvenal took the most popular of these songs and wrote religious verses for them. He had them published; and soon many people were singing the melodies with the new words. The songs, it should be mentioned, were never made part of the liturgy. Juvenal did much also to make the liturgy more solemn and beautiful through sacred music.

After nearly ten years of an exemplary Oratorian life, Juvenal became troubled with a temptation to leave his vocation and become a Carthusian so as to be able to give more time to prayer. At the same time, however, he also had a great longing to do more apostolic work among the laity than the community life of the Oratory would allow. Since Saint Philip had died before this temptation arose, it became the task of Baronius and Tarugi to dissuade Juvenal from leaving the congregation. Their long letters could not convince him that it was God's Will that he remain an Oratorian; yet, they convinced him not to make a rash decision. The Roman fathers recalled Juvenal from Naples in 1596 to make up for the loss of Philip. Perhaps, too, they sought to stabilize his vocation. Once in Rome, Juvenal went to see the Pope about his desire to join the Carthusians. Clement VIII not only dissuaded him but outright forbade him to join the order; and Juvenal acquiesced in the decision.

In Rome, another situation arose which was most painful to Juvenal – the Pope seemed to want to make him a bishop. To an Oratorian this is most painful because it means leaving the community and having to accept something that Saint Philip clearly did not desire for himself or for his spiritual children. A Saint also fears this dignity because he understands the responsibility of the office and the many temptations to vain glory associated with it. Terrified of the dignity, Blessed Juvenal decided to flee from Rome. On 2 December 1597, he left the Oratory in the morning and did not return at night. Instead, he made his way north-east; and after wandering for some weeks, ended up at the Oratory in San Severino. Five months later, he was found, and received an imperative order to return to Rome. Juvenal obeyed; and, to his great delight, the danger of his being made a bishop had passed while he had been away.

Yet, Juvenal could not avoid the episcopate for ever. In 1602, the duke of Savoy asked the Pope to fill two vacant sees in his dominion. Clement VIII personally charged Juvenal to accept one of these. ‘It is time to obey’, he said, ‘and not to fly’. Thus, on the first of September 1602, Juvenal was consecrated bishop and given the diocese of Saluzzo, only 15 kilometers north of his native Fossano.

Although political troubles kept him from reaching the diocese until the spring of 1603 and death claimed him in 1604, Juvenal was able to restore discipline and the revive to a large extent the practice of the Catholic Faith in Saluzzo, which, being so close to Protestant Switzerland, was in particular danger of losing the Faith. In general, Juvenal tried to correct abuses by kind entreaties; but if these failed, he did not hesitate to exercise his authority. A friar in Saluzzo was having an affair with a nun. Rather than listen to the bishop's pleading, the friar was determined to continue in his sin. When it became obvious that Juvenal would use the full force of his authority to separate the two paramours, the friar sought an opportunity to kill him. At a great feast held in honour of Saint Bernard on August the twentieth, the friar put poison in Juvenal's wine. It took eleven days for the poison to do its work, days which Blessed Juvenal spent in agony. He was fully aware of what had happened, yet he forbade all around him to talk of poison and the wayward friar who had escaped. He finally died on August 31.

The words of Saint Francis de Sales best summarize the virtues of Blessed Juvenal. The two became friends in 1599 when Saint Francis was in Rome for a few months. They were appointed bishops on the same day. After Juvenal's death, Saint Francis wrote this testimony in favour of his beatification.

[Among all the distinguished and saintly men I met in Rome, and far beyond all these], the virtues of this great prelate shone conspicuous. I marvelled much to see, that to so great a learning he united so lowly an opinion of himself, to so much gravity of countenance and speech so pleasing and cheerful a demeanor, and to so lofty a mind so singular a sweetness and affability of manner. With him it was not as with the greater part of men, that high station and great acquirements brought with them pride and self-complacency; he did not exhibit his charity with learning, but rather his learning with charity. In fine, he cherished an ardent love of God and a tender charity for his neighbour, and in return he was truly dear to both God and man. We call that love sincere in which we cannot trace a single thought of self, and this exalted feeling is rarely found but in those who have well nigh reached the height of perfection.

Blessed Anthony Grassi (1592-1671) entered the Oratory in Fermo at a young age and eventually became its superior. The Fermo Oratory no longer exists, but its memory is perpetuated in Blessed Anthony.

Liturgical Feast Day is December 15

Anthony Grassi was born in 1592, three years before Philip's death, in Fermo, a town of a few thousand inhabitants on the Adriatic coast. He was the eldest child of five born to a devout middle class family. Antonio was a good natured and intelligent boy, and quickly gained the respect and admiration of his teachers and friends. He showed early signs of piety in his frequent attendance of daily Mass which he would serve on his way to school. The first experience of suffering that Anthony encountered, it seems, was a long illness at the age of ten which was soon followed by the death of his father. But Anthony's spirit was not to be conquered by life's blows. He took to frequenting the newly founded Oratory in Fermo more often than he used to and received regular spiritual direction from Father Ricci who had known Saint Philip personally. The Fathers all took a liking to Anthony and he in turn presented himself to the Congregation as a postulant just before his seventeenth birthday in 1609.

Anthony's natural intelligence and love of learning made his studies for the priesthood a pleasant time in his life. His good memory made it possible for him to acquire an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Bible, the Fathers of the Church, and the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Anthony also received a spiritual formation to complement his academic achievements.

Each year Anthony made a pilgrimage to the holy house of Loreto which was only twenty miles away. On one such visit, Anthony was struck by lightning and knocked unconscious. He received the anointing of the sick and the doctors gave him little hope of recovery. But God had other plans for him. Anthony was completely healed through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin; and from that time on recognized all the more his dependence on God and sought all the more to dedicate himself completely to His Will.

In 1625, Anthony went on a pilgrimage to Rome, which turned out to be his only trip away from Fermo except for his yearly pilgrimage to Loretto. In Rome, Anthony went to see all the places that Saint Philip used to frequent and also to learn as much as he could about Saint Philip from Father Pietro Consolini who had known the Saint intimately. Anthony meditated upon this knowledge and applied it in his own life for ten years before imparting it more explicitly to others when he was elected superior of the Fermo Oratory in 1635. Anthony retained the position of superior for the next 36 years until his death in 1671. In his government of the Oratory, Anthony imitated the gentleness of Saint Philip and of his Divine Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

Perhaps the life of Blessed Anthony does not immediately strike our imagination. He did not go off half-way across the world to spread the faith as did Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Jean de Brebeuf, or other well known missionaries. He is not known for great feats of physical mortification. He left no learned writings to make his name known in seminaries and universities. He did not found a religious order or institute. And his life was not as permeated with the supernatural as was Philip's who also shunned all worldly honours. Anthony's life was a hidden one in a small provincial town in an institute whose priests and brothers should strive to be unknown; and there he found his peace. Perhaps, the very commonness of his life should make him of special interest to us and to our restless age.

Anthony accepted that Divine Providence had placed him in Fermo. He was born there; there was an Oratory there which he liked; there was no need to go elsewhere to seek his vocation. Anthony was able to discern among the familiar sights of youth a call to a divine work which needs to be carried out among the commonplace.

Anthony also realized that whatever vocation we are called to, we can be sanctified in it by doing each task well, no matter how menial and seemingly unimportant. One of his oft-repeated maxims was ‘ad litteram, ad litteram’, meaning, to the letter - to follow the rules of the institute to the letter. This attitude requires humility. It requires humility to subject ourselves to a law or a lawmaker. And it requires wisdom and humility to recognize that there is virtue in following a rule - whether it be a rule of a religious community, a rule of a place of work, a rule of family life, or one of the ten commandments. All good laws are there to help us become better as individuals and to smoothen the functioning of society. When we ignore all laws and rules and act just to please ourselves, order breaks down in society and in our souls; we become slaves to the law of our passions. Anthony feared this breakdown in the harmonious life of the Oratory whose few rules help to establish the spirit of Saint Philip, and, hence, he always demanded that the rule be kept by others and ensured that it was by keeping it himself.

One of the works that Blessed Anthony was especially known for was visiting the sick and the dying. He ever kept the reality of death before him which helped him to remain faithful to his vocation. He knew that nothing in this life is permanent, that there is no point in trying to find our complete happiness here but that we must seek it from God in heaven. In 1671, as Blessed Anthony lay dying he said with great joy, "What a beautiful thing it is to die a son of Saint Philip." There is no better end to an Oratorian vocation.

Sebastian Valfre (1629-1710) spent most of his life in the Turin Oratory. There are many references to him on the web because of his connection with the Shroud of Turin, but there is not much information about him as an Oratorian. The following short biography is based on Lady Amabel Kerr’s The Life of Blessed Sebastian Valfre (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1896)

Liturgical Feast Day is January 30

Sebastian was a young impoverished seminarian, studying under the Jesuits in Turin, when the Oratory was started in that city in 1649. Although the congregation had a successful beginning – six novices, all priests, almost immediately joined the two founders – it nearly ceased to be when the superior died a year later. The six novices left; and the work of the congregation fell to one holy priest, Father Cambiani, who, however, had aptitude neither for preaching nor for hearing confessions. His evident love of God, his devotion to Saint Philip, and a beautiful singing voice kept the little church entrusted to the Oratory full, but he new that he would need help in order to continue. Less than a year later, Sebastian, not yet a deacon, joined Father Cambiani, receiving the habit on Saint Philip's day in 1651. Soon after, some priests joined the congregation; and although it would take another seventeen years for the community to find a suitable location, the Turin Oratory was firmly established.

A week after joining Father Cambiani, Sebastian was ordained deacon. He immediately started preaching in the church and visiting the sick and the needy. He also continued to study theology under the Jesuits; but when Father Ormea, a learned theologian, joined the Congregation, Sebastian was able to complete his studies under him. In 1652, Sebastian was ordained priest, a month before his twenty-third birthday. For the next fifty-eight years, he would serve in the community, at various times as Prefect of Little Oratory, as Novice Master, and, for twenty years, as Superior.

Blessed Sebastian was, of course, a holy priest. His many activities in quest of souls were well known throughout Turin. He was revered in the hospitals which he would often visit to anoint the sick and to console them with his presence and by preaching the word of God. He was well known in the market places where he would preach to the large numbers of idle sedan-chair carriers who were waiting for their masters to finish their business. But his most popular apostolate was the catechism lessons he would give to throngs of young children on Sundays at noon. Sebastian began this work shortly after joining the Oratory and continued it for the greater part of his life. Only a saint could persevere. The children were for the most part ignorant, rambunctious, and exceedingly filthy, which made the atmosphere in the church, heated by the noon-day sun, almost unbearable. Yet, Sebastian's patient and sweet manner soon prevailed, and these catechism classes became so popular that many adults filled the church. Sebastian's explanations were so simple and clear that they applied to all ages.

Sebastian's care for the poor, the sick, the dying, for prisoners and orphans was well known throughout Turin and appreciated in the highest places. The Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel, had a new residence built for the congregation; and Sebastian was obliged to become the confessor to the next Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus. This kind of intimacy with royalty was fraught with danger. The young duke, who would often act against the advice of his confessor, was nevertheless fond of Sebastian, so much so, that he wanted to make him the Archbishop of Turin. Sebastian had to go to great lengths to avoid the dignity and the office of which he considered himself unworthy and incapable. He was also guided by Saint Philip's explicit wish that his spiritual sons shun such dignities; and he did not want to be taken from the congregation.

There was however one advantage to being intimate with the Dukes of Savoy. Sebastian had a great devotion to the Shroud of Turin and would visit it every Friday if at all possible. When the relic of Christ’s Passion was moved to the Guarini Chapel in the Cathedral of Turin in 1694, Victor Amadeus asked Sebastian to sow on a backing cloth and to mend it in several places. This gave Sebastian many hours with the Shroud during which he gave free rein to his devotion. As Amabel Kerr puts it: ‘Blessed Sebastian knelt for hours as he did his work, speechless, wand with the tears flowing down his cheeks.’

Blessed Sebastian's sanctity, under God, arose from his struggles to conform himself to Saint Philip – and that was quite a task. Whereas Philip was gentle and kind by nature, Sebastian was harsh and prone to outbursts of anger. Philip had to refrain from extended prayer in public for fear of going into ecstasy. Sebastian experienced nothing but dryness in prayer, and had to keep his mind from wandering. The thought of death and judgment so tormented him that he could not sleep at night. And Sebastian found one of the principal works of the Oratory – the hearing of confessions – so repugnant that the congregation could not prevail upon him to accept faculties until ten years after his ordination. Yet, he was able to overcome all these difficulties and always to maintain a serene and joyful expression, so that everyone considered him to be another Saint Philip.

Community life presented Sebastian with many opportunities for mortifying his short temper. When teaching theology to the novices, he had to endure a student who had no interest in the subject and showed his annoyance by constantly arguing and contradicting the professor. Sebastian patiently answered his objections and did not betray his own displeasure, although, as he confided to one of the fathers, the very sight of the man filled him with repugnance. The novice subsequently left the congregation; more serious, however, and more enduring was Sebastian's natural antipathy for one of the fathers. He admitted that there was nothing objectively wrong with the priest but that the dislike was so strong that he had to take a private vow to endure the father's company. Sebastian believed that he never once betrayed his feelings and was grateful for the opportunity to mortify his nature which he recognized to be imperfect.

Sebastian had a beautiful plaster Crucifix, over the prie-Dieu in his room, to which he was quite attached. He once asked a father to get some papers for him which were inside the flap of the prie-Dieu. In opening the flap, the priest let it slip; and it shattered the crucifix into tiny pieces. Sebastian, although he was in the room when it happened, remained calm, told the father not to trouble himself with it, and swept up the pieces himself.

After many years in the congregation, there were few things to which Sebastian remained attached. He did, however, have a great desire to go to Rome, and so he was filled with joy when the superior asked him and another priest to go there on business. Because of his popular reputation for sanctity, many people came to the docks on the River Po to see him off. The two fathers were already on board when Sebastian's travelling companion handed him a note from the superior telling him that the trip was cancelled and that Sebastian was to return to the Oratory. Sebastian left the boat, saying cheerfully to his friend: ‘Come, let us return home; the journey to Rome is at an end.’ He never did get a chance to see Rome in the future.

The Congregation of the Oratory derives its name from a place of prayer; and Saint Philip used to say that anyone who did not intend to pray should leave the community. Sebastian, although he was intent on praying, found prayer extremely difficult. He found it dry, and God seemed to be very far away from him. When engaged in mental prayer, Sebastian found it hard to concentrate, although he was careful to prepare his meditations. The inability to concentrate was especially painful to him when saying his office; and he seems to have given in to scruples on occasion, reciting the office more than once. And at Mass, too, he found it difficult to concentrate, although for a brief time after Communion, his soul found some peace.

As painful as the dryness in prayer must have been, the thought of death and the subsequent judgment tormented Sebastian to a much greater degree. Although he had led an objectively holy life, he was terrified of the judgment, considering himself to be a weak creature who might at any time fall from grace. This thought kept him awake for many nights and almost caused him to despair. We have an account of Sebastian's state of mind in his own words. He used to write out his thoughts in order to understand them more clearly. Shortly before his death, Sebastian burned all his writings, but fortunately for us, a priest to whom he had shown these tortured thoughts had secretly copied some of them.

I feel within me such anguish that my very soul is wrung by it . The trouble began by a darkness of mind so great that I could find no relief. It seemed to me as if I had lost hope of salvation, and that there was no way out of the thick night. I would have given the whole world for even one gleam of interior light by which to know what to do and how to fulfil God's Will. There was no one to whom I could turn for help, for such crosses are not easily understood by those who have not themselves experienced them. Meanwhile, my spirit failed me lest I should be damned, and I lived in a constant state of terror. I knew not what to do except to wait for the mercy of God; for I am resolved to do what I can to abound in His grace. Meanwhile, all I can do is to cry out, ‘May He have mercy on me.’ Oh, state of agony, misery, and darkness! Oh, what a Cross! But, O my God, though Thou slay me, yet I will hope in Thee.

Sebastian remained in this state of anguish for many years. But, although he suffered interiorly, he was able to lead his penitents in the way of Christian joy associated with his spiritual father, Saint Philip. Sebastian, himself, acknowledged the value of these torments in teaching him perfect detachment from all earthly things. Others have seen them as protecting his humility from his admiring disciples who were intent on bestowing every honour upon the Saint.

Sebastian was favoured with the knowledge of the time of his own death. He prepared himself for it by giving away all his possessions, by burning all his writings, but by otherwise keeping to his busy schedule of pastoral visits. On 25 January 1710, he was detained on one such visit and had to hurry back to be in time for evening Oratory. On account of the perspiration he had developed, he caught a chill when baring his back to take the discipline and died on 30 January 1710. He suffered much during the week of illness, but on the morning of the twenty-ninth, a peaceful calm settled upon his tormented soul. It did not last, however. Towards evening, spiritual anguish once more seized him and remained with him until 8:30 the next morning, at which time he died. He was eighty years old.

Blessed Sebastian is a model of perseverance and a great source of hope. He fought against imperfections such as his temper and repugnances and prevailed. And he persevered in prayer although he did not find any consolation there, but, more often than not, spiritual torment. Yet, God used these means to purify him and present him to the outside world as a great saint full of Christian joy. His exemplary life of holiness would inspire the Church in Turin for many generations.

In 1835, a year after Sebastian was beatified, there was a solemn translation of his relics. Overshadowed at the time by royalty and ecclesiastical dignitaries, there were three future saints in the crowd. There was Saint Joseph Cottolengo, who devoted himself to the care of the destitute sick; Saint Joseph Cafasso, whose work with prisoners caught the imagination of all Turin; and Saint John Bosco, whose work with children is known to the whole world. All of these could draw their spiritual lineage both by inspiration and imitation to Blessed Sebastian Valfre.

Saint Luigi

Liturgical Feast Day is October 5

Aloysius Dominic Scrosoppi (always known as Luigi) was born on August 4th, 1804 in the town of Udine in northeast Italy. His father was a prosperous goldsmith, Domenico Scrosoppi, and his mother was called Antonia Aloisia Lazzarini. The family was staunchly Catholic and produced vocations: three of the sons were to become priests. Luigi’s mother had been married before, and by her first marriage had had two sons, Carlo and Giovanni Battista Filaferro. Carlo, Luigi’s elder half-brother, was to have a great influence over the life of the future Saint, as a spiritual guide and mentor.

In 1806 Carlo Filaferro entered the Congregation of the Oratory in Udine. This Oratorian house had been founded in 1650 and served the church of S. Maria Maddalena (now demolished – the Central Post Office occupies its site). Carlo was ordained priest in 1809, but the following year the Congregation was suppressed, and the twelve Fathers and three Brothers were expelled from their house and church. We need to remember that this was the age of Napoleon and of short-lived revolutionary governments – a time of difficulty for the Church, when so much of the cultural, spiritual and material heritage of Catholic Europe was wrecked. It was on the orders of the Napoleonic regime in northern Italy that the Oratory was suppressed. F. Carlo returned to live with his mother, stepfather and their children, and probably taught the little ones their first lessons in the Faith.

Peace returned to Italy in 1814, and in the years that followed the young Luigi became more and more convinced of his own priestly vocation. In 1817 he became an external student at the Archdiocesan Seminary in Udine and was conspicuously successful, with a brilliant academic record. He was ordained priest on March 31st, 1827, the Saturday before Passion Sunday, in Udine Cathedral, and said his first Mass the following day in the old Oratory Church of S. Maria Maddalena. The former Oratorian priests still served the Church and many of the old Oratory practices and devotions continued.

Luigi brought to his priestly work a character both forceful and concentrated, and although he was both clever and articulate, he was never given to self-expression or the vaunting of his own merits. He soon became involved with his half-brother, Carlo, in helping to run the 'Casa delle Derelitte', an orphanage for girls, situated close to the Oratory Church. The orphanage had been founded in 1816 by F. Gaetano Salomoni, from the suppressed Oratory of Mantova, a town in the Po Valley, halfway between Bologna and Brescia. By the end of 1817 there were some forty girls and women there and F. Carlo had joined the work. F. Luigi worked hard for these destitutes, and a series of bad harvests meant he had to devote much time to begging in the streets and shops to obtain food for the girls’ supper. Perhaps this experience was the cause of the desire he expressed at this time to become a Capuchin Friar; more difficulties, including an outbreak of cholera, led him to abandon such hopes. A new house was obtained and a steady supply of money put things on a better footing. By 1840, F. Luigi was the guiding light of the institute. At the same time, he began to lay the foundations for other such houses for poor girls, children and deaf-mutes. He recruited several schoolmistresses to help him in his work – these soon decided on becoming nuns. On Christmas Day, 1845, fifteen of them received the habit and were constituted as a religious congregation, known as The Sisters of Providence, under the patronage of S. Gaetano.

While these developments were taking place, there were also moves to re-establish the Oratory in Udine. The first, unofficial, regrouping took place in 1842, and in 1846 the Oratory was formally reopened, with the surviving Fathers from the suppression of 1810 returning to their house and church. F. Carlo was elected Provost and held the position until his death in 1854. F. Luigi received the Oratorian habit and began to devote much of his time to the Christian formation of the working- and student-youth of Udine. During the revolution of 1848 he worked tirelessly amongst the wounded.

In 1856, F. Luigi was elected Provost of the Oratory and found himself the superior of a group of six priests. Soon after his election the fortunes of the Udine Oratory took a turn for the worse, and as there were no local vocations, Fathers were lent from other houses in order to support all the works that were going on. 1883 Letter The advent of Italian unification in the 1860s and the arrival of an anti-clerical government resulted in the passing of a law suppressing all religious congregations. This was a death-blow for many Italian Oratories. F. Luigi fought fiercely against the application of this law, and although he managed to preserve the Sisters of Providence, the Udine Oratory was suppressed in 1867. This was the end of Luigi’s community life as an Oratorian, but not the end of his devotion to S Philip and the Oratory. He maintained Oratorian principles and practices to the end of his life, always signing himself 'F. Luigi of the Oratory'. He left his possessions to the Congregation should it ever be re-established, and left instructions that on his grave the words 'Presbyter Oratorii' should appear.

The remaining years of Luigi’s life saw him devoted to furthering the work of the Sisters of Providence and also acting as a redoubtable champion of Blessed Pope Pius IX and his policies. After an illness of three months, he died on April 3rd, 1884, and was buried in his home town of Udine.

In his spiritual life Luigi had a great devotion to Our Lord as a poor and humble man, and he taught the Sisters to see Christ in the poor and the suffering. Luigi also had a great love for Our Lady, especially Our Lady of Sorrows, for S. Joseph, and, of course, for S. Philip, whom he strove to imitate closely, especially in his love of humility and retirement from the gaze of the world. Also like S. Philip, a spirit of cheerfulness and gaiety marked Luigi’s life. His complete indifference to earthly reputation and honour was reflected in what he said to his nuns as he lay dying: 'I do not want this poor man even to be remembered'.

The likelihood of this last wish being respected was always remote. Miraculous cures through Luigi’s intercession were reported within days of the Saint’s death – one was the restoration to health of a dying child. Interestingly, the miracle which has secured the canonisation is in the same line as the earliest one recorded.

It happened in 1996, when Peter Changu Shitima, a young catechist from Zambia, was at home, dying from AIDS, a disease now endemic in many parts of Africa. Doctors had decided that nothing more could be done for the young man. One witness said: 'He could scarcely lift his legs, and had developed a serious case of peripheral neuritis. He could not stay in bed without help. He was a terminal AIDS patient and nothing could be done.' Peter’s parish began to pray to Blessed Luigi for him, as he was his favourite figure, one with whose charism he especially identified. On the night of October 9th, 1996, Peter dreamed of Luigi, and the following morning he woke up feeling completely better. One of the doctors involved in the case, Dr Pete de Toit, has said: 'I sent him home because he was a terminal patient, and he returned brimming with health.' The doctors agreed that there was no medical explanation for the cure, and the Pope recognised that what had happened was indeed a miracle. The necessary documents were signed by the Pope on July 1st, 2000, allowing the canonisation to proceed.

Blessed Joseph Vaz (1651-1711) was born in Goa but is known especially for his missionary activities in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). His may not be the typical Oratorian vocation, but the Christians of Sri Lanka are grateful to him and the Christians of Goa are very much devoted to him. His feast day is January 16.

Liturgical Feast Day is January 16

1651	Born in Benaulim, Goa, India, on April 21.
1676	Is ordained a priest. Volunteers to go to Sri Lanka where the Dutch were persecuting Catholics. The Chapter of Goa refuses his offer because it would have meant death. Writes a touching “Letter of Bondage” on August 5, offering himself as Mary’s slave.
1681	Is sent to rescue the abandoned mission in Kanara present-day Karnataka in India. Rebuilds the Church in Mangalore and Kanara, establishes missions, tends to the sick, ransoms prisoners.
1684	Returns to Goa and joins a band of native Indian priests who formed a community.
1685	Founds the first fully native Congregation, Oratory of St. Philip Neri, on September 25.
1686	Leaves Goa secretly for Sri Lanka.
1687	Arrives in Jaffna in the Tamil region of Sri Lanka, with a servant, John Vat, both disguised as coolies. Works with a price on his head, working by night, hiding by day.
1691	Is almost captured by the Dutch and is advised to go to Kandy. Is brought into Kandy in chains and imprisoned as a Portuguese spy by the Buddhist King.
1693	Works a miracle of rain during a severe drought. The King releases him and gives him protection and freedom to preach in his kingdom. As in Goa and in Mangalore, is often seen in ecstasy in prayer. The people call him “Sammana Swami” or Angelic Father.
1697	Is joined by three of his Indian Oratorians from Goa. During a small-pox epidemic in Kandy, the King and the people flee the capital. Fr. Vaz and Fr. Carvalho, tend to the dying and abandoned victims for two years. The King’s Muslim physician rescues his mission from angry nobles in Kandy.
1705	Dedicates the Miraculous Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, one of the crowned Shrines. Dies in Kandy on January 16, after 23 years of arduous missionary work in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist King of Kandy permits him the honor of a public funeral.
1713	Bishop of Cochin initiates the process of Fr. Vaz's Beatification. These first efforts stalled.
1835	Oratorian order suppresses by anti-clerical regime in Portuguese Government.
1953	Beatification Process started by the Archdiocese of Goa completed and sent to the Vatican.
1989	The Vatican: Decree on Herocity of Virtues of Fr. Joseph Vaz is pronounced by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
1993	July 6th: Pope John Paul II promulgates the Decree on the miracle attributed to the intercession of Fr. Joseph Vaz, thus bringing to a close the Process of Beatification.
1995	Pope John Paul II on visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka declares Fr. Joseph Vaz 'Blessed'

John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) is the best-known Oratorian in the English speaking world. Shortly after his conversion to Catholicism in 1845, he founded the Birmingham Oratory, and then sent Father Faber to London to found an Oratory there. The amount of scholarship on Newman is truly staggering (as is his own list of publications).

Founder of the Birmingham Oratory, England

John Henry Newman was born on 21st February, 1801, in London, the eldest son of a London banker. His family were ordinary church-going members of the Church of England, without any strong religious tendencies, though the young John Henry did learn at an early age to take a great delight in the Bible. He was sent to Ealing School in 1808, and it was there, eight years later, that he underwent a profound religious conversion, which was to determine the rest of his life as a quest for spiritual perfection. In 1817 he entered Trinity College, Oxford, where he was a very successful student. Five years later he was elected to a coveted Fellowship of leading Oriel College. He was ordained and worked, first as a curate in the poor Oxford Parish of Saint Clement’s, and a little later as Vicar of the University Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. There, his spiritual influence on his parishioners and the members of the University was truly enormous. He worked as a College Tutor, and a little later began to research the first of the many theological works which were to put him at the forefront of religious writers.

In 1833 he went on a tour of the Mediterranean with a friend who was in very poor health. While in Sicily he himself fell desperately ill with fever. On his recovery it struck him that God had spared him to perform a special task in England. On his return home he eagerly set about organising what was to become know as the Oxford Movement. The Movement, which spread rapidly, was intended to combat three evils threatening the Church of England – spiritual stagnation, interference from the state, and doctrinal unorthodoxy.

When studying the history of the early Christian Fathers in 1839, Newman received an unexpected shock, for it appeared that the position of his own Church bore a close resemblance to that of the early heretics. He was also worried when many of the English Bishops denounced one if his works a few years later – some not just denouncing but going out of the way to espouse heretical positions themselves. He decided to partly retire from Oxford, and, joined by a few others a little later, he moved to quarters at the nearby hamlet of Littlemore. For three years he lived a strict religious life, praying for light and guidance. By 1845 he saw his way clear, and on 9th October he was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Father, now Blessed, Dominic Barberi. He had at last found ‘the One True Fold of the Redeemer’.

Conversions meant ostracism by friends and relatives. Undaunted, Newman set out for Rome to study for the priesthood. While there he became attracted by the idea of the Oratory – a Congregation of priests founded by Saint Philip Neri in the sixteenth century. He founded the first English Oratory at Maryvale, near Birmingham, in 1848, moving soon afterwards to Alcester Street, near the town centre, where he converted a disused gin distillery into a chapel. They moved to a new and more permanent base three years later, but throughout continued to be engulfed by work among the poor Catholics of what was soon to become a city.

In 1851 the Bishops of Ireland decided that a separate University should be established for Catholics, and invited Newman to become its founder and first Rector. It was a demanding task for an older man, but despite the strain of fifty six crossings to and from Ireland in seven years, he succeeding in establishing what is know today as University College, Dublin.

When he returned to England, Newman faced a life of trials, as he was suspected and even resented by some in authority. Several projects which he took up, including a magazine for educated Catholics, a mission at Oxford, and a new translation of the Bible, met with rejection or failure.

During old age, Newman continued in Birmingham, quietly writing, preaching and counselling (from the age of twenty three he had been above all a pastor – ‘a father of souls’) until, when seventy eight, a big surprise came. As a tribute to his extraordinary work and devotion, Pope Leo XIII made the unprecedented gesture of naming Newman, an ordinary priest, a Cardinal. After a life of trials the news came as an joyful relief and Newman declared ‘the cloud is lifted for ever’. Cardinal Newman died on 11th August 1890 and received a universal tribute of praise. The Times wrote: ‘whether Rome canonises him or not he will be canonised in the thoughts of pious people of many creeds in England.’ The Cork Examiner affirmed that, ‘Cardinal Newman goes to his grave with singular honour of being by all creeds and classes acknowledged as the just man made perfect.’

---

Home | Contact | Top of Page | Privacy Policy  | Jobs

The Oratory School System is in compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, or national and/or ethnic origin in the administration of its admissions and educational policies, financial aid programs, employment practices, and associated school administered programs.

The informational content of this official site is provided by Oratory Schools Administration, Staff, and Students.

© 2008 The Pharr Oratory of St. Philip Neri School System