Apostolus Urbis, Pater Spiritualis Romae
Feast: 26 May — III. classis
I. Identity and Scriptural Foundation
Among the radiant company of confessors whom the Holy Ghost raised up in the sixteenth century to renew the face of the Church, none shines with so singular a brightness, nor with so winsome a charity, as Sanctus Philippus Nerius — Philip Neri, the Florentine by birth, the Roman by adoption, called by the people of his own day secundus Apostolus Romae, the second Apostle of Rome. Born in Florence on the 21st day of July, 1515, and falling asleep in the Lord at Rome on the 26th of May, 1595, his life spans precisely that turbulent century in which the Mystical Body of Christ was lacerated by the Protestant revolt and divinely refreshed by the Catholic Reformation.
The Holy Ghost, who blows where He wills (Spiritus ubi vult spirat, Io. iii, 8), chose Philip as a vessel of joyful sanctity, fulfilling in him that word of the Apostle: Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete — “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice” (Phil. iv, 4). And again, of the just man: Cor laetum exhilarat faciem — “A joyful heart maketh a cheerful countenance” (Prov. xv, 13). Few saints have so visibly verified these inspired sayings as did the Apostle of Rome, whose face, even in advanced age, was wont to shine with a supernatural mirth that drew sinners to penance more powerfully than the sternest exhortations of others.
II. Manner of Life and Heroic Virtues
Born of pious though modest parentage — his father Francesco being a notary of Florence — Philip received his early formation under the Dominicans of San Marco, that very priory hallowed by the memory of Sant’Antonino and of Fra Angelico. From his youth he showed a tender devotion to the Passion of Our Lord and a marked aversion from worldly ambition. About the year 1533, being some eighteen years of age, he was sent to San Germano near Monte Cassino to learn commerce under a wealthy kinsman; but, hearing the divine vocation, he secretly departed, abandoning all expectation of inheritance, and made his way to Rome — that city which he would never thereafter leave, save in spirit when he longed to die among the heathen as a martyr.
In Rome, Philip lived for some seventeen years as a layman of singular austerity, lodging in a garret, sustaining himself on bread, water, and a few olives, and giving himself to nocturnal prayer in the catacombs of San Sebastiano outside the walls. It was there, in the catacomb of San Sebastiano in the year 1544, on the vigil of Pentecost, that he received the most celebrated grace of his life: while rapt in prayer, a globe of fire was seen to enter his mouth and descend into his breast, whereupon his heart was so dilated by divine love that two of his ribs were broken outward to make room for the fervor that consumed him. This prodigy, attested under oath at the process of canonization by physicians who examined his body after death, is no pious fable but a verified physical phenomenon — a corporeal sign of the ignis caritatis which the Holy Ghost had enkindled within him.
His virtues were of the rarest order. His humility was so profound that he sought by every means to appear ridiculous: walking through Rome with half his beard shaven, wearing a great fur cloak in summer, suffering himself to be mocked rather than venerated. His charity toward sinners was inexhaustible; he was wont to say, “Preferisco il paradiso” — “I prefer paradise” — yet he labored for souls as though paradise depended upon his exertions. His chastity was angelic, and the Lord granted him such mastery over the flesh that, as he himself confessed to his disciples, after the descent of the Holy Ghost into his heart he no longer felt the rebellion of concupiscence. His mortification was hidden under a veil of cheerfulness, for he taught — and herein lies one of his characteristic doctrines — that spiritus alacer is itself the surest sign of true mortification: he who is truly dead to self can afford to laugh.
III. Ecclesial Role: Founder of the Oratory
Ordained priest only in 1551, at the age of thirty-six and after long resistance to the dignity, Philip established his residence at the church of San Girolamo della Carità, where for many years he heard confessions from the first light of dawn until well into the night. He possessed in extraordinary measure the gift of cardiognosis, the reading of hearts: penitents found that he named their sins before they had spoken, and many were converted at his feet who had come merely out of curiosity.
About the year 1556, Philip began to gather in his rooms a company of laymen and clerics for spiritual discourses, the reading of Sacred Scripture and the lives of the saints, the singing of hymns (the laudi spirituali), and, above all, mental prayer. These gatherings, held in the oratorium or upper chamber, gave their name to the institute which gradually took shape under his direction. The Congregatio Oratorii, the Congregation of the Oratory, was formally approved by Pope Gregory XIII in the Bull Copiosus in misericordia of the 15th of July, 1575, with the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova) as its principal seat.
The Oratorians, unlike the religious orders properly so called, take no solemn vows; they live in community under the bond of charity alone, devoting themselves to preaching, the sacrament of penance, and the formation of the laity. This was a providential innovation, particularly fitted to the renewal of secular clergy in an age when the parochial ministry stood in urgent need of reform. From this same Oratorian milieu sprang the great ecclesiastical historian Cardinal Cesare Baronio, whose Annales Ecclesiastici — undertaken at Philip’s express command and under his obedience — remains a monument of Catholic historiography against the Protestant Centuriators of Magdeburg.
Philip’s influence upon the Catholic Reformation can scarcely be overstated. He was the spiritual father or intimate friend of nearly every great reformer of the age: St. Charles Borromeo, St. Ignatius of Loyola (who said of Philip that his bell was small but rang loudly), St. Camillus de Lellis, St. Felix of Cantalice, St. Francis de Sales (who venerated him deeply), and the venerable Cardinals Baronio, Tarugi, and Bellarmino. Popes consulted him; cardinals submitted to his direction; Roman princes confessed to him as to a father.
IV. Sayings, Spirit, and Spiritual Doctrine
Philip left no great theological treatise; his doctrine is preserved chiefly in his recorded sayings (the detti) and in the testimonies of his disciples. Yet his spirit constitutes a coherent and traditional school of sanctity, marked by several distinctive notes:
He insisted always upon cheerfulness in the service of God, saying “State buoni, se potete” — “Be good, if you can” — and “Scrupoli e malinconia, fuori di casa mia!” — “Scruples and melancholy, out of my house!” He held that sadness was no virtue but rather a snare of the enemy, and he sent away from himself those who courted spiritual gloom.
He taught a deep devotion to the Holy Ghost, as was fitting in one whose heart had been visibly inflamed by the Paraclete; and a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom he called simply la Mamma mia, and to whom he attributed every grace of his ministry. The Madonna appeared to him on several occasions, most notably to heal him from a mortal illness in 1594.
He valued mental prayer above almost every other exercise, esteeming it the indispensable food of the interior life, and he made it the daily practice of his spiritual sons. The famous Oratorian quarto d’ora — the quarter-hour of mental prayer — became one of the principal instruments of Catholic spiritual renewal.
He cultivated a singular devotion to the early Church and to the catacombs, often leading his disciples on pilgrimage to the seven basilicas of Rome — a devotion which he himself instituted and which endures to this day among the faithful. This pilgrimage, by recalling the Roman Church to her apostolic and martyrial origins, was no small instrument in the great work of Counter-Reformation.
V. Death and Canonization
Philip foretold the hour of his own passing. On the 25th of May, 1595, the feast of Corpus Christi that year, he heard confessions and offered the Holy Sacrifice with greater fervor than ordinary, repeating frequently the words Ultima haec est — “This is the last.” After offering Mass, he spent the day in spiritual conversation. About midnight, the morning of the 26th of May, attended by Cardinal Federico Borromeo and his Oratorian sons, he gave them his last blessing, raising his hand thrice; and, naming the sweet name of Jesus and of Mary, he rendered his soul to God in the eightieth year of his age.
His body was found incorrupt and his heart, when opened by the physicians, was discovered to be of preternatural size, with the two ribs above it broken outward as had been suspected during life — an anatomical verification, sworn under oath in the process, of the prodigy of Pentecost 1544.
He was beatified by Paul V on the 11th of May, 1615, and canonized by Gregory XV on the 12th of March, 1622, in the same solemn act in which were also enrolled among the saints Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila, and Isidore the Farmer — quinque sancti, the five saints — a constellation so brilliant that the Roman wits of the day quipped that the Pope had canonized four Spaniards and one saint, so universally beloved was the Florentine.
VI. Spiritual Lessons for Our Imitation
The example of Sanctus Philippus offers to the faithful of every age, and most particularly to our own, a doctrine at once ancient and ever new:
First, that true sanctity is joyful, for it is the participation in the very joy of the Holy Ghost; and the saint, far from being morose, is the freest of men. As Philip himself was wont to say, “Un cuore allegro più facilmente si fa perfetto che uno abbattuto” — “A cheerful heart more easily becomes perfect than a downcast one.”
Second, that humility is the foundation of every virtue, and that the surest road to humility is the willing acceptance of contempt. Amare nesciri — “to love to be unknown” — was the motto of Philip’s heart, as it was of Thomas à Kempis before him (De Imitatione Christi, I, ii, 3).
Third, that the renewal of the Church begins in the renewal of the individual soul, through mental prayer, frequent confession, daily Holy Communion (which Philip strongly encouraged in an age when it was rare), and the company of fervent friends in Christ.
Fourth, that charity is the soul of the apostolate, and that more souls are won by kindness, by patient hearing, and by holy laughter than by harsh reproach.
VII. Oratio
Deus, qui beátum Philíppum Confessórem tuum Sanctórum tuórum glória sublimásti: concéde propítius; ut, cuius solemnitáte laetámur, eius virtútum proficiámus exémplo. Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia saecula saeculórum. Amen.
O God, who hast exalted blessed Philip, Thy Confessor, to the glory of Thy Saints: mercifully grant; that we, who rejoice in his solemnity, may profit by the example of his virtues. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
(Collect of the Feast, from the Missale Romanum, 1962 editio typica, in continuity with the older Roman propers.)
A brief private prayer, attributed to the saint himself, may also be commended to the faithful:
Domine, cave a me hodie, ne te denegem. “Lord, beware of me this day, lest I deny Thee.”
So spoke Philip each morning, in token of his profound distrust of self and total reliance upon grace — a sentiment worthy of imitation by every soul that would walk securely in the way of perfection.
VIII. For Further Study
Those who wish to deepen their acquaintance with the Apostolus Urbis may profitably consult the following:
The contemporary Vita by Antonio Gallonio (1600), the saint’s own disciple, remains the foundational biographical source. The later Vita by Pietro Giacomo Bacci, often translated and reprinted, is the classical Oratorian life. In English, Frederick William Faber — himself a son of the Oratory established by Cardinal Newman — left numerous devotional writings imbued with the Philippine spirit, while Louis Bouyer’s Roman Socrates offers a more recent scholarly treatment in continuity with tradition. Cardinal Newman’s Idea of a University and his Meditations and Devotions breathe the same Oratorian air. For Philip’s spiritual sayings, the Detti memorabili gathered by his disciples are indispensable.
If you wish to continue, the Lives of the Saints learning path would treat next the great Oratorian fruits of Philip’s tree — particularly Cardinal Baronio and the Venerable John Henry Newman — and might also explore the contemporary figures of the Catholic Reformation whose lives intertwined with that of the Florentine: St. Charles Borromeo, St. Ignatius, and St. Camillus de Lellis. Alternatively, the Spiritual Practices and Devotions path could examine in greater depth the Oratorian method of mental prayer and the devotion of the Sette Chiese, the pilgrimage of the seven basilicas, which Philip bequeathed to the Roman Church as one of her most enduring devotional treasures.
Sancte Philippe Neri, ora pro nobis.