Saint Alphonsus Liguori was born near Naples, Italy September 27, 1696. He was a hard-working student and received his degree in law at age 16. Shortly after, he became a famous lawyer. In 1723, he lost a case and, in spite of parental opposition, he decided to become a priest.
He preached with zeal and in 1732 God called him to found the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). Alphonsus wrote numerous books, worked relentlessly through missions and offered spiritual direction and peace to people through the sacrament of Reconciliation. Although he was sickly for much of his life, Alphonsus’ final years were marked by very serious and debilitating physical ailments; especially arthritis, which caused him great pain, left him permanently bent forward, and confined him to a wheelchair.
He died August 1, 1787, was canonized in 1839, and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1871.
This Sunday the Redemptorist order across America, will be offering the first-ever national ‘Blessing for Arthritics’ after each and every Mass at their parishes and retreat centers across the country.
The blessings will be held on this particular Sunday because August 1 is the feast day of our founder, and Patron of our parish. In addition to being a doctor of the Church, St Alphonsus is also the patron saint of those who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis since he, himself, suffered from severe arthritis for the last forty years of his life!
“This is the first blessing of its kind, as far as we know, on a national scale, for people who suffer the chronic and debilitating agonies of arthritis, fibromyalgia and other serious physical conditions,” said the Very Reverend Thomas D Picton, CSsR, provincial superior of the Denver Province. “We hope this is the beginning of an annual tradition that brings people to our churches to ask for the blessing and intercession of our great saint on his feast day and to beseech Our Father in Heaven to grant these suffering souls deliverance from their pains.”
Fr. Bernie Carlin, C.Ss.R.
