Saint Phillip Neri
"Well, brothers, when shall we begin to do good?" - Saint Phillip Neri
The 16th century Saint Phillip Neri is known for joyful holiness and for the foundation of the Congregation of the Oratory, but the legacy he left in Rome can still be traced today, even walking in the saint’s very footsteps. Called the “Third Apostle of Rome,” Saint Phillip Neri came to the city from Florence at a time of religious and cultural upheaval after the Sace of Rome in 1527 and, desiring to be a missionary in India, discovered he was being called to evangelize Rome instead. He spent many years in Rome, touching the lives of so many people and offering advice and spiritual consolations to the suffering.
Saint Phillip Neri was a friend of two of the Founders of the Clerics Regular Minor, namely Venerable Augustine Adorno , who knew him first from Genoa, and Saint Francis Caracciolo as well. Botho Adorno and Caracciolo went many times to Saint Phillip Neri to share ideas, get advice and receive solid direction. Adorno would write to Saint Francis Caracciolo on February 23, 1591 that “The good Father Philip loves us very much, and thinks a great deal of our undertaking. This morning I went to his place to see if he could give me a room in Saint Jerome, where he was before….He has given me good hopes that he will help”. This friendship lasted throughout his life.
O holy St. Philip Neri,
patron saint of joy,
you who trusted Scripture’s promise that the Lord is always at hand and that we need not have anxiety about anything,
in your compassion heal our worries and sorrows and lift the burdens from our hearts.
We come to you as one whose heart swells with abundant love for God and all creation.
Hear us, we pray, especially in this need (make your request here).
Keep us safe through your loving intercession,
and may the joy of the Holy Spirit which filled your heart, St. Philip,
transform our lives and bring us peace.
Amen