SAN  ALFONSO

 
The title of my homily is,  “San Alfonso.”
 
Today,  August 1^st is his feast day, He died today – in 1787 – at the age of 90 – almost 91.
 
When I was stationed here at San Alfonso around 1975 I got a phone call from some guy who said, “I was driving by your place on Ocean Avenue this afternoon and I saw a sign on a brick wall saying, ‘Sam Alfonso.’ Well I said to myself, ‘That’s a big building.  Who the heck is Sam Alfonso?”
 
I guess he didn’t notice the big church on the front lawn that looks like the prow of a ship.
 
So I told the man - who was calling, “It’s San Alfonso – San – not Sam.” Then I added, “I’m sure you heard of San Diego or San Francisco or San Antonio.  San means saint – as in St. James – which is Diego in Spanish or San Francisco as in St. Francis or San Antonio  - St. Anthony.”
 
Alfonso’s father - Giuseppe was a navy captain working out of Naples Italy. His mom was Donna Cavalieri. Alfonso was their first child.  His dad wanted him to be well educated  - providing him tutors – to get him to become a lawyer – which he started at  - at 13 years of age – becoming a lawyer at 16 – 4 years earlier than most.
 
He never lost a case in his first 8 years as lawyer.
 
His father arranged a marriage for him – but that didn’t happen.
 
In 1723 he was hired as a lawyer in a real estate case.
 
We heard that he missed out on a key clause in the legal wrangling – in the paper work. As a  result he fell apart – and locked himself in his room for a couple of days. Years later we heard that it wasn’t  a mistake. It was a manipulation of the records and Alfonso was on the wrong side.
 
He used to visit a hospital – to visit the sick.  It was called the Hospital of the Incurables – not  a great name for a hospital. He had to decide whether to remain a lawyer – find someone else to marry or what.

An inner voice said to him 2 times: “Leave the world and give yourself to me.”

Like we heard from John McGowan yesterday, Alphonsus like St. Ignatius went to a church – put his sword on an altar decided to become a priest.

He studied theology at home and was ordained a priest at the age of 30.

He spent 2 years preaching all through the kingdom of Naples.

Someone said of him,  “It’s a pleasure to hear your sermons. You forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.” 
He was neither strict nor pompous.

He worked out of his home – but at 33 he left home and became chaplain at a college that trained missionaries for China.

He met a bishop named Thomas Falcoia – who pushed him towards starting a new group of priests for preaching around Naples.  This bishop also asked him to check out by giving a retreat to a nun who was starting a new order of nuns. He did and they seemed legitimate. In 1731 they became the Redemptoristines – with a different name at first. They wore red and blue habits.  They were contemplatives.

In 1732 Alphonsus began the Redemptorists – called at first the Congregation of the Savior. In 1749 – when we finally got approval by Rome – we got the name Redemptorists – because there already was a group called the Congregation of Our Savior.

Alphonsus was preaching all over the Kingdom of Naples – especially in small towns. There were a lot of priests at the time – but they liked Naples - the big town. So his group went to the forgotten – the neglected – the poor.Since Alphonsus and his group became so successful – he was criticized.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus wrote a lot of books – 111 in his lifetime.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus and his congregation grew – even though there were dropouts.

Alphonsus put out a Moral Theology textbook – which began as notes on the work of a Jesuit with the name of Busenbaum. Alphonsus stressed God’s mercy.

Alphonsus  steered a middle course between the rigorism of a theology called Jansenism and big time laxity. As a result of staying in the middle  – he was criticized from both the right and the left.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus did music, painting and lots and lots of preaching.

In the meanwhile Alphonsus became a bishop – of a small diocese in Italy  called St. Agatha of the Goths.
After retiring from being a bishop, Alphonsus came back to the Redemptorists.

In time he got serious arthritis and needed a wheel chair – as you see him in the statue out on the lawn between the conference room and the dining room.

In time a guy named Clement Hofbauer came down from Vienna, Austria – became a Redemptorist and was sent back to Vienna – to start our group up there on the other side of the Alps.

We started in Naples in 1732.  By 1832 – some of those Redemptorists from Austria were sent to the United States.

We reached 9,000 plus – but we’ve shrunk a little to around 5000 at the present time.

I joined the Redemptorists to go to Brazil – but never got that assignment.

We are all around the world – pushing the ideas and ideals, the vision and vocation, of St. Alphonsus. “Forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.

A key book that Alphonsus wrote was: The practice of the Love of Jesus Christ. He said:  “Sanctity – the whole of it can be summed up in the practice of the  love of Jesus Christ”– which we hope everyone who comes here to San Alfonso Retreat House – hears and gets – and brings home Christ  to our world. Amen.