26 May - Philippe was born in Florence on 21 July 1515 in the neighbourhood of S. Pier Gattolini. He is the third child of Francesco di Filippo da Castelfranco, notary, and Lucrezia de Mosciano, daughter of a carpenter. His cheerful character earned him the nickname of "Saint of Joy".
Towards the end of 1532, Philip left Florence and went to his uncle's house in San Germano, next to Mount Cassino. He stayed there for some time. He then frequented the Benedictines on Mount Cassin and enjoyed recollecting in a small rotunda church in Gaeta. It was during this period that his religious vocation took place, of which his departure for Rome was the most immediate effect.
In Rome, he first lived in the district of Sant'Eustachio, staying with Galeotto del Caccia, a fellow Florentine who employed him as tutor to his two sons. During this period, Philip attended philosophy courses at La Sapienza, as well as theology courses at S. Agostino. He studied the philosophy of St. Augustine. But this period of study was relatively short. Around 1536 he opted for a lifestyle that his contemporaries called eremitical. Philip wandered the streets and squares, exercising a kind of Socratic apostolate through friendly contact, with no other method than cordiality. He approached everyone, especially young people: When do we start doing good?
Philip serves the sick and the pilgrims: the first place that keeps his memory in Rome is the Church of the Trinity of Pilgrims. In 1544, on the eve of Pentecost, he felt a globe of fire enter his mouth and then expand in his chest. The resulting inner joy manifests itself in physical phenomena: excessive heat, palpitations and trembling, and vehement heartbeats that reverberate even in the pew where he is sitting.
In 1548, together with his confessor Perciano Rosa, he founded the Confraternity of the Trinity of Pilgrims to help poor pilgrims. He also took great care of the mentally ill and founded the Institute of Santa Maria della Pietà, the first establishment of its kind, to welcome them. He first founded a convalescent home for the sick, which he would visit very regularly in hospitals.
Ordained a priest in May 1551, he moved to San Girolamo della Carità where his fame grew. He founded the first organized school and a college for the most capable poor, and recommended to them: Be quiet, if you can!
Above all, he founded the Congregation of the Oratory, which was established after Gregory XIII's recognition in 1575 in the church of the Chiesa Nuova, Santa Maria in Vallicella, adjacent to the Filipino Oratory, the seat of the congregation.
He was a friend of the humble and the poor, but also of the powerful, of whom he was the spiritual director and confessor, especially of St. Camilla de Lellis.
In 1575, Philippe Neri founded the Oratory in Rome: the Oratory of France remains attached to his spirit of fraternity and solidarity. Rome, where Philippe Neri arrived at the age of eighteen, was one of the great centres of the Renaissance: a period of discoveries, inventions and intellectual and artistic creativity. It was also a time of religious abuses that led to the Reformation. Philippe Néri is inhabited by an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, Being whom he loves above all else. A relationship to which he bears witness in his primary vocation as a director of conscience.
Contenu soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA. Source : Article Philippe Néri de Wikipédia en français (auteurs)
