Philip Neri, Saint

PHILIP NERI, Saint. - Born in Florence on 21 July 1515 in the parish of S. Pier Gattolini, to ser Francesco and Lucrezia da Mosciano.

Gentle by nature, F. revealed from childhood the instinctive liveliness that thereafter always accompanied him through life. His goodness earned him the nickname "Pippo buono" ("good Pippo"). He spent his adolescent years in the Oltrarno quarter of S. Spirito and then on the Costa S. Giorgio. At the school of a certain Clemente and through frequent contacts with the Dominicans of S. Marco, he was formed in learning and piety. From his familiarity with the Friars Preachers he derived that admiration for Savonarola which he would never disavow. At seventeen, for economic reasons, he had to leave his homeland and go in search of his fortune to his cousin Romolo, who carried on trade at S. Germano (now Cassino). He stayed with him for almost two years, but felt no attraction to commerce, preferring instead the frequent meetings with the monks of the abbey. In these conversations with them and in the recollection of prayer his vocation to a life consecrated to the Lord matured. He thus left both business and his relative and went to Rome, where he arrived at the end of 1534.

In the city F. found lodging with his fellow citizen Galeotto Caccia, head of the customs house, devoted himself to the education of his two sons, and resumed his studies, attending the Sapienza under the Augustinian fathers. His activity, however, could not be exhausted in this alone, since a clear vocation to the apostolate manifested itself ever more openly within him. He would go, for example, to perform works of mercy by visiting the sick, especially at the hospital of S. Giacomo degli Incurabili. His mystical fervor then poured out in familiar conversation with the young people of his acquaintance and also with mature men whom he met along the street and of whom he soon made himself a companion in cheerful company, with the veiled but almost always infallible aim of leading them to God. In 1548, to provide for the needs of the many pilgrims and convalescents who wandered the streets of Rome, F. established at the church of S. Benedetto alla Regola the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity, called precisely that of pilgrims and convalescents. Continuing in his intense work of good, in 1551 he allowed himself to be persuaded by his spiritual director Persiano Rosa that it was God's will that he ascend to the priesthood, which he did that year, on 23 May, at S. Tommaso in Parione. As a priest, he withdrew into the residence of secular priests living and officiating at S. Girolamo della Carità in order to carry out his work in a more unified way, especially as a director of souls. There precisely he began, with great simplicity and not without encountering obstacles, that form of most effective apostolate which later took the name of the Oratory (v.).

Silently, modestly, and in private rather than from the pulpit, Father F. approached and came to know a little of the whole world, penetrating into the house of the humble as well as into the papal court, so as to have among his friends both the cardinals most sensitive to ideas of reform and the artisans of the Banchi or of Parione, the idlers and the artists, the nobles and the women of the people, and even the pontiffs who succeeded one another on the chair of St. Peter. Frequent are the contacts between the Saint and the noble souls who dwelt in or passed through the city in his time and who devoted themselves to the work of Catholic reform: thus we see enjoying F.'s intimacy St. Charles Borromeo, St. John Leonardi, St. Camillus de Lellis, St. Felix of Cantalice, Animuccia, the Caridi, Federico Borromeo, Cusano, Palsotti, Valier, Medici, etc.; and the popes Pius IV, Pius V, Gregory XIII and XIV, and Clement VIII. The representatives of the Florentine "nation" desired him in their church of S. Giovanni, and in 1565 he assumed its rectorship while still remaining in his beloved dwelling of S. Girolamo; instead he sent there his first priest disciples: Baronio, Tarugi, Bordini and others. In 1575 F. obtained the papal bull of institution of the Congregation of the Priests of the Oratory, together with the assignment of a seat in the church of S. Maria in Vallicella, in the rione of Parione (v. ISTITUTO DELL'ORATORIO DI S. F. N.).

In 1577, meanwhile, the first part of the new church of the Vallicella had been inaugurated, still today nicknamed the Chiesa Nuova, which the Saint had tenaciously wanted. Around 1588, following repeated entreaties of his spiritual sons, he left S. Girolamo to move to the Vallicella; while the community, rich in men by then notable, found itself in full vigor, so much so as to be able to think of foundations outside Rome, sending members to Naples and S. Severino. In Milan, because of the excessive interference in its government on the part of Borromeo, the Oratorian foundation failed after a long and laborious correspondence between the cardinal and F., which at certain moments even had rather dramatic episodes. A determining reason was the fact that F. always conceived the Congregation as at the service of the Oratory and could not therefore permit that, at a particularly delicate moment in the development of the Institute, too many subjects should be diverted.

Rome, meanwhile, at the end of the 16th century, had spiritually changed, and undoubtedly a great part of the work had been slowly and silently carried out by F., sustained by that firm Christian optimism which saw, even in this earthly life, the possibility of joy and peace. At 75 years of age, feeling by then weary in body but not in spirit, F. withdrew into his little cell, continuing a more recollected apostolate, reserving his precious hours for spiritual direction, confession and conversation with his closest disciples. F. was able to display fine diplomatic skill at the end of his life in persuading the Pontiff to accept the reconciliation of the former Huguenot Henry IV; and in this affair he had as a valuable collaborator Fr. Baronio, confessor of Clement VIII.

On 26 May 1595 F. ended his earthly day. He was canonized by Gregory XV on 12 May 1622. His feast falls on 26 May.

Works: Lettere, rime e detti memorabili, edited by E. Magri, Florence 1922.

Among the sources, essential is: A. Gallonio, Vita Philippi Neri Florentini Congr. Orat. fund., Rome 1600.

Carlo Gasbarri

ICONOGRAPHY - Although St. Philip Neri, imbued with the spirit of humility, did not wish to be portrayed - according to tradition the unfinished image in the Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome would confirm this aversion - the work of a certain Vecchietto (Rome, S. Maria in Vallicella) seems to have been executed from life; the best of the posthumous likenesses, namely the painting by Guido Reni (1615, ibid., room of the Saint; copy in mosaic in the chapel of St. Philip, replica in the church of the Girolamini in Naples) and the magnificent statue by Algardi (S. Maria in Vallicella, sacristy) perhaps had recourse to the death mask. While "Pippo buono," a purely Roman saint, left no traces in the figurative art beyond the Alps, the aforementioned Roman church alone already abounds in artistic works created in his honor: suffice it to mention the fresco by Pietro da Cortona with the vision of the Saint during the construction of the church (ceiling of the central nave), the nine canvases by Pomarancio and the fresco by Tornioli, depicting miracles of Philip Neri. In Naples Solimena depicts the principal events of his life (1719, church of the Girolamini); the most extensive cycle of his historical representations is nevertheless constituted by the series of 45 prints, engraved by Cristiano Sas after drawings by Giacomo Stella and issued in connection with Bacci's biography (Rome, edition of 1625).

Kurt Rath