SECULAR ORATORY OF SAN FILIPPO NERI. - Having become a priest, Filippo Neri saw, from as early as 1552, a nucleus of friends and admirers gather around him; he guided them along the way of perfection and gradually gave them a stable form of activity which took the name of “exercises of the O.,” from the place where they met and from their principal activity, namely vocal and mental prayer.
The exercises of the O., which thus gave rise to the social nucleus that still endures alongside every Philippine religious family, initially consisted (time subsequently brought adaptations or reductions) in the reading of a devotional book (Bible, Laudi di Jacopone, Vita del Colombini, works of the Cartusiano, etc.), upon which an edifying informal discussion was spontaneously based. This was the “discourse on the book,” repeated four times a day and alternated with the singing of vernacular laude (v. (MUSICA)). Pilgrimages to churches were also undertaken, especially to the seven principal basilicas (the “visit to the seven churches”), as were visits to hospitals, where every day the “brothers” of the O. went to serve the sick or bring them gifts. The subject matter of the sermons became specialized in the disciplines that remain characteristic of the Philippine O.: ecclesias-
ORATORIO SECOLARE DI S. FILIPPO NERI - PRAYER
