S. Filippo Neri

Philip Romolo Neri (Filippo de Neri; called, Apostle of Rome), (July 21, 1515 - May 26, 1595), was an Italian churchman, noted for founding a society of secular priests called the "Congregation of the Oratory". Image File history File links San Felipe Neri File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links San Felipe Neri File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. ... // Events June - Invasion of Persia by Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire. ... May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ... Events January 30 - William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet is performed for the first time May 24 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library. ... The Oratory of Saint Philip Neri is a congregation of Roman Catholic priests and lay-brothers who live together in community bound together by no formal vows but only with the bond of charity. ...

He was was born at Florence, the youngest child of Francesco Neri, a lawyer, and his wife Lucrezia Soldi, whose family were nobility in the service of the state. Neri was carefully brought up, and received his early teaching from the friars at San Marco, the famous Dominican monastery in Florence. He was accustomed in later life to ascribe most of his progress to the teaching of two amongst them, Zenobio de 'Medici and Servanzio Mini. Founded 59 BC as Florentia Region Tuscany Mayor Leonardo Domenici (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  102 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 356,000 almost 500,000 3,453/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Latitude Longitude 43°47 N 11°15 E www. ...

When he was about sixteen, a fire destroyed nearly all his father's property. Philip was sent to his father's childless brother, Romolo, a merchant at San Germane, a Neapolitan town near the base of Monte Cassino, to assist him in his business, and with the hope that he might inherit his possessions. So far as gaining Romolo's confidence and affection, the plan was entirely successful, but it was thwarted by Philip's own resolve to take holy orders. The restored Abbey Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles (130 km) south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino (the Roman Cassinum having been on the hill) and about 1700 ft (520 m) altitude. ...

Mission work and founding of the Oratory

In 1533 he left San Germano, and went to Rome, where he became tutor in the house of a Florentine gentleman named Galeotto Caccia. Here he was able to pursue his own studies under the guidance of the Augustinians, and to begin those labours amongst the sick and poor which gained him in later life the title of "Apostle of Rome," besides paying nightly visits for prayer and meditations to the churches of the city and to the catacombs. In 1538 he entered on the home mission work for which he became famous; like Socrates he travelled throughout the city, seeking opportunities of entering into conversation with people, and of leading them on to consider the topics he desired to set before them. Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ... Events Treaty of Nagyvarad. ... Socrates This article is about the ancient Greek philosopher, for all other uses see: Socrates (disambiguation) Socrates (June 4, ca. ...

In 1548 he founded the celebrated confraternity of the Santissima Trinita de' Pellegrini e de' Convalescente, whose primary object was to minister to the needs of the thousands of poor pilgrims who flock to Rome, especially in years of jubilee, and also to relieve the patients discharged from hospitals, but still too weak for labour. In 1551 he passed through all the minor orders, and was ordained deacon, and finally priest. He thought of going to India as a missionary, but was dissuaded by his friends who saw that there was abundant work to be done in Rome. Accordingly he settled down, with some companions, at the hospital of San Girolamo della Carita, and while there tentatively began, in 1556, the institute with which his name is more especially connected, that of the Oratory. The scheme at first was no more than a series of evening meetings in a hall (the Oratory), at which there were prayers, hymns, readings from Scripture, from the fathers, and from the Martyrology, followed by a lecture, or by discussion of some religious question proposed or consideration. The musical selections (settings of scenes from sacred history) were called oratorios. The scheme was developed, and the members of the society undertook various kinds of mission work throughout Rome, notably the preaching of sermons in different churches every evening, a completely new idea at that time. Events Mary I of Scotland sent to France Births September 2 - Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect (died 1616) September 29 - William V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1626) Francesco Andreini, Italian actor (died 1624) Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher, astronomer, and occultist (burned at the stake) 1600 (died 1600) Honda Tadakatsu, Japanese general... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus. ...

In 1564 the Florentines requested him to leave San Girolamo, and to oversee their church in Rome, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, then newly built. He was at first reluctant, but by consent of Pope Pius IV he accepted, while retaining the charge of San Girolamo, where the exercises of the Oratory were kept up. At this time the new society included amongst its members Caesar Baronius, the ecclesiastical historian, Francesco Maria Tarugi, afterwards archbishop of Avignon, and Paravicini, all three subsequently cardinals, and also Gallonius, author of a well-known work on the Sufferings of the Martyrs, Ancina, Bordoni, and other men of ability and distinction. Events March 8 - Naples bans kissing in public under the penalty of death June 22 - Fort Caroline, the first French attempt at colonizing the New World September 10 - The Battle of Kawanakajima Ottoman Turks invade Malta Modern pencil becomes common in England Conquistadors crossed the Pacific Spanish found a colony... Pius IV, né Giovanni Angelo Medici (March 31, 1499 - December 9, 1565), pope from 1559 to 1565, was born of humble parentage in Milan. ... Caesar Baronius (October 31, 1538— June 30, 1607), Italian cardinal and ecclesiastical historian, was born at Sora, and was educated at Veroli and Naples. ...

In 1574, the Florentines built a large oratory or mission-room for the society, next to San Giovanni, in order to save them the fatigue of the daily journey to and from San Girolamo, and to provide a more convenient place of assembly, and the headquarters were transferred there. As the community grew, and its mission work extended, the need for a church entirely its own, and not subject to other claims, as were San Girolamo and San Giovanni, made itself felt, and the offer of the small parish church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, conveniently situated in the middle of Rome, was made and accepted. The building, however, was not large enough for their purpose, was pulled down, and a splendid church erected on the site.

It was immediately after taking possession of their new quarters that Neri formally organized, under permission of a papal bull dated July 15, 1575, a community of secular priests, called the Congregation of the Oratory. The new church was consecrated early in 1577, and the clergy of the new society at once resigned the charge of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini; but Neri himself did not leave San Girolamo till 1583, and then only in virtue of an injunction of the pope that he, as the superior, should reside at the chief house of his congregation. He was at first elected for a term of three years (as is usual in modern societies), but in 1587 was nominated superior for life. He was, however, entirely free from personal ambition, and had no desire to be general over a number of dependent houses, so that he desired that all congregations formed on his model outside Rome should be autonomous, governing themselves, and without endeavouring to retain control over any new colonies they might themselves send out--a regulation afterwards formally confirmed by a brief of Gregory XV in 1622. Papal bull of Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a leaden bulla. ... July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. ... Events February 13 - Henry III of France is crowned at Reims February 14 - Henry III of France marries Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont August 5 - Henry Sidney is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. ... Gregory XV, né Alessandro Ludovisi (January 9, 1554–July 8, 1623), pope (1621-1623), born at Bologna, succeeded Paul V on February 9, 1621. ...

Political interference

Much as he mingled with society, and with persons of importance in church and state, his single interference in political matters was in 1593, when his persuasions induced Pope Clement VIII to withdraw the excommunication and anathema of Henry IV of France, and the refusal to receive his ambassador, even though the king had formally abjured Calvinism. Neri saw that the pope's attitude was more than likely to drive Henry to a relapse, and probably to rekindle the civil war in France, and directed Baronius, then the pope's confessor, to refuse him absolution, and to resign his office of confessor, unless he would withdraw the anathema. Clement yielded at once, though the whole college of cardinals had supported his policy; and Henry, who did not learn the facts till several years afterwards, testified lively gratitude for the timely and politic intervention. Neri continued in the government of the Oratory until his death. He was succeeded by Baronius. Clement, in the monument in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, erected by his Borghese heirs Clement VIII, born Ippolito Aldobrandini (March 1536 - March 5, 1605) was pope from 1592 to 1605. ... Henry IV (French: Henri IV) (December 13, 1553 – May 14, 1610), called the Great (French: le Grand), was the first of the Bourbon kings of France, reigning from 1589 until 1610. ... Calvinism is a system of Christian theology advanced by John Calvin, a Protestant Reformer in the 16th century, and further developed by his followers, associates and admirers. ...

Character

Neri is said to have possessed a playful humour, combined with a shrewd wit. He considered a cheerful temper to be more Christian than a melancholy one, and carried this spirit into his whole life. This was the secret of his popularity and of his place in the folklore of the Roman poor. Many miracles were attributed to him, and it is said that when his body was dissected it was found that two of his ribs had been broken, an event attributed to the expansion of his heart while fervently praying in the catacombs about the year 1545. This phenomenon is in the same category as the stigmata of St Francis of Assisi. Neri was beatified by Paul V in 1600, and canonized by Gregory XV in 1622. According to many religions, a miracle, derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning something wonderful, is a striking interposition of divine intervention by God in the universe by which the operations of the ordinary course of Nature are overruled, suspended, or modified. ... Stigmata (plural of stigma) are wounds that were, according to the Bible, inflicted on Jesus during his crucifixion. ... Saint Francis of Assisi (born in Assisi, Italy, ca. ... Paul V, né Camillo Borghese (Rome, September 17, 1550 – January 28, 1621) was Pope from May 16, 1605 until his death. ... // Events January January 1 - Scotland adopts January 1st as being New Years Day February February 17 - Giordano Bruno burned in a stake for heresy July July 2 - Battle of Nieuwpoort: Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau defeat Spanish forces under Archduke Albert in a battle on the coastal dunes. ... Canonization is the process of declaring someone a saint and involves proving that a candidate has lived in such a way that he or she is worthy of sainthood. ... Events January 1 - In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 is declared as the first day of the year, instead of March 25. ...

"Practical commonplaceness," says Frederick William Faber in his panegyric of Neri, was the special mark which distinguishes his form of ascetic piety from the types accredited before his day. He looked like other men ... he was emphatically a modern gentleman, of scrupulous courtesy, sportive gaiety, acquainted with what was going on in the world, taking a real interest in it, giving and getting information, very neatly dressed, with a shrewd common sense always alive about him, in a modern room with modern furniture, plain, it is true, but with no marks of poverty about it--In a word, with all the ease, the gracefulness, the polish of a modern gentleman of good birth, considerable accomplishments, and a very various information." Accordingly, he was ready to meet the needs of his day to an extent and in a manner which even the versatile Jesuits, who much desired to enlist him in their company, did not rival; and, though an Italian priest and head of a new religious order, his genius was entirely unmonastic and unmedieval; he was the active promoter of vernacular services, frequent and popular preaching, unconventional prayer, and unsystematized, albeit fervent, private devotion. Frederick William Faber (June 28, 1814 - September 26, 1863), British hymn writer and theologian, was born at Calverley, Yorkshire, of which place his grandfather, Thomas Faber, was vicar. ... A Panegyric is a formal public speech delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally high studied and undiscriminating eulogy. ...

Neri was not a reformer, except in the sense that in the active discharge of pastoral work he laboured to reform individuals. He had no difficulties in respect of the teaching and practice of his church, being in truth an ardent Ultramontane in doctrine, as was all but inevitable in his time and circumstances, and his great merit was the instinctive tact which showed him that the system of monasticism could never be the leaven of secular life, but that something more homely, simple, and everyday in character was needed for the new time.

The Oratory

Accordingly, the congregation he founded is of the least conventional nature, rather resembling a residential clerical club than a monastery of the older type, and its rules (never written by Neri, but approved by Paul V in 1612) would have appeared incredibly lax, nay, its religious character almost doubtful, to Bruno, Stephen Harding, Francis or Dominic. It admits only priests aged at least thirty-six, or ecciesiastics who have completed their studies and are ready for ordination. The members live in community, and each pays his own expenses, having the usufruct of his private means--a startling innovation on the monastic vow of poverty. They have indeed a common table, but it is kept up precisely as a regimental mess, by monthly payments from each member. Nothing is provided by the society except the bare lodging, and the fees of a visiting physician. Everything else--clothing, books, furniture, medicines--must be defrayed at the private charges of each member. There are no vows, and every member of the society is at liberty to withdraw when he pleases, and to take his property with him. The government, strikingly unlike the Jesuit autocracy, is of a republican form; and the superior, though first in honour, has to take his turn in discharging all the duties which come to each priest of the society in the order of his seniority, including that of waiting at table, which is not entrusted in the Oratory to lay brothers, according to the practice in most other communities. Four deputies assist the superior in the government, and all public acts are decided by a majority of votes of the whole congregation, in which the superior has no casting voice. To be chosen superior, fifteen years of membership are requisite as a qualification, and the office is tenable, as all the others, for but three years at a time. No one can vote till he has been three years in the society; the deliberative voice is not obtained before the eleventh year. Saint Bruno (Cologne ca 1030 - October 6, 1101), the founder of the Carthusian Order, personally founded the orders first two communities. ... A painting commemorating the 1111 founding of the monastery of Citeaux, showing saints Robert, Alberic, and Stephen Harding venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary. ... Saint Francis of Assisi (born in Assisi, Italy, ca. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... Republicanism is the view that a republic is the best form of government. ... Lay brothers are Catholic religious occupied solely with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary. ...

There are thus three classes of members--novices, triennials and decennials. Each house can call its superior to account, can depose, and can restore him, without appeal to any external authority, although the bishop of the diocese in which any house of the Oratory is established is its ordinary and immediate superior, though without power to interfere with the rule. Their churches are non-parochial, and they can perform such rites as baptisms, marriages, etc., only by permission of the parish priest, who is entitled to receive all fees due in respect of these ministrations. Baptism is a water purification ritual practiced in certain religions such as Christianity, Mandaeanism, Sikhism, and some historic sects of Judaism. ... Marriage is a relationship and bond between individuals (termed spouses -- a male spouse is a husband and a female spouse, a wife) that plays a key role in the definition of many families. ...

The Oratory chiefly spread in Italy and in France, where in 1760 there were 58 houses all under the government of a superior-general. Malebranche, Thomassin, Mascaron and Massillon were members of the famous branch established in Paris in 1611 by Bérulle (after cardinal), which had a great success and a distinguished history. It fell in the crash of the Revolution, but was revived by Père Pététot, curé of St Roch, in 1852, as the "Oratory of Jesus and the Immaculate Mary"; the Church of the Oratory near the Louvre belongs to the Reformed Church. An English house, founded in 1847 at Birmingham, is celebrated as the place at which Cardinal Newman fixed his abode after his submission to the Roman Catholic Church. In 1849 a second congregation was founded in King William Street, Strand, London, with FW Faber as superior; in 1854 it was transferred to Brompton. The society has never thriven in Germany, though a few houses have been founded there, in Munich and Vienna. Nicolas Malebranche (August 6, 1638 – October 13, 1715) was a French philosopher of the Cartesian school. ... Jean Baptiste Massillon (June 24, 1663 - September 28, 1742) was a French churchman and preacher, Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death. ... Pierre de Bérulle (February 4, 1575 - October 2, 1629) was a French cardinal and statesman. ... I.M. Peis Louvre Pyramid: the entrance to the galleries lies below the glass pyramid The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre) in Paris, France, is one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. ... This article is about the city in England. ...

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.