Philip 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".

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.

Related Topics:
1533 - 1538 - Socrates

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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.

Related Topics:
1548 - India - Missionary - Oratorio

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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.

Related Topics:
1564 - Pope Pius IV - Caesar Baronius - Francesco Maria Tarugi

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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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Papal bull - July 15 - 1575 - Gregory XV

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