redemptorists-cebu

1730 AT SCALA

In the year 1730 Alphonsus was exhausted from his missionary work. His doctor ordered him to get some rest and breathe some clear mountain air. With a few of his companions he went to Scala on the Amalfi coast, south of Naples, in Italy where he had been working as a priest. High up in the mountains was a sanctuary of Santa Maria dei Monti, a perfect place to rest, a perfect place for contemplation near mountain heights and with the sea below.

THE ABANDONED POOR

Scala also meant poverty. In the mountains of Scala there lived groups of shepherds who came to the missionaries asking for the Gospel, the Word of Light. Alphonsus was surprised by their hunger for the word of God and recalled the words of the prophet, “the babies cry for food but there is no one to give it to them.” [Lam. 4:4] His first biographer tells us that when Alphonsus left Scala a part of his heart remained with these shepherds and he would weep thinking of how he could help them.

DISCERNMENT AND DECISION

In Naples after much prayer and consultation to help him to discern clearly he came to understand that he had to return to Scala. Surely there was poverty in Naples as well, but there were many others who could help the poor escape from their place as society’s marginalized. In Scala the poor were alone with no one to help them. They were totally abandoned. During the time of St. Alphonsus these shepherds and the country peasants were the most downtrodden group in society. It was because of their lot in life that St. Alphonsus choose to be there at their side, to share his life with them and bring them, in abundance, the word of God.

REDEMPTORISTS FOUNDED

On November 9, 1732 in his beloved Scala, St. Alphonsus Liguori founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ announcing the Good News to the poor. He was 36 years old. His life became one of mission and service to the most abandoned. The congregation was approved by Pope Benedict XIV on February 25, 1749.

MISSIONS

Alphonsus and his companions, among whom St. Gerard Majella was outstanding, strove to come to the relief of the spiritual needs, at that time of the poor of the country districts. These they sought to assist especially by means of missions, spiritual exercises and renewals, after the manner of St. Paul [Acts 15:36].

BEYOND ITALY

Due to the untiring zeal of St. Clement Hofbauer, a man with wonderful faith and possessed of the virtue of invincible constancy, our congregation spread out of Italy and into Poland and Austria. Due to the efforts of Fr. Joseph Passaret, Redemptorists established missions through Europe and then in the United States of America where St. John Neumann continued the spirit of St. Alphonsus. The Congregation spread to other regions as well till at length its boundaries extended to the limits of the world itself.