2023-05-26 03:52:00
May 25, 2023 / 8:52 p.m
Walking from the Tiber river towards Via Vittorio Emanuele II stands one of the best known churches in Rome, Santa Maria in Vallicella (New Church).
It is here that the incorrupt body of San Felipe Neri is found, the saint that the Catholic Church celebrates every May 26.
Changed the face of Rome
Who would have told Saint Philip Neri when he came to the Italian capital from Florence at the age of 18 looking for God that in history he would be known as the “Apostle of Rome”.
“San Felipe Neri changed the face of the eternal city. After his death, Rome was no longer the same”, said Fr. Simone Raponi, of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri in Rome, in conversation with ACI Prensa.
The priest stressed that San Felipe was able to go in search of people “from all places” visiting streets, squares and all kinds of homes to show the true meaning of life.
On several occasions he argued that “who does good in Rome, does it all over the world”. San Felipe Neri was capable of transforming the capital of Christianity, consequently transforming the entire world.
Speaking to ACI Prensa, the priest explained that the Chiesa Nuova became the headquarters of the Congregation that the saint founded and that this place was “the heart of his apostolate.”
Currently Many people come from all over the world to visit the tomb of the saint“who still today continues to work miracles on a spiritual and conversion level, also in priests who want to live their ministry in spiritual freedom.”
Although the Congregation of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri was born exactly in a simple room near the church of San Girolamo della Caritá in Rome, where Felipe Neri lived for more than 30 years.
Religious, future Cardinals, merchants and the poor met in this small room. But soon that room was not enough for the growing number of followers of San Felipe, and finally the Oratory found its final home in the Chiesa Nuova.
Spread the word of God with familiar language
Felipe Neri carried out his apostolate within the framework of the Council of Trent, in “a time of great tensions due to the problems that arose from the Protestant Reformation.”
“A time of great reforms and attempts by the Church to transform and adapt the Gospel message to new times and a period of great saints, such as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Camilo de Lelis or Saint Teresa of Ávila,” explained the priest.
San Felipe was a great reformer without hardly talking about reform: “He did not have an established program, he did not write anything on a technical level to change the ecclesiastical structure, only with his behavior and his new way of evangelizing did he become a great reformer.”
“Whoever wants to be blessed should command little”
“He carried out a real and transversal apostolate, close to the people to bring the Lord in a new and original way, in a more familiar way.”
“He always said that spiritual life is not for the few, but for all people of every category and every state of life, such as the elderly, the poor or merchants,” explained the priest, who recalled that Saint Philip used to indicate that “whoever wants to be blessed, you should send little”.
In addition, San Felipe sought to return “to the roots of the Church”, since he assured that it was necessary to “study ecclesiastical history”, and this concept was born in the Congregation of the Oratory, where they sought to return to the primitive Church and imitate the community of the 12 Apostles.
A different saint with a big heart
Fr. Simone pointed out that Felipe Neri somehow tried to “hide” his holiness to maintain his humility. That is why he tried on many occasions to show himself even “like crazy”.
“He did not like it when people went to Mass to witness his mystical phenomena. For this reason, he ended up celebrating Masses in private,” he pointed out.
San Felipe Neri he levitated, had visions, the gift of bilocation and even during his autopsy it was discovered that the size of his heart was larger than normal.
Father Simone explained to ACI Prensa that in 1544 the saint experienced a very particular phenomenon, “when the Holy Spirit entered his heart, not only spiritually, but also physically, for this reason his heart expanded, which which caused two of his ribs to break.”
This fact became known at the end of his life, when Felipe told the doctor and a few other people. “To calm people down, convert them and make them feel the presence of God’s love also physically, he hugged them and rested them on her chest, in order to convey the presence of the Spirit.”
In fact, he always defended that the Word of God must reach the heart, without philosophical or theological arguments, but that an encounter with people in ordinary life is needed, “a heart that speaks to the heart.”
Paradise, paradise!
“He knew that everything happens, that life, beauty, wealth, everything happens. Faced with this, instead of falling into despair and thinking that this life has no meaning, he defended that the only thing that matters is Jesus, and for this reason we can laugh at all the rest, including ourselves, ”explained the priest.
“The joy of the saint was the certainty that only God remains. In fact, he always refused to wear the cardinal’s hat, and threw it into the air while shouting: Paradise, paradise!.
“Sometimes, in places of some importance where they expected to meet a perfect and austere saint, he appeared with one side of his beard shaved and the other unshaven. Faced with a world tied to appearances, he knew that only the Lord mattered, that only God should be the beacon of our lives, and he showed it through his acts of great freedom and in an original way”.
“San Felipe is a great inspirer. A man who taught us that paradise should be the only important thing for man, and he proved it to the end”, concluded Fr. Simone.
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