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<img height='300' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1021.jpg'> 
Saint Alphonsus Liguori 300th Anniversary of Birth 
Scott 1021 (1996)</center>
 
The Feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori has been alternatively celebrated on August 1 (the anniversary of his death in 1787) and August 2. He is one of the 38 "Doctors of the Church", having been so named in 1871. He was given the title Doctor zelantissimus (or Most Zealous Doctor).
 
Alphonsus Liguori was born in 1696 in Marianella, Kingdom of Naples, into a noble family. He was the oldest of eight children—five of whom served the Lord. Following graduation from law school, he soon became a highly respected jurist in Naples. However, a “serious professional disappointment” led Alphonsus to leave the bar and change his life’s course. After visiting the Hospital of the Incurables in Naples, he had a “mystical experience” and decided to join the seminary and was eventually ordained a priest in 1726.
 
Six year later, he formed the "Congregation of S.mo Salvatore” (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer), which came to be known as the “Redemptorists”. In addition, he was also a prolific writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, philosopher, and theologian. His best-known work is the nine-volume Moral Theology, where he uses his pastoral experiences to respond to the practical questions posed by the faithful and to address their everyday problems. He also wrote many other devotional and ascetic works and letters, including The Glories of Mary and The Way of the Cross, which is still used today during the Lenten season.
 
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<img height='350' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/AlphonsusLiguori.jpg'> 
St. Alphonsus Liguori (engraving by an unknown artist) 
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</center>
 
In his old age, Saint Alphonsus was described as "deaf, blind, and laden with so many infirmities, that he has no longer even the appearance of a man". Many depictions of the saint show him hunched over, possibly due to rheumatism (as presented in the etching above and on the aerogramme below). He died at the age of 90 in 1787 in Pagani, Italy, and his remains are interred in that city's basilica. The Church of Saint Alphonsus Liguori (Chiesa di Sant'Alfonso di Liguori all'Esquilino), located on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, a short distance from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, is the mother church of the Redemptorist Order.
 
Alphonsus Liguori was beatified in 1816 by Pope Pius VII, and was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI. In 1871, Pope Pius IX conferred the title “Doctor of the Church” on Saint Alphonsus Liguori.
 
Vatican City has issued two philatelic items in his honor. The aerogramme for 1987 (shown below) was issued to commemorate the second centenary of his death, and in 1996, the stamp shown at the top of the article was issued on the 300th anniversary of his birth.
 
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<img height='300' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/A25.jpg'> 
Saint Alphonsus Liguori 200th Anniversary of Death 
Vatican Aerogramme, 1987</center>
 
REFERENCES:
<li>Wikipedia, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonsus_Liguori'>Alphonsus Liguori</a> 
<li>UFN, September 29, 1987, <a href='https://www.vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/1987-3-01-1.jpg'>Aerogramme 1987</a> 
<li>UFN, November 20, 1996, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/displayUFN.php?p=1996-2-09-1.jpg'>III Centenary of the Birth of Saint Alphonso Maria De' Liguori</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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