St. Philip Neri

May 26 is the feast of St. Philip Neri (1515-1595), the apostle of Rome and the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory. Born in Florence, he came to Rome in 1533 as a young layman, lived as a hermit in the city, and after years of prayer in the catacombs — where, in the Catacomb of San Sebastiano, he experienced the "visitation" of the Holy Spirit that enlarged his heart — was ordained priest in 1551. As a priest he gathered the young men of Rome around him for conversation, prayer, and visits to the sick in the hospitals.

The Oratory, formally founded in 1575, was a new kind of religious community: secular priests living in common without vows, dedicated to prayer, preaching, and the sacraments. The Oratorian "exercises" — informal talks, music, and readings — became the model of the Congregation of the Oratory that spread to Naples, Bologna, and beyond. The most famous Oratorian is John Henry Newman, who founded the English Oratory at Birmingham in 1848.

Philip is the patron of Rome, where the Chiesa Nuova — the church he built for the Oratory — holds his body in a chapel behind the high altar. He died in 1595, was beatified in 1615 and canonized in 1622. From Florence, where he was born, to Rome, where he worked for sixty years, the May 26 feast is the feast of the second apostle of Rome — the cheerful saint who laughed the city back to God.