A Resurgence in Tumultuous Times

Throughout its history, the Church has endured exceedingly difficult times: persecutions, betrayals, and human frailties — challenges that would signal the end of any merely human endeavor. The early 16th century was one such tumultuous period. Yet, as in every crisis faced by the Church and its followers, providence did not remain indifferent. One of the pivotal figures who aided in the resurgence of Rome and the Church was Philip Neri, a native of Florence, who arrived in Rome in 1533.

Father Maurizio Botta, prefect of the Congregation of the Oratory in Rome, illuminates the life and legacy of this man, who has become one of the most cherished saints of the Eternal City. “A saint who had a great ability to be with everyone and with ease, however, also, this tendency to recollection, silence, and not isolation, but to seek Jesus in secret,” he says, speaking of St. Philip Neri. St. Philip had a deep love for Christ and for souls, and it was this that led him to reform the customs of a city in such distress and enlighten its streets with charity and patience.

“Regarding St. Philip Neri,” Fr. Botta explains, “to understand him in depth, we must start from his very powerful love for Christ, so much so that just before he died his last words were, ‘Whoever seeks and does not seek Christ, does not know what he seeks. Whoever wants and does not want Christ, does not know what he wants; whoever does things and does not do them for Christ, does not know what he does.’”

A Saint of Likability and Irony

St. Philip Neri also became very popular because of his likability and irony. Father Simone Raponi, Prefect of the Oratory Archives, admires this aspect of St. Philip’s attitude and highlights its importance. “This irony,” Fr. Raponi highlights, “this playfulness of St. Philip is a deeply spiritual trait. It is an irony rooted in the awareness, as the scripture says, that everything is vanity, vanity of vanities, that everything passes, that everything, offices, honors, wealth, and success, sooner or later passes for everyone. And then, when we realize this, we can look at existence, paradoxically with greater serenity and even try to smile at what happens and even smile at ourselves.”

“It is not a joy that is the result of psychological exaltation,” Fr. Raponi continues, “but it is a joy that is the result of a deep faith that in the end what remains, who remains, is only the Lord.”

In 2015, for the fifth centenary of the saint’s birth, Pope Francis spoke about the fundamental role that Philip Neri had in reminding the Church that pastors were to be with their flock and guide them in their faith. In the words of Pope Francis, St. Philip Neri was a “bright model of the Church's permanent mission in the world.”

“St. Philip gets to know people freely, in a spontaneous way,” Fr. Raponi notes. “These people are drawn to him in true friendship, and from this Christian friendship the oratory is born. From this center, born spontaneously, the first priestly vocations also begin to arise. The first disciples, I think of Cesare Baronio, who is very famous, I think of Francesco Maria Tarugi, the two first disciples of St. Philip Neri, who become priests and these first priests around St. Philip will be at the origin of the Congregation,” Raponi explains.

The Relics of St. Philip Neri

The Oratory of St. Philip, which arose next to Santa Maria in Vallicella, was built precisely around the Saint's relics. Father Maurizio Botta shows us St. Philip's room where we can admire all these relics: his bed, his pillow, his shoes, and the cross he held at the time of his death, among other relics. Even today, Romans have a great devotion to this saint and often come to pray at his tomb, which is located precisely in a chapel in Santa Maria in Vallicella.

Fr. Botta explains the great spiritual significance in visiting the tomb of St. Philip Neri. “Those,” he says, “who enter by praying in St. Philip's chapel have all the indulgences that can be gained by going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and so evidently it was perceived not only by the Oratory Fathers but also by the Church. The strength of this body of St. Philip is its attractiveness that continues, in a very discreet, very silent, very humble way. Even now many Romans feel St. Philip is an important saint for them.”

St. Philip Neri was exactly the man Rome needed: he restored faith and hope to the people and, even today, reminds us of the central role of the Eternal City in the economy of salvation.

Adapted by Jacob Stein