15 Things That Caught My Eye About Saint Philip Neri On The 500th Anniversary Of His Birth

On this 500th anniversary of his birth, may the sons of the great Saint Philip Neri continue to grow in number and joy in the Lord.

— Fr James Bradley (@FrJamesBradley) July 21, 2015

2. He’s still bringing people together in prayer.

The 500th Anniversary of the Birth of St. Philip Neri. A homily from his feast day in May- http://t.co/XlGyJDISfj

— Fr. Roger Landry (@FrRogerLandry) July 22, 2015

4. Saint Philip Neri and the Priesthood

Since joy is one of the “fruits of the Spirit” it must have been present in the souls of all the Saints; but in certain of them at least it was concealed and restrained, while in the case of others—and preeminently in Philip—it was wholly unconcealed, and diffused itself over all who came into contact with them; and it still seems to have the power to do as much.

— From Saint Philip Neri: Apostle of Rome and Founder of the Congregation of the Oratory by Fr. V. J. Matthews

Happy 500th birthday to Saint Philip Neri, the apostle of joy! May God send us more priests like him! pic.twitter.com/Rk5tAclWVK

— Fr. Andy Walsh (@FrAndyWalsh) July 21, 2015

7. A comic book on “The Laughing Saint.”

Daughters of St. Philip Neri: Eucharistic Souls – Love, Pray, Suffer http://t.co/2TNpE7IX47

— Fr. David Abernethy (@pghoratory) July 17, 2015

My Jesus, if Thou dost not uphold me, I shall fall. #Saint Philip Neri #Catholic #quote

— CatholicPrayer (@ACatholicPrayer) July 21, 2015

10.

'Our Blessed Lady ought to be our love and our consolation.' ~ St. Philip Neri

— Fr. Robert T. Cooper (@FrRobertCooper) July 21, 2015

11.

St. Philip Neri's experience of God, his mysticism, was given him for the sake of others. http://t.co/gGWea3mOZq

— Angelico Press (@AngelicoPress) July 16, 2015

12. Pope Francis to the Oratorians who follow his lead today:

Saint Philip Neri remains a luminous model of the Church’s permanent mission in the world. The perspective of his approach to his neighbor, to witness to all the love and mercy of the Lord, can constitute a valid example for Bishops, priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful. From the first years of his presence in Rome, he exercised an apostolate of personal relation and friendship, as a privileged way to open to the encounter with Jesus and the Gospel. So attests his biographer: “He approached one at a time now this one, now that one and all soon became his friends.

“He loved spontaneity, he shunned artificiality, he chose the most amusing means to educate in the Christian virtues, while proposing at the same time a healthy discipline that implies the exercise of the will to receive Christ in the concreteness of one’s life. His profound conviction was that the path of holiness is founded on the grace of an encounter — that with the Lord – accessible to any person, of any state or condition, who receives Him with the wonder of children.

The Church’s state of permanent mission requires of you, spiritual sons of Saint Philip Neri, not to be content with a mediocre life; on the contrary, in the school of your Founder you are called to be men of prayer and witness to attract persons to Christ. In our days, especially in the world of young people, so dear to Father Philip, there is great need of persons that pray and are able to teach to pray. With his “most intense affection for the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, without which he could not live” – as a witness declared in the process of Canonization – he teaches us that the Eucharist celebrated, adored and lived is the source from which to draw to speak to men’s heart. In fact, “with Jesus Christ joy is always born and reborn” (Evangelii gaudium, 1).

13. From his tomb in Rome this spring: