Aug. 1 Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Memorial
Today is the Memorial of St. Alphonsus de Liguori (1696-1787). Alphonsus was a great preacher of the Gospel to the poor. His charity and apostolic spirit led him to found the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer to carry on this work. He sent his Redemptorists, as our Lord did the Apostles, into the countryside and the market towns and villages, to announce the Kingdom of God. He became Bishop of Sant' Agata dei Goti, near Naples, and died at the age of ninety, in 1787. For his great works on Moral Theology he has been declared a Doctor of the Church.