Pope Benedict XIV, one of the most learned Popes to ascend the throne of St. Peter, once received a missionary from Naples who desired to consult him on a difficult matter. The Pope declined to make a judgment, but said simply: "You have Fr. Liguori at Naples, consult him!"
The influence of the saint in his own times as well as ours cannot be understated. He was to the 18th century what Bellarmine was to the 17th, and what Aquinas was to the 13th, and in turn, like them, have had a tremendous influence on the subsequent life of the Church.
St. Alphonsus united in his person all that was capable to elevate him in the sight of heaven and earth. Sprung from one of the noblest families of Italy, he possessed all that could make him dear and agreeable to society. Besides the most rare talents of nature, there were seen to shine in him the most eminent virtues. To these natural and supernatural qualities God had added the most marvelous gifts of grace. Called at the age of thirty to begin his remarkable mission, it was not long before he saw the fearful evils caused, both to the Church and to the state, by Protestantism, and its natural offspring, Jansenism and infidelity. This inspired him on the one hand with the design of combating error with his pen, which he did in such a way as to make him worthy of a distinguished rank among the fathers and doctors of the Church; and on the other so inflamed his heart with zeal, that it gave him such a wonderful power in preaching the Gospel, as to earn him a place among the foremost apostles of Christianity.
Inspired by a vision from Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa, he laid the foundations of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in the town of Scala, in 1732. He proposed to form a society of Priests animated with a great zeal, who would willingly embrace an apostolic life conformable to the life of Jesus Christ - their object being their own sanctification, by the eager imitation of the virtues and examples of Jesus Christ in a life of perfect community under the vows of poverty, obedience and chastity; and secondly, the sanctification of the clergy and laity, more especially by assisting the souls most destitute of spiritual aid, through the means of missions, retreats and other spiritual exercises. Behold there the providential remedy to our times; for just as St. Francis, St. Dominic, and St. Ignatius were called by God to answer the wants and remedy the evils of their own time, so was St. Alphonsus raised up by God to meet ours.
The author, Fr. Antonio Tannoja, at age 18 was admitted to the Redemptorists by St. Alphonsus himself, and lived with him for much of his life. He was uniquely placed not only as a witness of the saint's life, but also to access to the principal documents concerning him and the founding of the Redemptorists. The translation was overseen by Fr. Faber, and is now reprinted in its totality for the first time. Divided into three volumes, encompassing Alphonsus' early life, the founding of the Redemptorists, his published work, appointment as a bishop, and saintly perseverance through so much persecution, and finally, the lives of Alphonsus' companions.
"By his learned writings, especially his 'Moral Theology, ' he dissipated the darkness of error with which Jansenists and unbelievers have cloaked the world"
-Bl. Pius IX
