| Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 25, 1532 Segovia |
| Died | October 31, 1617 (aged 85) |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 1825 |
| Canonized | 6 September 1887 |
| Major shrine | Majorca |
| Feast | October 30 |
Saint Alphonsus (Alfonso) Rodríguez (July 25, 1532 – October 31, 1617) was a Spanish Jesuit lay brother, now venerated as a saint. He was a native of Segovia. He is sometimes confused with Fr. Alonso Rodriguez, S.J., another Jesuit, who wrote Exercicio de perfección y virtudes cristianas (3 vols., Seville, 1609), which has frequently been re-edited and translated into nearly all languages; (in English as The practice of Christian perfection).
Rodriguez was a Jesuit lay brother who entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 40. He was the son of a wool merchant who had been reduced to poverty when Alfonso was still young, leaving the business to Alfonso when he was only 23. At the age of 26 he married Mary Suarez, a woman of his own station, and at 31 found himself a widower with one surviving child, the other two having died previously. From that time he began a life of prayer and mortification, and separated from the world around him. On the death of his third child his thoughts turned to a life in some religious order.
Previous associations had brought him into contact with the first Jesuits who had come to Spain, Blessed Peter Faber among others, but it was apparently impossible to carry out his purpose of entering the Society as he was without education, having only had an incomplete year at a new college begun at Alcalá by Francis Villanueva. At the age of 39 he attempted to make up this deficiency by following the course at the College of Barcelona, but without success. His austerities had also undermined his health. After considerable delay he was finally admitted into the Society of Jesus as a lay brother on 31 January 1571.
Distinct novitiates had not as yet been established in Spain, and Alfonso began his term of probation at Valencia or Gandia -- this point is a subject of dispute—and after six months was sent to the recently-founded college at Majorca, where he remained in the humble position of porter for 46 years, exercising a marvelous influence on the sanctification not only of the members of the household, but upon a great number of people who came to the porter's lodge for advice and direction. Among the distinguished Jesuits who came under his influence was St. Peter Clavier, who lived with him for some time at Majorca, and who followed his advice in asking for the missions of South America.
The bodily mortifications which he imposed on himself were extreme, the scruples and mental agitation to which he was subject were of frequent occurrence, his obedience absolute, and his absorption in spiritual things, even when engaged on most distracting employments, continual. It has often been said that he was the author of the well-known "Little Office of the Immaculate Conception", and the claim is made by Alegambe, Southwell, and even by the Fathers de Backer in their Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus. Apart from the fact that the brother did not have the requisite education for such a task, Father Costurer says positively that the office he used was taken from an old copy printed out of Spain, and Father Colin asserts that it existed before the Saint's time. It may be admitted, however, that through him it was popularized.
He left a considerable number of manuscripts after him, some of which have been published as Obras Espirituales del B. Alonso Rodriguez (Barcelona, 1885, 3 vols., octavo, complete edition, 8 vols. in quarto). They are sometimes only reminiscences of domestic exhortations, the texts are often repeated, the illustrations are from everyday life, and the treatment of one virtue occasionally entrenches upon another. They were not written with a view to publication, but put down by the Saint himself, or dictated to others, in obedience to a positive command of his superiors. He was declared venerable in 1626. In 1633, he was chosen by the Council General of Majorca as one of the special patrons of the city and island.
In 1760, Pope Clement XIII decreed that "the virtues of the Venerable Alonso were proved to be of a heroic degree"; but the expulsion of the Society from Spain in 1773, and its suppression, delayed his beatification until 1825. His canonization took place on September 6, 1887. His remains are enshrined at Majorca.