Older Catholics might well remember the annual parish mission which men and women attended on separate evenings allowing the preacher to speak frankly about issues thought sensitive at the time. Certain religious congregations of priests specialized in this apostolate beginning in the United States chiefly with the Lazarist Fathers in 1816, the Redemptorist’s in 1832, and the Passionists in 1852. The Diocese of Providence’s newly appointed ordinary is a Redemptorist’s priest who will gladly continue this tradition of bringing the Gospel message to parish families throughout Rhode Island.
St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), the Redemptorist’s founder, was deeply moved by the plight of the poor living in Naples, Italy and surrounding areas. On November 9, 1732, he established a religious community with the aim of providing for their spiritual nourishment. He intended the congregation for the preaching of popular missions in the city and the countryside, especially in urban slums and poor villages. The Congregation’s mission is to follow the example of Jesus Christ by preaching the Word of God to the poor and the most abandoned, particularly to those who live on the margins of Church and society. In 1748, St. Alphonsus petitioned Pope Benedict XIV for formal recognition of this congregation to minister to the poor of central Italy and his holiness formally and gladly agreed. Parish preaching remains a major principle of the Redemptorists’ mission.
In 1828, Father Frederick Rese, vicar-general of Cincinnati, visited Europe in search of priests. While in Vienna he secured three Redemptorist priests and three lay brothers. This first band arrived in New York on June 20, 1832, and soon began working among the people of northern Michigan. In 1839, the Redemptorists arrived in Pittsburg to assume charge of the German congregation in that city and from this time the care of German congregations became a prominent ministry for the Redemptorist in North America.
In 1871, an important mission house was opened at Roxbury, Boston, locally known as Mission Hill, and was dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. When, in 1883, a new parish was formed in the neighborhood, the Redemptorist fathers of the mission house took charge. In 2009, the Redemptorist’s present large basilica church hosted the nationally televised funeral of Senator Edward Kennedy, attended by four U.S. presidents. For many years this Redemptorist parish produced a Lenten Passion play entitled “Pilate’s Wife,” very popular with Boston and New England Catholics.
North American Redemptorists are involved in giving parochial missions, in social justice work, retreats, youth ministry, ministry to adults with special needs, lately bioethics, publication of religious materials and chaplaincy work as well as outreach to the Hispanic community. In recent years the congregation has increasingly become concerned with matters of social justice as their website states: “Redemptorists believe that the saving love of God touches the whole person and calls for the transformation of social injustice into respect for the dignity of all men and women.” Their Denver Province owns Liguori Publications, which publishes books, pamphlets and the popular Liguorian magazine.
In addition to St. Alphonsus Liguori, other famous Redemptorists are St. Gerard Majella, (1726–1755), canonized in 1904, the patron saint of pregnant women and all mothers; St. Clement Mary Hofbauer (1751-1820), patron saint of Vienna and Warsaw, canonized in 1909, and St. John Nepomucene Neumann (1811-1860), canonized in 1977 who, as bishop of Philadelphia during the 1830s, was assigned a territory that included all of Pennsylvania and western New York.
The Patroness of the Redemptorist Congregation is the Virgin Mary under the title “Immaculate Conception,” of which St. Alphonsus was a strong propagator even before the Marian dogma was officially promulgated. The Redemptorists are also especially dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and were appointed by Pius IX as both custodians and popularizers of the famous icon of that title. The original artwork of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, now so popular, is enshrined at the Redemptorist Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome.
