St. Alphonsus - The Arthritis Saint by Fr. L.G. Lovasik

FOREWORD

Rheumatic diseases – arthritis, gout, rheumatic fever, and a host of allied ailments that affect joints and muscles – are the greatest cripplers of mankind.

This booklet has been written for the more than seven and half million Americans who are victims of arthritis, and for those who pray for them, in the hope that it will give some of them consolation, confidence, strength – and if be God’s will – a cure.

This is a fifth in a series of my booklets for the sick who suffer the misery of various diseases. The other booklets are: The Cancer Saint (St. Peregrine); The Heart Saint (St. John of God); The T.B. Saint (St. Therese); Saint Dymphna (patron of those suffering from mental and nervous disease).

Since St. Alphonsus Liguori suffered from arthritis for more than nineteen years and bore its pains with heroic patience, it is fitting that he be invoked as a patron of those who are afflicted with this disease.

These pages are dedicated to Our Heavenly Mother-Mary, the Health of the Sick – whom Saint Alphonsus loved so tenderly.

Alphonsus Liguori was born at Marianella, near Naples, September 27, 1696. His father was Don Joseph Liguori a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, a man of genuine faith. Every year father and son would make a retreat together in some religious house. The saint’s mother was donna Anna Cavalieri, of Spanish descent. She was a very fervent Christian and an inspiration for her son.

The good example of his parents had a great influence on the early years of Alphonsus. They encouraged him to put God first in his life. A pure and modest boyhood passed into a manhood without reproach. The saint’s confessor declared that he preserved his baptismal innocence till death.

Alphonsus started out in life as a lawyer. At the age of sixteen he was made doctor in law. In the eight years of practice he had never lost a case. In his last case in 1723 he made a brilliant plea, but the opposing lawyer pointed out a fatal defect in this presentation. He lost the lawsuit in the courts because he overlooked a document. He thought his mistake would be ascribed not to oversight but to deliberate deceit. He felt as if his career were ruined, and left the court almost beside himself, saying, “World, I know you now. Courts, you shall never see me again.” For three days he refused all food. Then the storm subsided, and he began to see that is humiliation had been sent to him by God to break down his pride and wean him from the world. He spent his days in prayer, seeking to know God’s will.

On August 28th, 1723, the young lawyer had gone to perform a favorite charity by visiting the sick is the Hospital for Incurables. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a mysterious light; the house seemed to rock, and an interior voice said, “Leave the world and give yourself to Me.” This occurred twice. Alphonsus left the hospital and went to the church of Our Lady of the Redemption of Captives. Before the statue of Mary he promised to enter the holy priesthood and to offer himself as a novice to the Fathers of the Oratory.

For two months his father, already displeased at the failure of two of his own plans for his son’s marriage and his neglect of his legal profession, opposed his plan. His father agreed to allow his son to become a priest, provided he would give up his proposal of joining the Oratory and would continue to live at home. To this Alphonsus agreed.

Now that God had shown him His will, he devoted himself entirely to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He was ordained a priest December 21st, 1726. For six years he labored in and around Naples preaching missions. He had a burning zeal for souls and devoted himself to the most neglected. To carry on this work be founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer at Scala.

The rule of the Redemptorists was approved by Benedict XIV in 1748. At that time there were about fifty members, and they confined their activity to the districts of the kingdom of Naples. Today they number about six thousand and are spread throughout the whole world. Their founder wished them to preach practical sermons, retreats, and missions.

Alphonsus forgot himself and preached Jesus Christ. He told his missionaries, “I have never preached a sermon which the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand.” In the direction of souls, he was always kind and sympathetic. His confessional was usually crowded, and hardened sinners returned to the healing sacraments in great numbers.

At the age of sixty-six Alphonsus was prevailed upon to become the Bishop Saint Agatha, and undertook the reform of his diocese with the zeal of a saint. The diocese numbered 30,000 souls with 17 religious houses and 400 diocesan priests. He sent out a band of priest to conduct a general mission throughout the diocese.

Alphonsus made a vow never to lose time. He wrote and published about sixty books on the spiritual life, morals, dogma, poetry and music. Very many of these books were written in the half hours snatched from his labors as a missionary, religious superior, and bishop, or in the midst of continual bodily and mental sufferings.

The bishop spent much time in charity. He did not refuse to hold a long correspondence with a simple soldier who asked his advice. Once he pawned his pectoral cross to help the poor. He would have pawned his ring but could not find a broker to give him anything for it. Once a mob clamored for the life of the mayor, who was suspected of hoarding food. The bishop quieted the mob and distributed the food himself.

“He fulfilled in a most perfect way,” said Father Mazzini of Naples, “the divine precept of loving God above all things, with his whole heart and with all his strength, as all might have seen and as I saw better than anyone during the long years I spent with him. The love of God shone forth in all his acts and words, in his devout manner and his continual exercise of the divine presence. If I were Pope I would canonize him without process.”

Alphonsus lived in evil times, and met with many persecutions and disappointments till his death. Some evil minded individuals had inserted deceptive clauses in his interpretation of the Rule that he seemed to run counter to the Supreme Pontiff. In 1780, by a special decree, the pope excluded the saint from the Congregation he himself had founded. Alphonsus said amid tears, “I wish only what God wishes; His grace is sufficient. The pope will have it so. God be praised”

Through Alphonsus was a very old man and had lived a life of heroic sanctity, he had to suffer many terrible temptations. Often he was heard to exclaim, “O my Jesus, grant that I may die rather than yield to temptation. O Mary, if you do not assist me, I shall sin even more than Judas did.”

In 1784, he went through a terrible “dark night of the soul.” He was assailed by temptations against every article of faith and against every virtue. He was tortured by scruples and vains fears, and was visited by diabolical illusions. For eighteen months this torment lasted, with intervals of light and relief, and was followed by a perfect when ecstasies were frequent, and prophecy and miracles took the place of interior trials.

THE ARTHRITIS SAINT

In June 1767, Alphonsus was attacked by terrible rheumatic pains which developed into an illness from which he was not expected to recover. Not only did he receive the last sacraments, but preparations were begun for his funeral. After twelve months, his life was saved, but he was left with a permanent and incurable bending of the neck, familiar from the portraits of him. Until the surgeons had succeeded in straightening it a little, the pressure of the chin caused a raw wound in this chest.

Since Alphonsus was in poor health and advanced in age, he dictated a letter to the Pope explaining that he was unable to keep in close personal touch with the thirty thousand souls in his diocese. He begged the Holy Father to let him resign his office as bishop. Pope Clement, however, refused the petition. “Your shadow alone,:” be wrote in his reply, “is enough to govern the diocese.”

So Alphonsus remained, but every year the burden grew heavier. One day torrential rains had sent landslides across a mountain road as he was returning from a trip to the country. Brother Romito, the infirmarian, found him on his sleeping sack with all available blankets piled over him.

“The body is wearing out, Brother,” Alphonsus said. And remembering that a few weeks he would celebrate his seventy-second birthday, he added, “And it is about time.”

The next morning he was unable to say Mass. Arthritis had gripped his wrists. They were swollen and so sore that he could not endure even the touch of the sheets against them.

“It looks like an acute attack of rheumatism,” the doctor said that afternoon. “A man of his age can’t stand overwork and exposure. Keep him quiet. Nothing will help but rest.|”

Alphonsus rested. Indeed, there was no temptation for him to do otherwise, for the inflammation which had appeared first in his wrists later spread to all his other joints. The least movement caused him pain.

Every morning the vicar general brought him Holy Communion. He would then make acts of reparation, meditating on the Passion of Christ, and praying for the people of his diocese. He offered to God not only his sufferings, but also his uselessness – the hands that were too swollen and stiff and sore for any work, the feet that could no longer sustain his body, the head whose throbbing pain made reading impossible.

Yet he continued handling details of work form his bed. He called for his half-finished manuscripts, read them over, and finished them. After months of enforced silence he resumed his work of writing dozens of pamphlets. Hour after hour, propped up with pillows, he dictated to Brother Romito.

One morning Alphonsus lay quite rigid, his chin bent toward his chest. During the night he had suffered a stroke of paralysis. Although his spine and limbs were affected, his mind remained clear, and he still had the power of speech.

“This is our Lord’s way of relieving my pain,” he said jokingly to those who attended him. “Before, every movement hurt. Now so little movement is possible that I am quite free of pain.”

While the people of the diocese prayed for the recovery of their bishop, he prayed for the chance to be of service again, in any way that God might wish. By spring he found that with help he could get out of bed. He could walk back and forth across his room supported by crutches and two attendants. A month later he was carried downstairs. Although he had regained the use of his arms, and at least partially of legs, the paralysis in his neck had not changed. His head was bent so far that he was unable to raise it to look ahead.

Once when Brother Romito and the coachman were taking him to the carriage, some boys paying in the street looked up and cried with terror, for, seen from behind, his body appeared to be headless.

The misery Alphonsus felt in being unable to say Mass was far greater than any physical pain. Because of the position of his head, he could take liquids only through a straw. When he was alone in his room, he would try over and over to find some position which would enable him to drink from a cup without spilling the water in it. He endured the agony of such efforts in silence, but they left him exhausted, and his body was covered with perspiration. Once the Brother found him slumped in his hair because he could not get back to his bed.

The priest who helped the Brother put him back to bed noticed a large, open sore on the bishop’s chest. Smiling, he asked, “Are you looking at that?” It’s been there a long time. My attendant knows, but he promised to keep the secret. Now I suppose you will be making a big to-do over nothing.”

The paralysis was pressing the bishop’s chin into his chest and causing constant irritation.

“It’s good for me,” said Alphonsus. “It’s a reminder of the Passion. Now let’s forget about it, Brother, because I have good news. If I sit down and take plenty of time, I can at last drink form a cup. Will you write to Rome this very afternoon and ask if I may sit in a chair to receive the Precious Blood?” If so, I can say Mass again.”

The permission was granted, and Alphonsus once more stood before the altar, with two seminarians supporting him. He received the Precious Blood through a golden tube. The effort was very painful. “There’s no life in me without the Mass,” he insisted. “The suffering it costs is nothing compared to being deprived of it.”

During the next three years his condition did not improve. The sore on his chest repeadtedly became infected. In 1772 he was still unable to walk alone beyond the paces between his bed and and his chair.

Alphonsus was resigned to a life of physical inactivity, since the pope would not accept his resignation. “It is enough for me that he govern his diocese from his bed,” the pope said. “His prayers will do as much for his flock as all the activity in the world.”

Alphonsus delegated his work to others. He spent much of the time dictating, either in bed or stretched upon a sofa, his chin jutting into the sore of his chest. He wrote pamphlets explaining the Mass and urging people to receive Holy Communion frequently.

One he lay motionless in a chair for twenty-four hours. When he was awake, he told the Brother, “I have been with the Holy Father. He has Just died. Now if you will help me, I would like to say a requiem Mass.” Three days later Pope Clement died.

Alphonsus dictated his formal resignation to Pope Pius VI. Among other things he wrote. “I am in extreme old age, for in the month of September I enter on my eightieth year. Besides old age, I have many infirmities which warn me that death is near. I suffer from a weakness of the chest which several times has reduced me to the last extremity, and from palpitation of the heart which has also several times nearly put an end to my life. At present I am suffering from such constant headaches that sometimes they make me like one deprived of the use of his faculties. During the time of my episcopate I have four times received Viaticum and twice Extreme Unction. My hearing fails, I am paralyzed to such an extent that I can no longer write a line. With difficulty I sign my name so badly that is scarcely understood. I am become so crippled that I can no longer walk a step, and I have need of two assistance to move at all . . .”

The resignation was officially accepted, and Alphonsus was taken home to Redemptorist monastery in the village of Pagani. Around him in the refectory were the old, friendly faces of the past, but he was too paralyzed to see them. He was present at the community devotions, visited the Blessed Sacrament every day, and made the Stations of the Cross. He also continued his writing and correspondence.

For the last seven years of his life Alphonsus was unable to say Holy Mass; but he received Holy Communion daily, and his love for Jesus Christ and his trust in Mary’s prayers sustained him to the end. He sat up many a night with asthma, breathing with difficulty and plagued by such headaches that even his vision was impaired. Yet he spent the hours between midnight and morning writing. Even a man in good health could not stand such exertion.

In the month of July 1789, Alphonsus lay in bed. With the increasing weakness of his body, the pains which had tortured him for many years subsided. He was almost blind. He asked Brother Romito to lay his habit across the bed, so that when he stretched his arms down he could touch it. He would wear it again when he lay in his coffin. At times he held on to it tightly and prayed.

Sometimes people bent over his bed, and wondering who they were, he would make the Sign of the Cross over them and whisper, “Save your soul!” He was ninety-one now.

One by one the priests were saying Mass in the room of Alphonsus on the morning of August 1st, 1789. At eleven o’clock the house bell was rung to announce that the prayers for the dying would begin. At noon the Angelus rang. A moment later the ringing resumed, but now nit was announcing the death of Alphonsus Liguori.

In 1839 Alphonsus was canonized. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871. His feast is celebrated August 1st.

The finest eulogy of St. Alphonsus was pronounced by Pius VII in his Decree of Beatification, September 6th, 1816. He said “Alphonsus was in God’s hands a sharp arrow, which discharged against vice, strikes now in one place, now in another, in order to promote the honor of God and the salvation of souls. As a sharp arrow, heated by the fire of love, he has wounded the hearts of not a few priests, and so inflamed them that they also left all things and followed their Redeemer. Thus he established the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, who se priests have the special duty to preach to the people living scattered in the country. One cannot wonder enough how many enmities he has removed, how many wandering sinners he has led back to the right road and to Christian perfection, by work and example, and by his numerous writings. Besides, he was so devoted a client of the Morher of God, that it was always a pleasure to him to praise this sublime Mother and Virgin, and to write about her glories books filled with holy learning. Bowed down physically by age, labor, and very grievous illness, yet mentally strong and ardent, he never ceased to speak and to write about heavenly things till his ninetieth year, when full of joy, he died a saintly death.”

According to the results of the full medical and radiological examination of the remains and radiological examination of the remains of St. Alphonsus carried out from July 1951 to January 1952 under the direction of Professor Gaston Lambertini, Director of the Institute of Human Anatomy of the University of Naples, and his assistant Dr. Gennaro Goglia, who wrote the full medical report on the conclusion of the examination, the saint suffered from osteoarthritis of the spine.

Osteoarthritis is mainly a disease of agins, of wear and tear, and degeneration or breakdown with advancing age. There are far more people who suffer from this form – 97 per cent of the people over 60 get it in some degree. It is responsible for untold aches and pains and stiffness, and sometimes crippling. Osteoarthritis begins with a slight or stiffness in fingertips, knees, shoulders, or vertebrae of the spine. Exercise and movement make the stiffness worse. Then the affected joints become more uncomfortable; they thicken and creak when moved, and become painful. This disease progresses slowly, and it can result in gnarled fingers or deformities.

In the case of St. Alphonsus, this malady made itself dramatically known in May, 1768. He went to bed in June and was not able to say Mass until the end of September of the beginning of October, 1769. Arthritis remained with him until he died. The doctors believe that it was present in his system for a considerable time previous to the severe attack that incapacitated him in 1768.
God has given us the saints not only that we might imitate their example of virtue but also that we might seek their intercession before His heavenly throne. They have served God faithfully in life, and He has rewarded them richly in heaven. Their prayers before God are very powerful. The Church has taught us to invoke the saints in our needs of soul and body, and has even chosen certain saints as patrons in various needs.

Because of his patience in bearing the sufferings of arthritis for almost twenty years and felt the gripping pains of this terrible disease, St. Alphonsus can rightly be invoked as the Arthritis Saint. From personal experience he can sympathize with those who also suffer arthritic pains. And because of his sufferings and labors, as well as the holiness of his life, he certainly has great power of intercession in heaven. All of us, but especially those afflicted with arthritis, should turn to him with confidence. If it God’s will, his prayers will give them the cure they look for, or at least relieve their sufferings and obtain for them the great grace of patience in bearing their cross in union with the Crucified Savior and His Sorrowful Mother.

Prayer is the wonderful means God gave us of seeking His help. He gave us this assurance: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened” (Matt. 7: 7-9). “If you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23, 24).


PRAYERS

Prayer to St. Alphonsus

My glorious and well-beloved patron, Saint Alphonsus, you have toiled and suffered abundantly to assure to men the fruits of the Redemption. Behold the miseries of my poor soul and have pity on me.

By your powerful intercession with Jesus and Mary, obtain for me true repentance for my sins together with their pardon and remission, a deep hatred of sin, and strength evermore to resist all temptations. Share with me, I pray, at least a spark of that fire of love with which your heart always burned. Grant, that, following your example, I may make the will of God the only rule of my life.

Obtain for me also a fervent and lasting love of Jesus, and a tender and childlike devotion to Mary, together with the grace to pray without ceasing and to persevere in the service of God even to the end of my life, that I may finally be united with you in praising God and most holy May through all eternity. Amen.


Novena Prayer

Glorious Saint Alphonsus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, devoted servant of our Lord and loving child of Mary, I invoke you as a saint in heaven. I give myself to you that you may always be my father, my protector, and my guide in the way of holiness and salvation. Aid me in observing the duties of my state of life. Obtain for me great purity of heart and a fervent love of the interior life after your own example.

Great lover of the Blessed Sacrament and the Passion of Jesus Christ, teach me to love Holy Mass and Holy Communion as the source of all grace and holiness, and to receive this Sacrament as often as I can. Give a tender devotion to the Passion of my Crucified Redeemer.

Promoter of the truth of Christ in your preaching and writing, give me a greater knowledge and appreciation of the divine truths.

Gentle father of the poor and sinners help me to imitate your charity toward my fellowmen in word and deed.

Consoler of the suffering, help me to bear my daily cross patiently in imitation of your own patience in your long illness and to resign myself to the will of God.

Good Shepherd of the flock of Christ, obtain for me the grace of being a true child of Holy Mother Church.

Saint Alphonsus, I humbly implore your powerful intercession for obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I recommend to you in particular this favor . . . . . . . . . . (Mention your request).

I have great confidence in your prayers. I earnestly trust that if it is God’s holy will, my petition will be granted through your intercession for me at the throne of God.

Saint Alphonsus, pray for me and for those I love, I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, do not abandon us in our needs. May we experience the peace and joy of your holy death. Amen.


In thanksgiving to God for the graces bestowed on Saint Alphonsus:
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be.
                                                                                                           (3 times).

For a Cure

Glorious Saint Alphonsus, loving Father of the poor and the sick, all your
life you devoted yourself with a charity really heroic to lightening their
spiritual and bodily miseries. Full of confidence in thy tender pity for
the sick, since you yourself have patiently borne the cross of illness,
I come to thee for help in my present need . . . . . . (Mention it)

Loving Father of the suffering, Saint Alphonsus, whom I invoke as
the Arthritis Saint, since you have suffered from this disease in your
lifetime, look with compassion upon me in my suffering. Beg God to
give me good health. If it is not God's will to cure me, then give me
strength to bear my cross patiently and to offer my sufferings in union
with my Crucified Savior and His Mother of Sorrows, for the glory of God
and the salvation of souls, in reparation for my sins and those of others,
for the needs of this troubled world, and for the souls in purgatory.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.

Saint Alphonsus, patron of the sick, pray for me. Amen.



Liturgical Prayers

Father, Thou continually build up Thy Church by the lives of Thy saints. Give us grace to follow St. Alphonsus in his loving concern for the salvation of men and so come to share his reward in heaven. Grant this through Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

(Feast of St. Alphonsus, August 1st)

God, Thou constantly introduce new examples of virtue in Thy Church. Walking in the footsteps of Bishop Alphonsus, may we be consumed with zeal for souls and attain the rewards he has won in heaven. This we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Lord, Thou made St. Alphonsus a faithful minister and preacher of the Holy Eucharist. May all who believe in Thee receive it often and give thee never-ending praise. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Father, inflame our hearts with the Spirit of Thy Love as we honor St. Alphonsus who dedicated his life to Thee in the Eucharist. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.


 
Novena of Confidence

Lord Jesus Christ, to Thy most Sacred Heart I confide this intention: (Mention your request).

Only look upon me, then do what Thy Heart inspires. Let Thy Sacred Heart decide. I count on Thee. I trust in Thee. I throw myself on Thy mercy. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thou will not fail me!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in Thee!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Thy love for me!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thy Kingdom come!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have asked Thee for many favors, but I earnestly implore this one. Take it, place it in Thy open, broken Heart, and when the Eternal Father looks upon it, cover with Thy Precious Blood, He will not refuse it. It will be no longer my prayer, but Thine, O Jesus.

I ask this favor through the intercession of Thy Blessed Mother, the Comforter of the Afflicted and the Health of the Sick, and also of St. Alphonsus, Patron of Arthritic patients. If it be God’s holy will, hear my prayer, O Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen.