St. Alphonsus Liguori

St. Alphonsus, who founded the Redemptorist congregation in 1732, was born in 1696 near Naples, Italy. He is best known for his moral theology, but he also wrote well in the field of spiritual and dogmatic theology. His Glories of Mary is one of the great works on that subject, and his book Visits to the Blessed Sacrament went through 40 editions in his lifetime, greatly influencing the practice of this devotion in the Church. He was declared patron of moral theologians by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

Alphonsus died in 1787. His Feast Day is August 1.