“A cheerful and glad spirit attains to perfection much more readily than a melancholy spirit.”

On Tuesday our Church celebrated the Feast of Saint Philip Neri. On this great saint, Fr. Philip C. Fenton, SJ, writes that “Saint Philip was the most laughable and laughed at saint in Saintdom.” As a young man from a wealthy Florentine family, naturally Philip was on track to go into business. However, he chose a different path. He moved from Florence to Rome and devoted his life to God. He then thought about going the ordination track. But after a few years in the seminary he decided that wasn’t for him, so he left. He devoted the next thirteen years living out his vocation as a layperson, deeply engaged in prayer and in being among the sick and the poor in the streets of Rome. He would visit hospitals and try to build up the morale by laughing and telling jokes. Ultimately he was encouraged by one of his contemporaries and friends, none other than the great Ignatius of Loyola, to gradually pursue Holy Orders.

One day, while praying in the catacombs, Philip was thrown to the floor and a ball of fire “entered his mouth and lodged in his chest.” On his left side there appeared a swelling about the size of his fist. It is said that his heart became so inflamed with the love of God that it broke the ribs encasing it. As Fenton writes, “it was partially on account of this that for the rest of his life he engaged in ludicrous pranks, read joke books, and played ‘the clown’ in general,” so as to deflect others admiration of him and to downplay his reputation for sanctity. He would walk around in large white shoes, dress in bizarre costumes, wear his clothes inside out, and he once shaved only half of his otherwise full white beard. He would joke with the Roman cardinals and even Pope Gregory VII, and desperately tried to avoid getting the red hat himself.

Just to put some of this in historical context. The Church at this time was experiencing the Counter Reformation and the Renaissance. Internally and at the highest levels there was considerable unrest and corruption. Philip would go on to establish an oratory, inspiring all people to pray and direct their hearts and minds to God. He worked for reform, and was later recognized as the Apostle to Rome. And yet, Saint Philip desired nothing more than to be a fool for Christ.

What a great saint for us during this time – his extraordinary vocation path, the way that he exuded joy and good humor in a time when there was a lot to be discouraged about, and never stopped leading others to Jesus Christ. So let us pray for the intercession of Saint Philip Neri, who says “Do not let a day pass without doing something good in it.”