Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady

Alphonsus Liguori was born in Naples, Italy, in 1696. A renowned doctor of canon and civil law, he left the legal profession to enter the priesthood. Ordained in 1726, he spent several years attending to the poor before founding the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) in 1732. During his lifetime, St. Alphonsus dedicated himself to preaching and writing. With 111 published works, he is the official patron of moralists and confessors. Saint Alphonsus died in 1787 and was canonized in 1839. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871, and patron of confessors and moral theologians in 1950.

About the Editors and Translators

Fr. Seán Cannon, CSsR, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1940. He joined the Redemptorists in 1959 and was ordained a priest in 1966. Awarded a doctorate in Canon Law by the Angelicum University in Rome in 1976, Fr. Cannon taught theology at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome (the Alphonsianum) for nearly forty years. He was also a canonical consultant to the General Government of the Redemptorists for many years.

Fr. Raphael Gallagher, CSsR, was born in County Cavan, Ireland, in 1943. He joined the Redemptorists in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1969. He was awarded a doctorate in Moral Theology by the Alphonsian Academy in Rome (the Alphonsianum) in 1977. Fr. Gallagher taught theology in Ireland and the United States for a number of years, also becoming the Provincial of the Irish Redemptorists for six years, starting in 1987. He was an Invited Professor of the Alphonsianum from 1994 until his retirement in 2016.