St. Alphonsus Liguori COLLECTION (SNV 02)

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696–1787) was an Italian nobleman, a lawyer turned priest, prolific writer, founder of the Redemptorists, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church. Here, he is portrayed wearing his Bishop’s regalia—white miter and cope, light violet gloves, blue-violet robe, and gold pectoral cross. He carries his crosier or pastoral staff in his left hand and raises his right hand in blessing. While his torso is shown frontally, his head is turned slightly to the right, the better to show his chin tucked against his chest. In May 1768, St. Alphonsus had been struck with a terrible attack of rheumatic fever that lasted over a year and left him permanently crippled until his death some twenty years later. He spent much of those last twenty years confined to a wheelchair. For these reasons, he is patron saint of rheumatoid arthritics and the aged ill. + Feast: August 1