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The Mission of St Philip, Parts 1 and 2
June 28, 2026
Robert J Conrad, Jr
So was it in the beginning, so has it been ever since. After the storm, the earthquake and the fire, the calm, soothing whisper of the fragrant air. After Savonarola, Philip.
On January 18, 1850, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the establishment of the Oratory in Birmingham, England, Newman preached a two-part sermon entitled “The Mission of St Philip.” In it, he presents St Philip Neri to his fellow Oratorians as both an effective intercessor and a pattern of life. It is Newman, and so of course the portrait is ingeniously unique, juxtaposing St. Philip against his immediate predecessor, the Florentine friar, Savonarola. Newman preached this sermon in Birmingham, England, this “populous district, unknown to the great world.” The setting reminds one of Bolt’s representation of St. Thomas More’s sardonic aside to Richard Rich “…but for Wales?”
The juxtaposition of Savonarola and St Philip is startling. Who, but a few, remember Savonarola? St. Philip, on the other hand, lives through the Oratorians down to this day. The former’s zeal is vehement and all-consuming, and at first phenomenally successful. Huge numbers of converts were attributed to his initial evangelism. Newman attributes the secret of his success to the following: the 1) truth of his cause; 2) earnestness of his conviction; 3) singleness of his aims; 4) impartiality of his censures; and 5) intrepidity of his menaces. Savonarola bellowed “In the primitive Church, the chalices were of wood and the prelates of gold; but now the chalices are of gold and the prelates are wooden.”
But Newman assesses two fatal flaws in Savonarola’s prophetic effort. Bold Savonarola attempted a revolution from the Church not a reform, thus using his eloquence for political partisanship not internal spiritual development. Second says Newman, “his innocence, sincerity and zeal were the ruin of his humility:”
He presumed; he exalted himself against a power which none can assail without misfortune. He put himself in opposition to the Holy See, and as some say disobeyed its injunctions. Reform is not wrought out by disobedience; this was not the way to be the Apostle either of Florence or of Rome.
He who had conducted a great pyramid of fire burning the luxurious items of Florentine idolatry as a token of penitence, was himself immolated by his enemies “in the very square where he had set fire to the costly furniture of vanity and sin.” His rebellion fizzled. He is largely unknown today.
And “after Savonarola, Philip” – the whisper of the fragrant air. “[Philip] was to pursue Savonarola’s purposes, but not in Savonarola’s way.” St Philip longed to be a missionary, but the Spirit spoke in no uncertain terms “his Indies was to be in Rome.” His ministry there began with fractured ribs caused by a
marvelous visitation when the Holy Ghost came down upon him in a ball of fire, about the time of Pentecost, and filled his heart with consolations so overwhelming that, lest he should die of ecstasy he came up into the world of men, and set about a work to flesh and blood most endurable.
This work was influenced by three great prophetic figures. He learned from St Benedict what to be, and from St. Dominic what to do and from St Ignatius, his contemporary, how he was to do it. St Philip spent roughly ten years in contemplative meditation and prayer in and among the basilicas and cemeteries of Rome. For fifteen years he preached as a layman to throngs of dissolute youths. Many saw their lives redirected – thirty converts after one homily. He ministered to the sick, the alien and the poor. Then at the age of thirty-five he became a priest.
He is known as the Apostle of Rome, a designation usually associated with saints who bring Christ to the heathens baptizing the newly converted – think St Augustine of England, St Patrick, St Boniface or St Francis. Philip’s “instrument of conversion was, not Baptism, but confession.” “Philip was, every day and almost every hour, for forty-five years, restoring, teaching, encouraging and guiding penitents along the narrow way of salvation.” On the day of his death, this Apostle of the Sacred City heard confessions from very early in the morning throughout the day and night.
St Philip’s unique contribution to the ages is the work of the Oratory. This work mimics the early religious of which St Benedict is a type: living in separate detached communities; not under one governance; settled in one place, no duties beyond it; vows were not a necessary element; little to do with ecclesiastical matters or secular politics; no large plan of action for religious ends. They let each day do its work as it came. They purposely lived in obscurity and laid a special stress on prayer and meditation. They were simple in forms of worship and freely admitted laymen into their fellowship. They valued being undervalued. Such was the spirit of the early religious, the desire of St. Philip and Newman’s prayer for his fellow Fathers of the Birmingham Oratory.
In conclusion, Newman returns to the comparison to Savonarola. Philip ministered “with a superhuman, heroic patience, of which we see so few traces in the fiery preacher at Florence.” Savonarola pursued an external reform, Philip the heart. Savonarola is associated with the pulpit, Philip the confessional box. Savonarola is known for his vehemence, Philip for his tenderness:
Nothing was too high for him, nothing to low. He taught poor begging women to use mental prayer; he took out boys to play; he protected orphans; he acted as novice-master to the children of St. Dominic. He was the teacher and director of artisans, mechanics, cashiers in banks, merchants, workers in gold, artists, men of science. He was consulted by monks, canons, lawyers, physicians, courtiers; ladies of the highest rank, convicts going to execution; [each] engaged in their turn his solicitude and prayers. Cardinals hung about his room, and Popes asked for his miraculous aid in disease and his ministrations in death.
The Holy Spirit used his docility of spirit to do great works. May this spirit, Newman concludes, ever rule us more and more. Amen.
