Neri, Saint Philip

Neri, Saint Philip

(born July 21, 1515, Florence—died May 26, 1595, Rome; canonized 1622; feast day May 26) Roman Catholic mystic. He went to Rome to pursue religious studies in 1533. In 1548 he cofounded a society of laymen dedicated to the care of pilgrims, the poor, and the sick. After his ordination in 1551 he moved to the community of San Girolamo della Carità in Rome. From 1564 to 1575 he was rector of the church of San Giovanni, and in 1575 Gregory XIII granted him Santa Maria in Vallicella, where he established his Congregation of the Oratory, a group of priests and clerics engaged in devotion and charitable activities. One of the outstanding mystics of the Counter-Reformation, he was noted for his eloquence as a preacher.