Oratory of St Philip Neri, St Philip Neri 

To play the fool for the love of God was the delight of St. Philip of Neri. It was his motive, however, that supernaturalized his antics, sometimes declaimed as foolish by onlookers and passers-by.

Only the remembrance of a joke or a fantastic action could bring this saint back to earth while praying, for the strain of heavenly contemplation and his fervent love of God grew so intense within him that his whole physical being throbbed with the violence of it all and his heart literally expanded until it permanently bent the ribs enclosing it.

With St. Ignatius Loyola (whom he met in the early part of his life), the desire to be esteemed "useless and foolish for Christ's sake" was the last steppingstone to the attainment of humility in its highest degree. This was the celestial philosophy at the heart of this Mystic in Motley as at the heart of the saint of Loyola. In tactics and methods, however, there was a vast contrast between these two, who in the end attained the same achievement - God's greater glory.

To St. Philip Neri, the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy often called for abject humility. But to him, humility brought joy, and joy was one of the swiftest roads to holiness.

For any service to people, be it spiritual or corporal, St. Philip could be called upon, night or day - he would always serve.

He is the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory. During his later years many of the courtiers of Rome formed the majority of those who attended the exercises of the Oratory. Through these courtiers his influence radiated out in every direction and these were the very men by whose means the reform of the Church was so largely brought about. His work not only lives today in the founding of the Congregation, but also in the achievements of the great men who submitted themselves to his guidance (as did the most humble and unlettered of his followers). The Baronius of history is the creature of St. Philip Neri. Palestrina was one of the spiritual disciples who gained from this saint the insight into the spirit of the liturgy which enabled him to set it forth in polyphonic music as it had never been before. He inspired Camillus de Lellis to found an order whose sole work would be looking after the sick.

The Mystic in Motley has been brought back to life through the pen of Theodore Maynard. The author presents an authentic, animated, and sympathetic picture of St. Philip Neri. He, too, has made friends with the saint and now would have us do the same.

Taken from the inside flaps.