Biography st philip neri

St. Philip Neri, Carlo Dolci  (© MET)

In the “peripheries” of the city center

When Philip Neri arrived in Rome in , it was as if a light were lit in the darkness of misery that nestled amidst the glories of the Ara Pacis and the lustrous travertines of the noble palaces.

The center of the city had the dirty face of the outskirts, and Philip would go and get a small room, in San Girolamo in via Giulia. By day, even before he was ordained a priest, his kind face and happy heart led those who met him to the warmth of God, to which warmth he added some bread when he was able - or a caress on the forehead, a whispered comfort, to those who complain about the pallets of the Hospital of the Incurables.

At night, a soul of fire, Philip, lost in a dialogue so intimate with God that he could make his bed on the steps of a church or even atop the stone of a catacomb.

Always smiling

This, recalls Pope Francis in his M