Origin 1732
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (CSsR), founded by Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) at Scala in the Kingdom of Naples in 1732, dedicated to preaching parish missions and retreats to the rural and urban poor who were neglected by the settled clergy. A congregation of priests and brothers under simple vows rather than a monastic order, the Redemptorists became closely identified with the moral theology of their founder, a Doctor of the Church, and with popular devotional preaching. They spread widely in the nineteenth century, notably in northern Europe and the Americas.
Facts
History
Historical NoteBecame closely identified with the moral theology of their founder, a Doctor of the Church, and with popular devotional preaching; spread widely in the nineteenth century, notably in northern Europe and the Americas. 2 Open Questions
Institutional Wealth or FinancesNeither the worldwide Congregation nor any US Redemptorist province publishes consolidated accounts, and US provinces are IRS church-exempt with no public Form 990. The only Redemptorist-founded US filer located, the Redemptorist Social Services Center in Kansas City (founded by the Redemptorist Fathers, describing itself today as nonsectarian), is a single local agency whose figures do not represent the order.
What would settle it: a province-level voluntarily published audited statement, or a disclosure regime covering Catholic religious congregations' finances; neither exists publicly today. Origins
Origin Period FounderAlphonsus Liguori, later declared a Doctor of the Church, who founded the congregation at Scala in the Kingdom of Naples in 1732. 1 FoundedAlphonsus Liguori founded the congregation at Scala in the Kingdom of Naples in 1732, dedicating it to preaching parish missions and retreats to the rural and urban poor neglected by the settled clergy. 2 Finances
Financial Disclosure RegimeNeither the worldwide Congregation nor any US Redemptorist province publishes consolidated accounts, and US provinces are IRS church-exempt with no public Form 990. A single locally founded agency's own filing does not represent the order and is not treated here as a wealth figure for it. 3 Organisation
Category of Structure Membership Eligibility Distinguishing FeatureA congregation of priests and brothers under simple vows rather than a monastic order, dedicated to preaching parish missions and retreats to the rural and urban poor whom the settled clergy had neglected. 1 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Current StatusThe Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer remains active today, continuing its founder's emphasis on popular devotional preaching and moral theology, with a global presence built especially through nineteenth century expansion into northern Europe and the Americas. 1 Learn More
A Congregation Founded to Reach the Country Poor
The Redemptorists are a congregation of missionary priests founded to bring the gospel to those the ordinary parish structure failed to reach, and their history is bound up with the moral theology of their founder.
Missions to the neglected
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scala in the Kingdom of Naples in 1732, dedicated to preaching parish missions and retreats among the rural and urban poor whom the settled clergy neglected. The characteristic work of the congregation is the mission, an intensive period of preaching, confession and devotion brought to a parish to revive its religious life, and this pastoral aim shaped the whole order. Liguori himself was a theologian, and his moral theology, pastoral and moderate against the rigorism of his day, became one of the most influential bodies of Catholic ethical teaching and a mark of the congregation.
An order of preachers and confessors
The Redemptorists spread across Europe and to the Americas, carrying the parish mission wherever they went, and they became particularly associated with the pastoral care of immigrant and working communities. Liguori was canonised and later named a Doctor of the Church, which set the seal on the intellectual tradition of the congregation. The order continues as a body of priests and brothers engaged in preaching, mission and pastoral work, keeping the founding orientation toward the people least served by the ordinary ministry of the church.
The Order Entrusted with a Famous Icon
Alphonsus Liguori founded his congregation at Scala in 1732 to reach rural and urban poor whose distance from settled parish clergy left them with little regular access to preaching or the sacraments, a mission focused on short, intensive parish missions rather than permanent parish administration. Papal approval followed in 1749 under Benedict XIV, and the congregation spread over the following century well beyond its Neapolitan origin, becoming a significant missionary presence in the rapidly industrialising cities of northern Europe, Britain and Ireland, where migrant and working class Catholic populations faced exactly the kind of pastoral neglect the order had been built to answer at home.
The clearest sign of the Redemptorists' later institutional standing came in 1866, when Pope Pius IX placed a Byzantine icon known as Our Mother of Perpetual Help in their care at a Roman church built for the purpose, entrusting a devotional image already centuries old to a congregation not yet a hundred and fifty years old and giving the Redemptorists lasting responsibility for a devotion that spread through the Catholic world under their promotion, an unusual case of an order becoming identified with a specific image it did not create.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Instance Of
Sources
1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005on the Redemptorists and Alphonsus LiguoriView the Source 1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005Redemptorists; Liguori, St AlphonsusView the Source 2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005on the parish missionView the Source 3. Filing Requirements for Churches and Religious Organizations (Internal Revenue Service)
Redemptorist Social Services Center, Nonprofit Explorer (ProPublica)
ProPublicaOpen Questions: Does Any Redemptorist Province Publish Financial Accounts?View the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
Does Any Redemptorist Province Publish Financial Accounts?
US Redemptorist provinces are IRS church-exempt and file no public Form 990, the worldwide Congregation publishes no consolidated accounts, and the only Redemptorist-founded US filer located, the Redemptorist Social Services Center in Kansas City, is a single local agency, today describing itself as nonsectarian, whose figures do not represent the order.
What would resolve this A province-level voluntarily published audited statement, or a disclosure regime covering the finances of Catholic religious congregations.
Nonprofit financial research and Catholic religious-institute administration.Redemptorist Social Services Center, Nonprofit Explorer (ProPublica)
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