mardi 30 octobre 2012

Saint APHONSE (ALONSO) RODRIGUEZ, jésuite


Saint Alphonse Rodriguez

Frère coadjuteur de la Compagnie de Jésus

(1531-1617)

Saint Alphonse Rodriguez, fils d'un riche marchand drapier, naquit à Ségovie, en Espagne. Après avoir fait ses études au collège d'Alcala, sous la direction des Pères de la Compagnie de Jésus, il retourna à Ségovie à cause du décès de son père et dut s'occuper de l'administration des biens familiaux. Après avoir essuyé des revers de fortune, perdu sa femme et sa fille en l'espace de quelques mois, Alphonse Rodriguez abandonna le soin des affaires et se retira dans une chambre avec son fils à peine âgé de trois ans. Plein de sollicitude pour l'âme de son enfant, il pria Dieu de l'appeler à Lui s'il devait un jour L'offenser. Le Seigneur ravit ce petit ange à sa tendresse quelques jours après sa fervente prière.

Durant six ans, saint Alphonse pratiqua dans le monde toutes les vertus chrétiennes. A l'âge de trente-sept ans, de plus en plus absorbé dans la pensée de la mort et de son salut éternel, il ne songea plus qu'à entrer dans un Ordre religieux. Sur le conseil d'un Père de la Compagnie de Jésus, il commença à étudier le latin, mais le succès ne répondit pas à ses efforts. Laissant ce projet de côté, il pensa à se retirer auprès d'un ermite de Valence, mais son confesseur l'en dissuada.

Agé de trente-neuf ans, Alphonse entra au noviciat de la Compagnie de Jésus, au couvent de St-Paul de Valence où on l'admit en qualité de Frère coadjuteur. Ses premiers pas dans la vie religieuse révélèrent le haut degré de vertu où il était déjà parvenu. Son humilité que rien ne pouvait déconcerter, sa patience devant les exigences les plus indiscrètes ou les reproches les moins mérités, sa scrupuleuse obéissance, son oraison continuelle suscitaient l'admiration et l'édification de tous ses confrères.

Après six mois de noviciat, ses supérieurs l'envoyèrent sur l'île Majorque, au collège de la Ste Vierge du mont Sion où il prononça ses voeux simples et solennels le même jour. Pendant trente ans, saint Alphonse Rodriguez se sanctifiera dans le modeste emploi de portier, accueillant toutes les personnes qui se présentaient avec le même empressement que si c'eût été Notre-Seigneur. Le matin, au son de la cloche, il demandait à Dieu de le garder sans péché durant le jour, ensuite il se mettait sous la protection de la Très Sainte Vierge en récitant Ses Litanies.

A sa prière incessante, il joignait une mortification extraordinaire. "En toutes choses, témoigna son supérieur, Alphonse cherchait ce qui répugnait le plus à la nature." Ainsi, il ne voulait porter que des vêtements usés. Un crucifix et une image de la Très Sainte Vierge sans nulle valeur artistique ornait la cellule de ce pauvre de Jésus-Christ. Il couchait sur la dure et jeûnait souvent. Regardant le réfectoire comme un lieu de mortification, il offrait tous les sacrifices qu'il s'y imposait pour le soulagement et la délivrance des saintes âmes du purgatoire. Avant de sortir de la maison, saint Alphonse Rodriguez demandait à Notre-Seigneur de le faire mourir plutôt que de le voir consentir à aucun péché mortel. Pendant ses visites, il observait une modestie si exemplaire, parlait si peu et rarement, que cet empire acquis sur ses sens l'avait fait surnommer: le frère mort.

L'obéissance de saint Alphonse Rodriquez était aussi aveugle que parfaite, car ce bon Saint était convaincu qu'en accomplissant les ordres de son supérieur, il exécutait ceux du ciel même. Pour savoir jusqu'où sa sublime dépendance pouvait aller, le recteur du collège de Majorque lui commanda un jour de s'embarquer. Saint Alphonse partit aussitôt sans poser de question. Chemin faisant, un religieux vint lui dire que le supérieur le redemandait. "Où alliez-vous, lui demanda le recteur, puisque vous ignoriez le but du voyage et quel vaisseau vous deviez prendre? – J'allais faire l'obéissance, répondit le saint portier."

Alphonse Rodriguez reçut de Dieu le don de prophétie et celui des miracles. Après quarante-cinq années passées dans la pratique des plus admirables vertus, affligé depuis longtemps d'une douloureuse maladie, le saint religieux reçut le sacrement des infirmes. Ayant communié avec ferveur, l'agonisant ferma les yeux et entra dans un ravissement qui dura trois jours. Durant ce temps, son visage demeura tout rayonnant d'une céleste clarté. Le 31 octobre 1617, le saint Jésuite revint à lui, prononça distinctement le nom adorable de Jésus et Lui rendit son âme, à l'âge de quatre-vingt-six ans.

Il fut canonisé par Sa Sainteté Léon XIII, le 8 janvier 1888.

Résumé O.D.M.




Saint Alphonse Rodriguez

Jésuite à Palma de Majorque (+ 1617)

Comme il ignorait le latin, il ne fut que frère-coadjuteur et pendant plus de trente ans, simple frère portier. Il accomplissait cette tâche avec sourire et amabilité malgré les injures de certains importuns. Il sut obéir jusqu'à l'extrême abandon de sa volonté et ses supérieurs l'éprouvèrent souvent lui demandant des choses parfois impossibles auxquelles il se pliait avec humilité.

À Palma de Majorque, en 1617, saint Alphonse Rodriguez. Ayant perdu son épouse, ses enfants et toute sa fortune, il fut accepté comme religieux dans la Compagnie de Jésus et s’acquitta pendant de nombreuses années de la fonction de portier au Collège de la ville avec une humilité, une obéissance et une constance admirables comme une forme de mortification.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/2108/Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez.html


31 octobre

Saint ALPHONSE RODRIGUEZ, religieux

Mémoire

Commun des religieux (p. 271).

OFFICE DES LECTURES

DEUXIÈME LECTURE

Vie admirable de saint Alphonse Rodriguez, religieux

Je me comporte comme un petit enfant encore au sein, qui ne sait ni ne peut s’enorgueillir.

Très souvent, je ne m’entretiens et ne converse qu’avec Jésus et la sainte Vierge, sa très sainte Mère, les amours de mon âme. Je leur rends compte de ce qui me concerne, car je suis si nul, si grossier et si ignorant, que je ne suis absolument bon à rien. Je recours donc à eux, en leur racontant ce qui m’arrive, et je les prie de me venir en aide et de me protéger, afin que je fasse tout, suivant leur bon plaisir et non pas autrement. Mon cœur plein d’amour pour Dieu est extrêmement désireux de lui plaire ; et pour lui être agréable, je suis prêt à renoncer à tout en ce monde et à moi-même. Ayant égard à mes bons désirs, et voyant que je traite tout avec lui et avec la Sainte Vierge, que je ne veux que ce qu’ils veulent, et que, dans mon recours à eux, je me remets moi-même, mes intérêts et ceux du prochain entre leurs mains, Dieu fait que tout réussit et arrive selon ses desseins. C’est avec un certain élan d’amour que je vais trouver Jésus et Marie et converser avec eux ; ils me répondent avec une douce suavité et me font connaître leur sainte volonté, en m’apprenant en même temps comment l’exécuter.

Dans cette douce familiarité que j’ai avec Jésus et la sainte Vierge, je me comporte comme un enfant encore au sein. Celui-ci ne peut ni ne sait s’enorgueillir, parce qu’il est un enfant ; or, avec la grâce de Dieu, mon âme en vient dans ces entretiens, à cet état qu’elle ne saurait et ne pourrait s’enorgueillir plus qu’un petit enfant qui n’a pas encore été sevré.

(Mémoire écrit en juin 1615. Ed. esp. dans V. Segarra, s.j., San Alonso Rodriguez. Autobiografia o sea Memorial o Cuentas de la Consciencia , Barcelona, 1956, pp. 227-228 ; tr. fr. par P. de Bénazé, 1890, pp. 281-282).

R/ Je te rends grâce de tout mon cœur, Seigneur mon Dieu ;

* Il est grand ton amour pour moi.

V/ Tu es mon Dieu, je te rends grâce, mon Dieu, je t’exalte.

* Il est grand …

Tu nous a montré, Seigneur, dans la fidélité de notre frère Alphonse Rodriguez, le chemin de la joie et de la paix ; accorde-nous d’être toujours des compagnons de Jésus empressés à le servir, lui qui s’est fait le serviteur de tous et qui règne avec Toi et le Saint-Esprit.

SOURCE : http://www.jesuites.com/2013/01/alphonse-rodriguez/



St. Alphonsus Rodriguez

(Also Alonso).

Born at Segovia in Spain, 25 July, 1532; died at Majorca, 31 October, 1617. On account of the similarity of names he is often confounded with Father Rodriguez the author of "Christian Perfection", who though eminent in his holiness was never canonized. The Saint was a Jesuit lay-brother who entered the Society at the age of forty. He was the son of a wool merchant who had been reduced to poverty when Alfonso was still young. At the age of twenty-six he married Mary Francisco Suárez, a woman of his own station, and at thirty-one found himself a widower with one surviving child, the other two having died previously. From that time he began a life of prayer and mortification, although separated from the world around him. On the death of his third child his thoughts turned to a life in some religious order. Previous associations had brought him into contact with the first Jesuits who had come to Spain, Bl. Peter Faber among others, but it was apparently impossible to carry out his purpose of entering the Society, as he was without education, having only had an incomplete year at a new college begun at Alcalá by Francis Villanueva. At the age of thirty-nine he attempted to make up this deficiency by following the course at the College of Barcelona, but without success. His austerities had also undermined his health. After considerable delay he was finally admitted into the Society of Jesus as a lay-brother, 31 January, 1571. Distinct novitiates had not as yet been established in Spain, and Alfonso began his term of probation at Valencia or Gandia — this point is a subject of dispute — and after six months was sent to the recently-founded college at Majorca, where he remained in the humble position of porter for forty-six years, exercising a marvelous influence on the sanctification not only of the members of the household, but upon a great number of people who came to the porter's lodge for advice and direction. Among the distinguished Jesuits who came under his influence was St. Peter Clavier, who lived with him for some time at Majorca, and who followed his advice in asking for the missions of South America. The bodily mortifications which he imposed on himself were extreme, the scruples and mental agitation to which he was subject were of frequent occurrence, his obedience absolute, and his absorption in spiritual things even when engaged on most distracting employments, continual. It has often been said that he was the author of the well known "Little Office of the Immaculate Conception", and the claim is made by Alegambe, Southwell, and even by the Fathers de Backer in their Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus. Apart from the fact that the brother did not have the requisite education for such a task, Father Costurer says positively that the office he used was taken from an old copy printed out of Spain, and Father Colin asserts that it existed before the Saint's time. It may be admitted, however, that through him it was popularized. He left a considerable number of manuscripts after him, some of which have been published as "Obras Espirituales del B. Alonso Rodriguez" (Barcelona, 1885, 3 vols., octavo, complete edition, 8 vols. in quarto). They have no pretense to style; they are sometimes only reminiscences of domestic exhortations; the texts are often repeated; the illustrations are from every-day life; the treatment of one virtue occasionally trenches on another; but they are remarkable for the correctness and soundness of their doctrine and the profound spiritual knowledge which they reveal. They were not written with a view to publication, but put down by the Saint himself, or dictated to others, in obedience to a positive command of his superiors. He was declared Venerable in 1626. In 1633 he was chosen by the Council General of Majorca as one of the special patrons of the city and island. In 1760 Clement XIII decreed that "the virtues of the Venerable Alonso were proved to be of a heroic degree"; but the expulsion of the Society from Spain in 1773, and its suppression, delayed his beatification until 1825. His canonization took place 6 September, 1887. His remains are enshrined at Majorca.

Sources

Goldie, Life of St. Alfonso Rodriguez in Quarterly Series (London, 1889); Vie admirable de Alfonse d'après les Mémoires (Paris, 1890); Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la C. de J., VI.

Campbell, Thomas. "St. Alphonsus Rodriguez." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907. 30 Oct. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01341a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael Donahue. A.M.D.G.


Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01341a.htm




Alphonsus Rodriguez, SJ (RM)
(also known as Alonso)

Born in Segovia, Spain, July 25, 1533; died at Palma de Majorca in 1617; beatified 1825; canonized 1888; feast formerly on October 31.



"The difference between adversity suffered for God and prosperity is greater than that between gold and a lump of lead." 

--Saint Alphonsus.

Brother Alphonsus proves Mother Teresa's axiom that small things done with great love is the call of the Christian. Every day Alphonsus Rodriguez prayed to more than 20 confessors, martyrs, and Church Fathers. He had a great veneration for Saint Ursula, and though modern scholarship has done much to revise and alter the story of her martyrdom, the fact remains that a liturgy might be clumsy and inaccurate and yet represent a far more fertile and living expression of religious life than one which has been cleaned and scoured to the point of rendering it sterile.

Surely the candor and devotion of Saint Alphonsus is of greater value than the scientific researches of our professors of liturgy. He was a bit mad perhaps--when he was told to eat his plate, he took his knife and tried to cut it into pieces and swallow them. Perhaps that sounds stupid, but it was he who was in the right for he had, on entering the Jesuits, made his vow of obedience, and his obedience was so perfect that he obeyed hasty or perhaps joking orders to the letter.

Alphonus was the third child of a large family of wool merchants. When Blessed Peter Favre and another Jesuit came to preach a mission at Segovia, they stayed with Alphonus's family and took up the invitation for a short holiday at their country house. Young Alphonsus, then about 10, went with them and was prepared for his First Communion by Blessed Peter.

When he was 14, Alphonsus was sent with his elder brother to study under the Jesuits at Alcala. Before the year was out, their father Diego was dead and it fell to Alphonsus interrupt his studies to manage the family business. When he was 23, his mother retired and Alphonus inherited his father's business. Like Saint Francis of Assisi, he sold cloth all day long, buying with one hand and selling with the other.

He married Maria Suarez when he was 27. Soon the business was failing due to hard economic times. Then his little daughter died. When he was about 35, his wife died shortly after giving birth to their only son. Two years later his mother died. The business didn't prosper either. This succession of misfortunes forced Alphonsus to seriously consider God's plan for his life. He began to realize that he was meant to do something different from the numerous businessmen who led exemplary but unheroic lives in Segovia. So he sold his business and took his son to live with the boy's two maiden aunts, Antonia and Juliana.

From these two ladies, Alphonsus learned to meditate for at least two hours a day. He was an assiduous communicant. His life was austere and happy, though he still longed to devote himself to God. So, after abandoning his business, he resumed his studies at the point where he had broken them off. He had always taken religion seriously so when his son died, Alphonsus decided it was finally time to become a Jesuit, if possible, as an ordained priest.

Alphonsus was nearly 40, barely literate, and his health tenuous. It's no wonder that the Jesuits of Segovia unhesitatingly refused him entry. Undaunted, Alphonsus presented himself to Father Luis Santander, SJ, at the novitiate of the Jesuits of Aragon at Valencia. Father Santander recommended him to be ordained as soon as possible, and requested that he learn Latin. He had given away most of his money by now, so he became a hired servant, hoping to pay for his necessary extra education by this and by begging. Thus, he put himself through school with the young boys.

Happily the provincial of the order spotted the saintliness of Alphonsus's life, and, in 1571, overruled those who had refused him permission to join them. He was admitted as a lay brother and six months later was sent to Palma de Majorca, where, after serving in various capacities, he became door-keeper at Montesión College.

He was diligent in carrying out his assignments, but every spare moment was given to prayer. Though he achieved a marvelous habitual recollection and union with god, his spiritual path was far from an easy one. Especially in his later years he suffered from long periods of aridity. Yet he never despaired, knowing that in God's own time he would be seized again in an ecstasy of love and spiritual delight. Persevering, Brother Alphonsus professed his final vows in 1585, at the age of 54.
Many of the varied people who were thus brought into contact with him learned to respect him and value his advice; in particular Saint Peter Claver as a student used to consult him frequently and received from Brother Alphonsus the impetus for his future work among the slaves of South America.

In May 1617, the rector of Montesión, Father Julian, was struck with rheumatic fever. Alphonsus spent the night interceding for the priest. In the morning, Father Julian was able to celebrate Mass.
After receiving Communion on October 29, Alphonsus lay as if dead, but he was in ecstasy. At midnight on October 31, the ecstasy ended and the final death pangs began. One-half hour later the brother regained his composure, lovingly looked at his brethren, and kissed the crucifix. Still a porter, he died in 1617, saying only one word: Jesus.

A collection of his notes, reflections, thoughts, which he wrote down at the request of his superiors, along with some quotations that he borrowed from the spiritual classics but which were mistakenly attributed to him, was frequently copied and widely circulated during his lifetime. Many people found true spiritual nourishment in them. There is a sonnet on Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez among Gerard Manley Hopkins' Poems (2nd ed., 1930).

Alphonsus bears considerable resemblance to the Carmelite Brother Lawrence, of the next generation. He was a man of practically no education, but he had deep religious sensibility of a mystical kind. His faith was uncomplicated and simple, untroubled either by Protestantism or the threat of Islam. He had cultivated the Spanish faith of his father and mother, he believed in Jesus Christ, the Holy Church, and in the communion of saints (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Walsh, Yeomans).

This Alphonsus Rodriguez must not be confused with two Jesuit contemporaries of the same names, one a writer of well-known religious books, the other a martyr in Paraguay. Neither of these has been canonized, though the second is venerated as a beatus.

In art he is depicted as an old Jesuit with two hearts on his breast, connected by rays of light to Christ and the Virgin. Venerated at Majorca (Roeder).


SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1030.shtml



St Alphonsus Rodriguez, Religious, SJ (Memorial)

Alphonsus Rodriguez was born in Segovia, Spain, on 25 July 1533. He was the son of a wool merchant, who failed in his business and which he handed over to his son who was still a young man of 23. At the age of 26 Alphonsus married Maria Suarez. Five years later, his wife and two of his three children had died. When his third child also died, he developed a desire to enter religious life. He had met some of the first Jesuits to come to Spain, including Blessed Peter Faber, but his lack of education was a major obstacle to his joining the Society. His penitential practices had also undermined his health. Eventually, on 31 January 1571, at the age of 38 he was accepted into the Jesuit novitiate as a brother. 


After just six months he was assigned to the College of Montesion in Palma de Mallorca where he served as porter or doorkeeper until the end of his life 46 years later. Over this long period he exerted an extraordinary spiritual influence not only on his community but on the students and all those who came to the porter’s lodge for advice and direction. 

He was already 72 when a young Jesus, Peter Claver, came to the college, filled with a desire to do something for God but uncertain how to do so. The two became friends and often discussed prayer and the spiritual life. The elderly Brother mentor encouraged the student to go to the American missions. Peter would become famous as the apostle to the thousands of slaves brought over from Africa and who landed in Cartagena.

Alphonsus practised very severe penances and suffered sometimes from scruples. His obedience was total and at all times he was steeped in prayer. He left behind quite an amount of writing, some of it simply notes from spiritual talks given to the community. He had no intention of making them public and some were written in obedience to superiors. 

He died on 31 October 1617 aged 84 at Palma, Mallorca and was declared Venerable in 1626. In 1633 he was chosen by the Council General of Majorca as one of the special patrons of the city and island.

In 1760 Pope Clement XIII decreed that “the virtues of the Venerable Alonso were proved to be of a heroic degree” but the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain in 1773 and their suppression, delayed his beatification until 1825. He was canonised by Pope Leo XIII on 6 September, 1887. 

His remains are enshrined at Majorca.

Alphonsus is remembered for his fidelity, kindness, spiritual struggles, and widespread influence as a counsellor to the students and others who sought his advice. He features in a poem by the Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, who recalled his outstanding holiness in a singularly unspectacular and humdrum life:


Yet God (that hews mountain and continent, 

Earth, all, out; who, with trickling increment, 

Veins violets and tall trees makes more and more) 
Could crowd career with conquest while there went 
Those years and years by of world without event 
That in Majorca Alfonso watched the door.



St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, SJ (1533–1617) By Bert Ghezzi From Voices of the Saints Some saints attack the world head-on, like St. Peter Claver, the friend and disciple of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez. Others like Alphonsus himself fight personal battles against failure, loss, temptation, and disease. We tend to admire more activist champions such as Peter Claver, who worked among slaves for forty years. But why should we think any the less of saints such as Alphonsus, who was more like us in his ordinariness and suffering? And who showed us how to be faithful in long lasting spiritual and personal struggles? Alphonsus’s early years in Segovia, Spain, are a story of tragedies. When he was fourteen, his father died and he left school to help his mother run the family business. At twenty-three he married, but his wife died in childbirth three years later. Within a few years his mother and son also died. On top of this, his business was failing, so he sold it. Recognizing a late vocation to religious life, he applied for admission to the Jesuits at Segovia, but was refused because he was not educated. Undaunted, Alphonsus returned to Latin school, humbly bearing the ridicule of his adolescent classmates. Finally, in 1571, the Jesuit provincial accepted him as a lay brother. He was sent to Montesione College on Majorca, where he served as doorkeeper for forty-five years. His post allowed him to minister to many visitors. And he became the spiritual adviser to many students. He exerted wide-reaching influence, most notably in guiding St. Peter Claver into his mission to the slaves. Alphonsus adhered to a few simple spiritual guidelines that navigated him through his troubles and trials. For example, a method for finding joy in hardship: Another exercise is very valuable for the imitation of Christ—for love of him, taking the sweet for the bitter and the bitter for sweet. So, I put myself in spirit before our crucified Lord, looking at him full of sorrow, shedding his blood and bearing great bodily hardships for me. As love is paid for in love, I must imitate him, sharing in spirit all his sufferings. I must consider how much I owe him and what he has done for me. Putting these sufferings between God and my soul, I must say, “What does it matter, my God, that I should endure for your love these small hardships? For you, Lord, endured so many great hardships for me.” Amid the hardship and trial itself, I stimulate my heart with this exercise. Thus, I encourage myself to endure for love of the Lord who is before me, until I make what is bitter sweet. In this way learning from Christ our Lord, I take and convert the sweet into bitter, renouncing myself and all earthly and carnal pleasures, delights and honors of this life, so that my whole heart is centered solely on God. In his old age, Alphonsus experienced no relief from his trials. The more he mortified himself, the more he seemed to be subject to spiritual dryness, vigorous temptations, and even diabolical assaults. In 1617 his body was ravaged with disease and he died at midnight, October 30. Yet God (that hews mountain and continent, Earth, all, out; who, with trickling increment, Veins violets and tall trees makes more and more) Could crowd career with conquest while there went Those years and years by without event That in Majorca Alfonso watched the door.

—Gerard Manley Hopkins Excerpt from Voices of the Saints by Bert Ghezzi. –

See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-voices/16th-and-17th-century-ignatian-voices/st-alphonsus-rodriguez-sj/#sthash.9XdS48tz.dpuf



Sant' Alfonso Rodriguez Vedovo, Religioso gesuita


Segovia, Spagna, 25 luglio 1533 - Palma di Maiorca, 30 ottobre 1617

Alfonso era un mercante, nato a Segovia, in Spagna, nel 1533. Si era sposato e aveva avuto due figli ma fu sconvolto dalla perdita della moglie e dei beni. A 35 anni tornò a scuola, proseguendo faticosamente gli studi interrotti in gioventù. Si presentò, quasi vecchio, come novizio in un convento della Compagnia di Gesù. Venne accolto, ma volle restare fratello coadiutore, addetto al servizio materiale della comunità. Divenne così portinaio nel convento dell'isola di Maiorca, da dove passavano i missionari diretti in America. Per tutti l'incontro con il santo portinaio era un'esperienza illuminante e a volte decisiva, come nel caso di san Pietro Claver, l'«apostolo degli schiavi». I suoi scritti furono raccolti dopo la morte, avvenuta il 31 ottobre del 1617. (Avvenire)

Etimologia: Alfonso = valoroso e nobile, dal gotico

Martirologio Romano: Nell’isola di Palma di Maiorca, sant’Alfonso Rodríguez, che, perduti la moglie, i figli e tutti i suoi beni, fu accolto come religioso nella Compagnia di Gesù, dove svolse per molti anni la mansione di portinaio nel Collegio, divenendo un esempio di umiltà, obbedienza e costanza nel sacrificio.

Alfonso Rodriguez che la Chiesa ci fa festeggiare il 31 ottobre, nacque in Spagna, a Segovia nel 1531. Morì nel 1617, a Palma di Maiorca. E’ il patrono dei portieri e degli uscieri e patrono di Palma di Maiorca. Coltivò fin da giovane il desiderio di consacrarsi a Dio e di diventare sacerdote finchè entrò nella Compagnia di Gesù in Spagna. Veniva da una famiglia di mercanti di lana e tessitori di stoffe ed era molto applicato allo studio che seguiva con profitto nel collegio dei gesuiti di Alcalà. A ventitrè anni però, in seguito alla morte prematura del padre, Alfonso fu costretto a ritornare nella sua famiglia per dirigere la piccola impresa familiare ereditata dal padre. Gli affari però non andavano bene e non interessavano affatto il giovane Alfonso, che nel frattempo si era sposato e aveva avuto due bambini. Un’esperienza che gli procurò nuove sofferenze perché, pochi anni dopo, Alfonso perse drammaticamente anche la moglie. Un giorno Alfonso, provato dalle traversie della vita e dalla sofferenza, cedette tutti i suoi beni al fratello e si trasferì a Valencia, per entrare nuovamente nella Compagnia di Gesù.

I padri gesuiti lo accolsero e qualche anno dopo lo inviarono nel Collegio di Monte Sion di Palma di Maiorca dove Alfonso rimase per tutto il resto della sua vita. A Palma di Maiorca svolse, per oltre trent’anni, il compito di portinaio trovando in questa professione la pace dell’anima e anche la via che lo condusse alle vette della santità.

E come i custodi e gli uscieri vigilano sulle case e sui palazzi delle famiglie che vi abitano, così Alfonso Rodriguez vegliava sul Collegio e su quanti si affacciavano alla porta dei gesuiti in cerca di un aiuto, un consiglio, una preghiera. Per tutti aveva parole di incoraggiamento e di stimolo alla conversione del cuore e all’amore fraterno.

Uomo semplice e umile, straordinariamente servizievole, tanto rigido con se stesso quanto caritatevole con gli altri, trovò nel suo ufficio quotidiano l’occasione opportuna per esercitare un apostolato continuo ed efficace. A rendere più efficace il suo apostolato contribuivano anche i numerosi carismi dei quali il Signore lo aveva dotato, primo fra tutti quello delle visioni e poi della preveggenza e dei miracoli.

All’umile portinaio Dio aveva anche donato una intensa esperienza mistica che contribuì a svolgere con profitto, insieme a quello di portinaio, il compito anche di padre spirituale dei novizi che si rivolgevano a lui con sempre maggiore frequenza per essere illuminati sulle vie di Dio.

Tra i novizi ci fu anche Pietro Claver, il santo apostolo delle Indie che tanto stimava Alfonso Rodriguez per la sua santità, e al quale lo stesso Alfonso profetizzò la sua futura missione. Grande era la devozione che Alfonso nutriva per la Santissima Vergine che pregava soprattutto con il Rosario; grazie all’intercessione della Madre di Dio, infatti, si compirono eventi straordinari.

Ha scritto diversi insegnamenti  di carattere ascetico e mistico tra i quali le famose “ Memorie ” redatte per ordine dei suoi superiori, splendida manifestazione della santità e della sapienza interiore di una creatura straordinariamente plasmata da Dio. Il santo portinaio gesuita aveva una particolare riverenza per il suo angelo custode e ogni giorno, mattina e sera, sia nell’alzarsi da letto che nel coricarsi si raccomandava sempre alla celeste protezione che talvolta sperimentò in un modo anche sensibile.

Una sera fratel Alfonso con la mente rivolta a Dio, come era suo costume abituale, stava salendo per una scala interna del convento, quando da una finestra che dava nel cortile della cisterna sentì emanare un alito pestifero. Era il demonio che in tal modo voleva soffocarlo. Il santo gesuita svenne e sarebbe caduto per tutte le s cale se non fosse stato materialmente sorretto dal suo angelo custode che immediatamente purificò l’aria e lo accompagnò sano e salvo nella sua stanza.

Fratel Rodriguez ricavò da questo episodio uno scritto che poi fu stampato postumo insieme ad altri suoi documenti, in cui dichiarava quale effetto nefasto produca nell’anima il peccato.

Così scrisse: “ siccome quando taluno di repente venisse sorpreso da un soffio di aria pestilenziale, questa potrebbe con tal violenza colpirlo, da soffocargli in un momento tutta la virtù naturale, e la vita, opprimendolo ed uccidendolo subito,così l’anima perdendo l’amicizia e grazia di Dio viene infetta da quella corruzione pestifera e mortale del peccato, colla quale resta subitamente senza vita e spirito, e sepolta in eterna morte”.

Autore: Don Marcello Stanzione