Congregation of the Oratory also known as “Oratorians”, “Phillipines”
Creators: name: SantaMaria, Thomas
Publisher: name: Database of Religious History (DRH)
Year: 2022

description: In 1575 a group of priests and men interested in religious life became the Congregation of the Oratory with the papal approval of Gregory XIII. In so doing they became one of many such groups of religious life founded in the Roman Catholic Church of the sixteenth century. Unlike many of these other orders, the Oratorians were not founded with a hierarchical structure enabled to organize a global order, but as a society of apostolic life. As such they were not bound to a central authority, but committed to a selfgoverning community. This presents a challenge for speaking about Oratorians as a group even in small chronological and geographic confines. Nevertheless, given that Oratorians drew inspiration from the original Roman Oratory inspired by Philip Neri, it is both critical and fundamental to understand Neri’s life and the Oratory he founded in sixteenth-century Rome in order to make any generalizations about the Congregation of the Oratory. Neri, born a Florentine in 1515 Neri spent most of his adult life in Rome after a conversion experience that drew him into the practice of religion. He spent many of his early years in Rome as a committed layperson until he was ordained in 1551. In those years he began a ministry that included engaging with people on the streets of Rome about religion. Rigorous asceticism, a commitment to learning about ancient Christianity, and a profound commitment to Catholic aesthetics through the visual and musical arts characterized his devotional life. Over time he developed a following from laypeople as well as ordained religious that became the Oratory, distinct from the congregation. Here, the Oratory refers to program of spiritual exercises that Neri orchestrated and led in Rome. At first spontaneity was the defining feature of these spiritual meetings, but over time these meetings became arranged in a more consistent format and included brief sermons, historical lessons, and hymns. Philip focused most of his attention on developing and sustaining these spiritual conferences rather than on the government of the group in Rome and the other Oratories it inspired. In this respect, it is fruitful to compare him with Saint Ignatius, the founder of the Society of Jesus. While both oriented their life’s work to the revitalization of Roman Catholicism, Ignatius exerted much of his emphasis in the governance of the Society he founded through his literary correspondence and perhaps more importantly by bequeathing his order with the Constitutions, which became the foundation for the Jesuit way of life. In contrast, the first Oratorian rule was only confirmed in 1612 by Paul V, seventeen years after Philip’s death. In some ways this reflects Neri’s reluctance to found a religious group at all. He preferred to encourage men to join other religious orders. Philip expected Oratorians to spend two hours at the oratory, preach or attend four sermons a day, preach peripatetically throughout the city, attend matins, and visit hospitals. Oratorian work was not limited to these activities. He also encouraged members of the Oratory to take part in catechizing children, and give individual spiritual direction. He was personally famous for seeing people in direction throughout the day. In addition, he commissioned some of his followers to take on specific tasks that he deemed critical. Perhaps the most significant of these assignments for the greater intellectual world of Early Modern Catholicism, if not Early Modern Europe, was the project he envisioned for Cesar Baronius: a complete history of the Church that became the Annales ecclesiastici. This multi volume work prioritized Neri’s longstanding interest in Church History, which featured in both his personal devotional life and in the works of the Oratory. These efforts earned Neri and his Oratory a reputation for holiness and virtue, so much so that when Gregory XV raised Neri to sainthood alongside Teresa of Ávila, Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Isidore the Farm Laborer, an aphorism echoed through the alleys of Rome saying: “we have canonized four Spaniards and one saint.” Neri’s reputation for holiness was enhanced by his supposed thaumaturgic powers and his status as a holy mystic taken to frequent ecstatic or rapturous experiences, many of which happened while Neri meditated before a work of sacred art or heard sacred music. Neri and the Oratorians were committed to the revitalization of Catholicism in its very heart, Rome. Their approach emphasized outreach to laypeople and pilgrims and highlighted many of the features that made Catholicism distinct, both a sensuous approach through preaching, music, arts, and architecture, and an emphasis on personal piety that emphasized intellectual stimulation and asceticism.