St. Alphonsus Liguori was a bishop, founder of the Redemptorist Congregation and he is a Doctor of the Church. Educated at the University of Napes, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. By age nineteen he was practicing law, but he saw the transitory nature of the secular world, and after a brief time, retreated from the law courts and his fame. Visiting the local Hospital for Incurables on August 28, 1723, he had a vision and was told to consecrate his life solely to God. In response, Alphonsus dedicated himself to the religious life, even while suffering persecution from his family. He finally agreed to become a priest but to live at home (a custom at the time) as a member of a group of secular missionaries. He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples.

In April 1729, Alphonsus went to live at the Chinese College, founded in Naples by Father Matthew Ripa, the Apostle of China. There he met Bishop Thomas Falcoia, founder of the Congregation of Pious Workers. This lifelong friendship aided Alphonsus, as did his association with a mystic, Sister Mary Celeste. With their help, Alphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. The Foundation faced immediate problems, and after just one year, Alphonsus found himself with only one lay brother, his other companions having left to form their own religious group.

He started again, recruited new members, and in 1743 became the prior of two new congregations, one for men and one for women. Pope Benedict XIV gave his approval for the men's congregation in 1749 and for the women's in 1750. Alphonsus was preaching missions in the rural areas and writing. He refused to become the bishop of Palermo but in 1762 had to accept the papal command to accept the see of St. Agatha of the Goths near Naples. Here he discovered more than thirty thousand uninstructed men and women and four hundred indifferent priests. For thirteen years Alphonsus fed the poor, instructed families, reorganized the seminary and religious houses, taught theology, and wrote. His austerities were rigorous, and he suffered daily the pain from rheumatism that was beginning to deform his body. He spent several years having to drink from tubes because his head was so bent forward. An attack of rheumatic fever from May 1768 to June 1769, left him paralyzed. He was not allowed to resign his see until 1775.

In 1780, Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval for his congregation. This submission altered the original rule, and as a result Alphonsus was denied any authority among the Redemptorists. Deposed and excluded from his own congregation, Alphonsus suffered great anguish. But he overcame and went to experience visions, perform miracles, and give prophecies. He died peacefully on August 1, 1787, at Nocera di Pagani, near Naples, as the Angelus was ringing.

His writings on moral, theological and ascetic matters had great impact and have survived through the years, especially his Moral Theology and his Glories of Mary. He was buried at the monastery of the Pagani near Naples. In liturgical art he is depicted bent double with rheumatism or as a young priest. St. Alphonsus Liguori is declared a Doctor of the Church which are certain men and women who are revered by the Church for the special value of their writings and preaching and the sanctity of their lives. They each made important and lasting contributions to the faith and are to be recognized for their great merits.

To be declared a Doctor of the Church, you have to meet three basic requirements:

1. First, you must have lived a life of exemplary holiness, or insignis vitae sanctitas (outstanding sanctity). In short, you have to be a saint.
   

2. Second, to be a Doctor of the Church you must have deepened the whole Church's understanding of the Catholic Faith with emins doctrina (eminent teaching). Which is to say, sanctity isn't enough. There are thousands of saints, but only 37 Doctors of the Church. To be a Doctor one must do more than just live the Faith. Rather, one must significantly and profoundly contribute to our understanding of Divine Revelation, helping us to know more deeply some truth about God and His actions in the World.
   

3. And third, a pope must officially declare you a Doctor. That being said, as the Church understands it, when a pope declares someone a Doctor of the Church, he's not so much making someone a Doctor as he is recognizing what the Holy Spirit has already done - that He has conferred the charism of Doctor upon them.