St. Philip Post- Part Seven
Growth of the Oratory

Philip became more and more sought after as a confessor, and the Oratory meetings grew larger and more popular. Yet Philip faced opposition as well, which the jokes and such he was famed for did little to discourage. Some of it was from people who seem to have been less than enthusiastic about living the Gospel, but much of it was from people who thought his methods were too radical and extreme. Philip encouraged Confession and Holy Communion on a much more frequent basis than was then customary. Indeed, many of the early Oratorians went to Philip for confession every day, and to Communion several times a week, in an age when confession andCommunion a few times a year were the norm. Also, there were those, some of them in positions of authority, who thought the huge numbers of people assembling for the pilgrimage to the Seven Churches might be dangerous. Some distorted information seems to have been bandied about as well. Since Philip allowed laymen to give talks at the Oratorian meetings, someone said he was allowing laymen to preach at Mass, which was, of course, not true.

St. Philip Neri Quotes:
"A man ought to set about putting his good resolutions into practice, and not change them lightly."
"Nothing helps a man more than prayer."
"Where there is no great mortification there is no great sanctity."
"Even in the midst of the crowd we can be going on to perfection."