St Philip Neri

St Philip Neri: An Informal Biography by Marcel Jouhandeau, translated by George Lamb, 129 pages

St Philip Neri was born in Florence in the early sixteenth century, but he moved to Rome at the age of 18 and remained there until his death 62 years later.  Renowned in equal measures for his deep piety and joyful spontaneity, he attracted a circle of admirers who would gather for music, prayers, lectures, and discussions.  In time, this was formalized as the Congregation of the Oratory.  Neri's humility and humor made him equally at home with common laborers and princes of the Church, while his mystic ecstasies he kept hidden from the world.

Jouhandeau's unconventional biography is roughly divided into two halves - a personality sketch and a personal history.  This matches the saint's own unconventional, prankish behavior, such as shaving only one side of his face or dancing during audiences with Cardinals.  The author writes less like a biographer than an admiring contemporary, painting a vivid, attractive portrait of the man but being somewhat unjust towards some of those around him - Oratorian and historian Caesar Baronius and Pope St Pius V in particular.