In the Jubilee Year dedicated to Hope, the spiritual work of Saint Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori, which has accompanied generations of believers, is being re-proposed in a new and carefully edited edition, Preparation for death. Thanks to the careful work of Fr. Gilberto Silvestri and the collaboration with the Shalom publishing house, this ascetic masterpiece once again speaks to the heart of contemporary man, with an accessible language but faithful to the incisive and profound style of the Saint.
Read the full review by Fr. Vincenzo La Mendola C.Ss.R.
St. Alphonsus M. De Liguori, Preparation for Death, edited by Fr. Gilberto Silvestri, Shalom Editrice, Camerata Picena (AN), 2025, pp. 536.
Among the details that characterized the last hours of the life of Blessed John Paul I, revealed in an interview (released for Corriere.it – April 18, 2018) by Angelo Gugel, aide-de-chambre of three popes, there is one that attracts our attention. Gugel says: «At dinner he ate very little and at the table he spoke with his secretaries about the Preparation for death, the book by Saint Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori» (cf. Scala News – April 24, 2018). This biographical detail of one of the greatest pontiffs of the twentieth century is enough to recall the importance that the well-known Alphonsian text has had for the spiritual life of generations of saints and made use for consecrated and priestly life.
Interest in this book, superficially and improperly considered “out of fashion” by improvised censors, seems to have reawakened. In 2023 alone, two publishing houses reprinted it: Phronesis Editore (Palermo) and Edizioni Piane (Casale Monferrato – AL). The two reprints, which appeared in the same year, represent a novelty, if one considers that the edition that preceded them by twenty-eight years was that of 1995 (Gribaudi Editrice). The previous edition had been printed nine years by Edizioni Paoline (1986), with the introduction of the Redemptorist theologian B. Haring. All refer to the critical edition of the Ascetic Works, vol. IX, (History and Literature Edition 1965), edited by Oreste Gregorio.
Saint Alphonsus conceived and wrote his text, published for the first time in 1758, in the form of Considerations on eternal maxims, useful for everyone to meditate on and for priests to preach on. In his approach to spiritual life and in the pastoral practice he conceived, meditation on the last things is necessary for lay faithful and priests alike: what the faithful are required to meditate on becomes an object of preaching for priests. Faithful and pastors, both recipients of the Work, are united, in the intentions of the Holy Doctor, by the way of approaching a nodal and complex theme, considered fundamental for spiritual life. Immediacy, simplicity, and lively realism, which does not exclude a dramatic story with a strong emotional impact, constitute the style of the Work. In the tones one perceives the tragic sense of life and death, captured and described with vivacity by a Neapolitan, in an era not too distant from the literary Baroque. The ultimate realities, for Saint Alphonsus, are not optional, they must be taken into consideration with extreme seriousness, constituting one of the basic themes to be studied in a systematic way and to be kept under constant observation. Those who have visited the rooms of Saint Alphonsus in the historic houses of Ciorani and Pagani, will remember the presence of a skull on his study table, an integral part of the furnishings that furnished the cells of the religious at the time, and the dramatic engraving, in two sections, which appeared in the second edition (1762) of Preparations for Death, where two scenes in continuity can be seen, with a slightly macabre flavour: the agony of a dying man and the image of a decomposing corpse, according to a drawing of the Saint preserved in Pagani. These details would be enough to give us an idea of how he held in high regard the meditation on the Novelties, also recommended in other ascetic works and in his preachings.
In full harmony with their Founder, the Redemptorists have also edited reprints and new editions of the Preparations for Death, in various languages, up to the present day. It is in the wake of this tradition that a successful editorial project fits in, pursued with tenacity by Fr. Gilberto Silvestri, now a well-known scholar and careful curator of the works of St. Alphonsus, with the Shalom publishing house, since 2008.
To date, there are 10 Alphonsian works edited by Father Silvestri, some with relative reprints. Their widespread distribution throughout the Italian territory has guaranteed their notoriety and appreciation. In this way, Saint Alphonsus has had a preferential channel to return within everyone’s reach and be easily found in Catholic bookstores and beyond. And it is in this project that the reprint of the work on death and eternal truths finds its place. It is no coincidence that its publication took place in the middle of the Jubilee year, while the Church reflects on the theme of Hope, which the Alphonsian pages are imbued with.
A masterly introduction (pp. 13-24) signed by the Redemptorist Archbishop Monsignor Alfonso V. Amarante, Magnificent Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, placed at the beginning, serves at the same time as an invitation to read, an introduction to the content and a theological-spiritual reflection on the central theme of the Work, with an interesting updating of the thought of the Holy Doctor and the focus on its spiritual usefulness. Monsignor Amarante, an established historian and well-known scholar of Saint Alphonsus, accompanies the reader to the discovery of a spiritual itinerary that will help him to savor “with new wonder the celebration of authentic life”, making him rediscover “the yearning for eternity without any more shortcomings to which only the awareness of death can lead with full awareness and well-founded trust” (p. 24).
The volume reports the original text in its entirety, taken from the 1965 edition, which can also be conveniently found on IntraTest S. Alfonso Opera Omnia Italiane, edited by S. Brugnano. If the text is substantially faithful to the original, the editing criteria respond to the needs of the contemporary reader, illustrated and motivated by the editor (pp. 29-31), in a timely previous note.
The thirty-six considerations that constitute the Work form as many chapters of the reprint, preceded by the inevitable Dedication and the Intent of the work necessary for reading. To help the reader focus on the proposed themes, the editor has appropriately introduced subtitles, even to the three classic points of each consideration, which can serve as individual meditations. He has also preferred to synthesize the classic pairing Affetti and prayers in Preghiera, highlighting that «the feelings (“affetti”) aroused by meditation, are transformed into prayer to ask God for the strength to put its content into practice» (p.30).
The book, in pocket format, presents itself with an elegant graphic design, whose layout and choice of fonts make it easy to read. To these carefully selected graphic elements, other methodological details are added that enrich this edition: the footnotes, with clear references to the authors cited and their works and the insertion of images and photos, with a clear pedagogical value, which offer a pleasant aesthetic pleasure, helping the reader to visually fix the content of the reading.
The element that more than any other accredits the edition in question is undoubtedly the linguistic care, carried out «with some changes in form, but not in substance» – the editor clarifies, to avoid misunderstandings – with the aim of making the text more comprehensible. The updating of the language was done with extreme care «replacing terms and expressions from the eighteenth century, now out of use, with the equivalent in current Italian» (p. 30), and trying to «make the Alphonsian text accessible to everyone, without taking anything away, in full fidelity to the thought and style of the saint who, out of “goodness”, does not keep silent about burning truths like hell, and uses strong and clear language, to go straight to people’s hearts» (p. 31).
We are given back a classic of Christian spirituality of the modern era: not only useful for meditation and spiritual reading, but effective for questioning ourselves and for looking in the face with serene courage the deepest fears that grip contemporary man “and transform them into motivation for change”; a rich prayer manual that trains for affective prayer, nourished by trust in the mercy of God; a masterpiece of eighteenth-century Italian spiritual literature, which makes us enjoy Alphonsus’ prose, giving us back its linguistic and aesthetic value. In this regard, it is undeniable that Saint Alphonsus could naturally find his place in anthologies of literary texts, for the contribution he gave with his vast production, to the definition and diffusion of the modern Italian language.
Our gratitude goes to the dearest Father Silvestri for his meticulous editing work, wishing the volume wide diffusion.
Fr. Vincenzo La Mendola, C.Ss.R.
