Foundations

Philip Neri (1515-1595) lived in Rome at the very height of the Renaissance and the Catholic Reformation, and he became the city's most beloved holy man — the 'Apostle of Rome' and the 'saint of joy.' Born in Florence, Philip came to Rome as a young man and spent years simply walking the streets, striking up conversations, drawing people of every kind back to God through humor, friendship, and warmth rather than scolding. He was famous for his playfulness: he would do something silly on purpose to puncture his own vanity, and he once told a gossip to scatter feathers from a rooftop and then gather them all up again — to teach how impossible it is to undo the harm of gossip. Behind the jokes was a man of deep prayer whose heart, it was said, was physically enlarged by his love of God. He gathered followers into a community that became the Congregation of the Oratory (the Oratorians), known for warm preaching, music, and prayer. Philip's favorite advice, 'Be good, if you can,' and his cheerful holiness made sanctity attractive in a worldly age. He is proof that joy is not silliness or shallowness but the overflow of a soul at peace with God — the perfect saint for this week's virtue. Canonized in 1622, his feast is May 26.

By about 1500 the heart of the Renaissance shifted from Florence to Rome, where ambitious popes — above all Julius II, the 'warrior pope' — poured the Church's wealth into making Rome the most magnificent city in Christendom. They became the greatest art patrons in history: Julius hired Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling and Raphael to decorate the papal apartments, and in 1506 he laid the first stone of a vast new St. Peter's Basilica to replace the crumbling ancient one. This was the High Renaissance (roughly 1490s-1527) — a brief, dazzling peak when art reached a balance, grandeur, and confidence rarely matched before or since. At the very same moment, on the western edge of Europe, a new and equally world-changing story was beginning: the Age of Exploration. Tiny Portugal led the way. Prince Henry, called 'the Navigator' (1394-1460), gathered mapmakers, shipbuilders, and sailors and sent expedition after expedition probing ever farther down the unknown west coast of Africa, seeking a sea route to the riches of Asia and hoping to spread the Christian faith. New ship designs like the caravel, better navigation, and dogged persistence pushed the Portuguese onward. In 1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa (the Cape of Good Hope), and in 1497-1499 Vasco da Gama sailed all the way around Africa to India and back — opening a direct sea route to the East. While Rome perfected the art of the old world, Portugal was unlocking a wider one.

Continuing Part Three, YOUCAT turns to the moral law — God's guidance for how to live well — and the Ten Commandments. The commandments are not arbitrary rules but a path to freedom and love, given by the God who made us and knows how we flourish (YOUCAT 348-349). The first three commandments concern our relationship with God. The First Commandment, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me,' calls us to worship God alone and to put nothing — money, success, pleasure, even art — in his place (YOUCAT 352-358). It is a fitting word for this week: the Renaissance produced glorious art, but art becomes an idol if it is loved more than God. The Second Commandment, 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,' calls us to honor God's holy name and never use it carelessly or in cursing (YOUCAT 359-360). The Third Commandment, 'Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day,' calls us to rest and worship on Sunday, the day of Christ's Resurrection — to set aside ordinary work and give time to God and family (YOUCAT 362-365). Together these three commandments order our whole lives toward God first; the remaining seven, which we will study soon, order our love for our neighbor.

Add to your timeline: da Gama reaches India (1497-1499) and St. Peter's begun (1506). Write one sentence answering: 'How can the same years produce both Rome's greatest art and Europe's first ocean voyages?'