Moral theology, Vatican II said, should be more thoroughly
nourished by Scripture, and show the nobility of the Christian
vocation of the faithful and their obligation to bring forth
fruit in charity for the life of the world. Alphonsus, declared
patron of moral theologians by Pius XII in 1950, would rejoice
in that statement. In his day, Alphonsus fought for the
liberation of moral theology from the rigidity of Jansenism. His
moral theology, which went through 60 editions in the century
following him, concentrated on the practical and concrete
problems of pastors and confessors. If a certain legalism and
minimalism crept into moral theology, it should not be
attributed to this model of moderation and gentleness. At the
University of Naples he received, at the age of 16, a doctorate
in both canon and civil law by acclamation, but soon gave up the
practice of law for apostolic activity. He was ordained a priest
and concentrated his pastoral efforts on popular (parish)
missions, hearing confessions, forming Chr