St. Philip Neri
He shaved off half his beard to keep people from taking him too seriously.
Philip is the funniest saint. That is not a joke about him, it is the actual reason people followed him around Rome in the 1500s. He told jokes in confession. He wore ridiculous clothes to church on purpose. He once showed up to an important meeting having shaved exactly half his beard.
All of it was deliberate. He had watched holiness turn into a performance, people competing over who could look the most serious, and he decided the fastest way to kill that was to be impossible to compete with.
Underneath it he spent whole nights praying and hours hearing confessions, and he is one of the reasons Rome stopped being a scandal in that century. His advice to people trying to be good was mostly: be cheerful, and stop showing off.
St. Philip Neri facts for kids
- He's called the Apostle of Rome
- He once greeted a visitor while wearing his clothes inside out
- He founded the Oratory, where music and conversation were part of prayer. The word oratorio comes from it.
- His advice: Be good, if you can.
Feast day: May 26 · Patron of joy and the city of Rome
St. Philip, keep me from taking myself so seriously.