Philip Romolo Neri CO (/ˈnɪəri/ NEER-ee; Italian: Filippo Romolo Neri, pronounced [fiˈlippo ˈrɔːmolo ˈneːri]; 22 July 1515 – 26 May 1595), sometimes referred to as the Second Apostle of Rome after Saint Peter, was an Italian Catholic priest who founded the Congregation of the Oratory, a society of secular clergy dedicated to pastoral care and charitable work.

Neri's spiritual mission emphasized personal holiness and direct service to others, particularly through the education of young people and care for the poor and sick.

As a spiritual leader, Neri was noted for his humility, humor, piety, and ability to inspire deep devotion among both clergy and laypeople.

Neri also engaged in limited political activity, most notably when he intervened to secure the reconciliation of Henry IV of France with the Church.

Philip was the son of Francesco di Neri, a lawyer, and his wife Lucrezia da Mosciano, whose family were nobility in the service of the state.

[3] In 1548, together with his confessor, Persiano Rossa, Philip founded the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents (Italian: Santissima Trinità de' Pellegrini e de' Convalescenti),[4] whose primary object was to minister to the needs of the thousands of poor pilgrims who flocked to Rome, especially in jubilee years, and also to relieve the patients discharged from hospitals but who were still too weak for labor.

[2] Members met for prayer at the Church of San Salvatore in Campo[5] where the devotion of the Forty Hours of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was first introduced into Rome.

The scheme at first was no more than a series of evening meetings in a hall (the Oratory), at which there were prayers, hymns, and readings from Scripture, the church fathers, and the Martyrology, followed by a lect of some religious question proposed for consideration.

[7] The program developed, and the members of the society undertook various kinds of mission work throughout Rome, notably the preaching of sermons in different churches every evening, a completely new idea at that time.

At this time the new society included among its members Caesar Baronius (the ecclesiastical historian), Francesco Maria Tarugi (afterward Archbishop of Avignon), and Ottavio Paravicini – all of whom later became cardinals – and also Gallonius (Antonio Galloni, author of a well-known work on the Sufferings of the Martyrs), Ancina, Bordoni, and other men of ability and distinction.

It was immediately after taking possession of their new quarters that Philip formally organized, under permission of a papal bull dated 15 July 1575, a community of secular priests, called the Congregation of the Oratory.

[2] Although Philip refrained from becoming involved in political matters, he broke this rule in 1593–1595 when he persuaded Pope Clement VIII to revoke the ex-communication and anathema pronounced against Henry IV of France[1] and the refusal to receive his ambassador, even though the king had formally renounced Calvinism.

Clement yielded at once, though the whole College of Cardinals had supported his policy; and Henry, who did not learn the facts until several years afterward, testified lively gratitude for the timely and political intervention.

He considered a cheerful temper to be more Christian than a melancholy one, and carried this spirit into his whole life: "A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one."

When his body was examined after death, it was found that two of his ribs had been broken, which was attributed at the time to the expansion of his heart while fervently praying in the catacombs about the year 1545.

[6] "Practical commonplaceness," says Frederick William Faber in his panegyric on Philip, "was the special mark that distinguishes his form of ascetic piety from the types accredited before his day.

"[9] Accordingly, Philip was ready to meet the needs of his day to an extent and in a manner which even the versatile Jesuits, who much desired to enlist him in their company, did not rival; and, though an Italian priest and head of a new religious order, his genius was entirely unmonastic and unmedieval – frequent and popular preaching, unconventional prayer, and unsystematized, albeit fervent, private devotion.

[9] The Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri is a pontifical society of apostolic life of Catholic priests and lay brothers who live together in a community bound together but without formal vows.

Suppressed at the French Revolution, it was revived by Pierre Pététot, curé of St Roch, in 1852, as the "Oratory of Jesus and Mary Immaculate".

[17][18] The tradition of visiting all seven churches was started by Neri[19] to combine conviviality and the sharing of a common religious experience through discovering the heritage of the early saints.

Neri drew up an itinerary that included visits to St. Peter's Basilica, then St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, St. Sebastian's, St. John Lateran, Holy Cross-in-Jerusalem, St. Lawrence-Outside-the Walls, and finally St. Mary Major.

The street which links Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls with San Sebastiano fuori le mura is still called "Via Delle Sette Chiese" (Seven Churches Walk).