There was sore need in the sceptical, godless, licentious eighteenth century for a mighty champion of God's cause, a persuasive messenger of Divine Truth; for an Apostle who would unite in himself at once the wisdom, the personal saintliness, and the exquisitely human tenderness that marked the public ministry of Our Blessed Lord Himself. Such an Apostle, such a champion, such a messenger was raised up by God in that critical necessitous time in the person of a young Neapolitan lawyer, Alphonsus de Liguori, who put aside position, rank and fortune, to follow Jesus Crucified.