Alfonso Capecelatro, the writer of this life of S. Philip, was born in 1824. He received an education befitting the son of the Duke of Castel Pagano, and at the age of sixteen was admitted into the Oratory of Naples. In earlier life he devoted his great powers as a thinker and writer to the illustration and defence of the faith, and his works have passed through several editions, and taken their place among the classics of religion literature in Italy. From some expressions of the writer it has seemed that he at times attributes to S. Philip a definite plan, kept steadily in view throughout his long Apostolate, but in truth, he brings out most clearly the Saint's unconsciousness of self under the Hand of God, How he went out, not knowing whiter he went, led day by day by the kindly light.