A gentle man of great learning.
He wore it lightly.
Composer of the carol Tu Scendi Della Stella, still singing.
Living with the poor of Naples daily.

But above all a lover of beauty.
Musician, poet, author, and painter.
Master of interior life but not as mere duty.
Taking the Gospel to the poor, Redemptorist founder.

Opposed to sterile legalism and rigour.
Said such rigour should never have been practised in the Church.
Can we not also welcome all to communion’s succour.
Can we not put more stress on mercy, less on rules as we search.

Let us put humanity and the person first.
And rejection because of lifestyle last.