75th Anniversary of the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy €1.25

Founded by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on 9 February 1949, the Alphonsian Academy, Pontifical Institute of Moral Theology, was incorporated into the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Lateran University on 2 August 1960 as a centre of excellence for specialisation in the theological-moral disciplines. In the spirit of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, the renewer of moral knowledge in his century, and in harmony with the Magisterium of the Church, the Academy takes special care to perfect moral theology by paying particular attention to the total knowledge of the human being in its personal and Christian dimension. Just as Saint Alphonsus wrote his famous Theologia Moralis to prepare and help priests and other ministers in the guidance of their faithful, for the growth and sanctification of the Christian life, in the same way the Alphonsian Academy prepares and helps students, religious and lay, in the guidance of their Christian community. With a decree dated 16 January 2023, the Holy Father Francis then granted the Alphonsian Academy the prestigious title of “Pontifical”. The Vatican postage stamp celebrating the anniversary combines two works by Maestro Giuseppe Antonio Lomuscio that effectively synthesise certain values associated with the figure of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori and thus the Alphonsian Academy: Saint Alphonsus the moralist and founder, in the foreground, and Saint Alphonsus and his work, in the background. In the former, the Saint is depicted holding a crucifix and the volume of Theologia moralis, an obvious reference to his figure as a theologian; in the latter, his charitable and evangelising work is represented.