Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Authority * — The Acts of his Canonization, which took place in 15x9, and his life written by a disciple. Philip de Comines also speaks of him during his lifetime.] This saint was bom about the year 1416, at Paula, a small town in Calabria. His parents were very poor and industrious. Francis, whilst yet a child, showed evident token of being chosen by God for a special work. In the thirteenth year of his age his father placed him in the convent of Franciscan friars at S. Marco, where he learned to read. From that time he denied himself the use of linen and meat, though he had not professed the rule of the Order. Having spent one year there, he performed, with his parents, a pilgrimage to Assisi, the Portiuncula, and Rome. When he returned to Paula, with their consent, he retired to a solitude about half a mile from the town; and thence shortly after to the face of a rock, a cliff on the sea coast, where he made himself a cave. He was scarce fifteen years old when, in 1432, he shut himself up in this hermitage. He had no other bed than the rock itself, nor other food than the herbs which he gathered in the neighbouring wood, or what was sometimes brought him by his friends. Before he was quite twenty years old, two other devout persons joined him. The neighbours built them three cells and a chapel, in which they sang the praises of God, and a priest from the parish church came, and said mass for them. This is considered the foundation of his religious order. Seventeen years after, the number of recluses was so much increased that, with the approbation of the archbishop of Cosenza, a large church and monastery were built for them in the same place. This was about the year 1454. So great was the devotion of the people, that the whole country joined in the work, even noblemen shared in carrying burdens. His bed was now no longer indeed the rock, but it was a board, with a log for his pillow, till, in his old age, he was persuaded to make use of a mat He took but one meal in the day, in the evening, and that usually consisted of only bread and water. He obliged his followers to observe a perpetual Lent, and always to abstain not only from flesh, but also from food made of milk, cheese, butter, and eggs. In order more effectually to enforce obedience to this injunction, he prescribed a fourth vow, by which every religious of his Order bound himself to observe it. His intention in enjoining this perpetual abstinence was to repair, in some sort, the neglect or lax observance of Lent among Christians. And he hoped that the severe discipline of his Order would stimulate Christians living in the world to deny themselves more seriously in the forty days of Lent, instead of seeking means of evading or tempering the disciplinary rules of the Church. Humility, however, was his darling virtue. The greater he was before God, and the more he was distinguished in the sight of heaven, the less he appeared in his own eyes. He felt a craving to live unknown and hidden from men, which made him shun their society. But a city set on a hill cannot be hid, and God lifteth the humble and setteth him on high. When it pleased God to discover him to the world, the saint conversed with great and noble persons without losing his retiring and humble spirit Other Orders have their principal end and distinguishing characters; some being reApril *.] •S'. Francis of Paula.
I markable for their poverty, others for austerity, others for ! prayer, holy zeal, &c. That of S. Francis of Paula may ' be distinguished by its special love for humility, which he J most earnestly recommended to his followers as the ground | work of all Christian virtues, and he gave them a name j that might express it, namely, that of Minims, to signify | that they were the least in the house of God; and the j superior of every house of his Order he called the Corrector, to put him in continual remembrance that he was only the servant of all the rest, according to the doctrine of Christ, who said, “ He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” The archbishop of Cosenza approved the rule and Order in 1471. Pope Sixtus IV. confirmed it by a bull, dated the 23rd of May, in 1474, and established Francis as superiorgeneral About the year 1476, the saint founded another convent at Patemo, on the gulf of Tarentum; and a third at Spezza, in the diocese of Cosenza. In the year 1479, being invited into Sicily, he was received there as an angel from heaven, wrought miracles, and built several convents in that island, where he continued a whole year. On his return into Calabria, in 1480, he built another convent at Corigliano, in the diocese of Rossano. Ferdinand, king of Naples, provoked at some wholesome advice the saint had given him and his two sons, Alphonso, duke of Calabria, and John, cardinal of Aragon, persecuted him; but the third son, Frederick, prince of Tarentum, was his friend. The king, alleging that he had built religious houses with1 out the royal assent, ordered a messenger to apprehend him at Patemo, and bring him prisoner to Naples. But I the officer was so moved by his humility, and the readiness ' with which he disposed himself to follow him, that, struck ( with awe, he returned to Naples, and dissuaded the king ! from attempting any thing against the servant of God. The Sovereign Pontiff, Paul II., charged one of his chamberlains to visit the wonderful man of God, and examine whether he were actuated by the Divine Spirit, or were influenced by self-righteousness. The chamberlain arrived at the convent without announcing himself, and on entering, would have kissed the hands of S. Francis, but this, the holy man would not allow; and falling on his knees, said he was bound to kiss his hands, which God had consecrated for the thirty years during which he had said mass. The chamberlain was much struck by his answer made to him by an entire stranger, telling him how long he had been a priest; but concealing himself and his commission, asked to converse with him in private. The saint conducted him into his cell The chamberlain then began to censure his institution as too austere, spoke much on the illusions and dangers to which miraculous gifts are liable, and exhorted him to walk in ordinary paths, trodden by other eminent servants of God. Francis replied to his objections with great modesty, but seeing that he was not yet satisfied, he went to the fire, and taking out some burning coals, held them a considerable time in his hand, saying calmly: “ All creatures obey those who serve God with a perfect heart” And lo I his hands were unhurt. The chamberlain returned to the pope full of veneration for the holy man, and told him that the sanctity of Francis was greater than his reputation. A youth, nephew to the saint, having died, his mother, the saint's own sister, applied to him for comfort After the requiem had been said for the repose of the young man's soul, S. Francis ordered the corpse to be carried from the church into his cell, where he ceased not to pray till he had restored him to life, and presented him to his mother in perfect health. The young man entered his Order, and was the celebrated Nicolas Alesso, who afterward followed his uncle into France. April a.] Francis of Paula.
At this time Louis XI. was king of France. His life had been spent in intrigues, and was stained by crime, and now that wretched life was drawing to a close. Everyone knows what was the character of this crafty monarch. It has been sketched by a master’s hand in 44 Quentin Durward.” And now he must die. The thought turned his blood cold, and in fear he used every means in his power to ward off the dread visitor. He consulted physicians, quacks, and astrologers, and gave his private physician ten thousand crowns a month, hoping to bribe him to prolong his life. He shut himself up in his castle of Plessis-les-Tours, despairing, frightened, and intensely irritable. Jesters and dancers performed their antics before him, to divert his mind from the one absorbing topic, but the shadow hung too darkly upon his soul to be lightened by a joke and dispelled by a caper. He ordered prayers, processions, and pilgrimages for his health, and even to prevent the blowing of the north wind, which was injurious to his constitution, and in blind superstition, rather than in faith, he collected relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] from every quarter, and stored them in his chamber at Plessis, as though he hoped to drive off death by a display of these. Hearing of the virtue and miracles of S. Francis of Paula, he hoped to obtain life through his intercession, and he sent an ambassador into Calabria, begging that S. Francis would come to see him, and restore his health, making the greatest promises to serve both him and his Order. Hearing that the man of God would not be prevailed on by these promises to comply with his request, he entreated Ferdinand king of Naples to send him. Francis answered that he could not tempt God and undertake a voyage of a thousand miles to work a miracle, which was asked out of low and merely human motives. Louis then desired the pope to interpose in favour of his request Sixtus IV. commanded Francis immediately to repair to the king, and the saint obediently set out on his long journey. Embarking at Ostia, he landed in France, and cured many sick of the plague in Provence, as he passed. Louis, in great joy, gave a purse of ten thousand crowns to the messenger who brought the news of the saint's arrival in his dominions, and sent the dauphin, with the principal lords of the court, to meet him at Amboise, and conduct him to his palace. The saint arrived at Plessis, on the 24th of April, in 1482. The king went out to meet him, attended by his court, and falling on his knees, conjured him to obtain of God the prolongation of his life. “Sire,” said S. Francis, “no wise man ought to entertain such a desire. The lives of kings have their appointed limits as well as those of their meanest subjects. God's decree is unchangeable, therefore resign thyself to His holy will.”
The king was not satisfied, his mean, crafty mind made him suppose that the saint would not yield to his solicitations because he had not been sufficiently bribed. He sent him a statue of the B. Virgin in pure gold, valued at 7,000 ducats. Francis refused the statue. “I do not reverence the gold,” said he, “ but her whom it is moulded to represent I have my own paper representation of her, and therewith I am content.” A few days after, the king privately offered him a large sum of money, promising that no one should know if he would but accept it The grave hermit flashed into sudden wrath. “Sire,” said he, “use thy money better, in healing the many wrongs thou hast done during thy life.”
If Louis XI. was brought to anything approaching true contrition, it was due to the plain-spoken hermit, who attended him till his death, and prepared him for his passage into that other and awful world he feared so greatly. It was in the arms of Francis that Louis died, uttering with April a.] Francis of Paula.
his last breath, “ Notre-Dame d’Embrun, aidez moi 1" on King Charles VIII. honoured the saint as much as did his father, Louis XI., and consulted him on the affairs of his conscience, and even on those of the state; visited him every day as long as he stayed at Plessis, and induced him to stand godfather to his son, the dauphin, to whom he gave the name of our saint He built for him a beautiful convent in the park of Plessis, in a place called Montils; and another at Amboise, upon the very spot where he met him when he was dauphin; and going to Rome in 1 495, he built there, on the Pincian hill, a stately monastery for this Order, under the name of the Blessed Trinity, into which none but Frenchmen were to be admitted. In his reign, the saint founded the convent of Nigeon, near Pans. Two doctors, who had violently opposed the institute before the bishop of Paris, were so moved by the sight of the saint at Plessis, that they entered his Order in 1506. Pope Julius II. again approved the rule, in which the saint had made some alterations. King Charles VIII. dying in 1498, Louis XII. succeeded him.. He at first gave the saint leave to return to Italy; but quickly recalled it S. Francis spent the last three months of his life within his cell, to prepare himself for a happy death, denying himself all communication with mankind, that nothing might divert his thoughts from death and eternity. He fell sick of a fever on PalmSunday, 1 506. On Maundy Thursday he assembled all his religious in the sacristy, and exhorted them to the love of God, charity with one another and with all men, and to a punctual observance of all the duties of their rule. After having made his confession, he communicated barefoot, and with a cord about his neck, which is the custom of his Order. He died on the 2nd of April, in 1 508, at the age of ninety-one. He was canonized by Leo X. in 1519. His body remained uncorrupted in the Church of Plessisles-Tours, till the year 1562, when the Huguenots broke open the shrine and found it entire, fifty-five years after his death. They dragged it about the streets, and burned it in a fire which they had made with the wood of a great crucifix. Some of his bones were recovered by the Catholics, and are kept in several churches of his Order at Plessis, Nigeon, Paris, Aix, Naples, Paula, and Madrid. In art S. Francis of Paula is often represented with an ass beside a forge. The story is as follows. At the request of the saint a blacksmith shod his ass, and then demanded payment. But the man of God had no money with him. Then the smith began to storm and swear. But Francis bade the ass restore the man the shoes, and the beast shook them off its feet He appears in the habit of his Order with Caritas written on his breast surrounded by rays of light, and standing on his cloak, on which, says a popular legend, he was floated from Sicily to Calabria, when refused a passage by the boat men, because he could not pay the fare.
