Francis was born at Paula in Calabria. His
parents, who were for a long time without children, obtained him from
Heaven after having made a vow and prayed to Saint Francis. Then very
young, being inflamed with the love of God, Francis withdrew into a
desert where for six years he led an austere life, but one that was
sweetened by heavenly contemplations. The fame of his virtues having
spread abroad, many persons went to him out of a desire to be trained
in virtue. Out of a motive of fraternal charity, he left his
solitude, built a Church near Paula and there laid the foundation of
his Order. He had a wonderful gift of preaching. He observed
virginity during his whole life. Such was his love for humility that
he called himself the last of all men, and would have his disciples
named Minims. His dress was of the coarsest kind. He always walked
barefooted and his bed was the ground. His abstinence was
extraordinary: he ate only once in the day and not until after
sunset. His food consisted of bread and water to which he scarcely
ever added those viands which are permitted even in Lent. And this
practice he would have kept up by his Religious under the obligation
of a fourth vow. God bore witness to the holiness of His servant by
many miracles, of which this is the most celebrated: that when he was
rejected by the sailors, he and his companion passed over the straits
of Sicily on his cloak, which he spread out on the water. He also
prophesied many future events. King Louis XI France had a great
desire to see the Saint and treated him with great respect. Having
reached his ninety-first year, he died at Tours in 1507. His body,
which was unburied for eleven days, so far from becoming corrupt,
yielded a sweet fragrance. He was canonised by Pope Leo X.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The founder of a Religious Order whose distinguishing characteristics were humility and penance comes before us today: it is Francis of Paola. Let us study his virtues and beg his intercession. His whole life was one of great innocence, and yet we find him embracing, from his earliest youth, mortifications which nowadays, would not be expected from the very worst sinners. How was it that he could do so much? And we, who have so often sinned, do so little? The claims of Divine Justice are as strong now as ever they were, for God never changes, nor can the offence we have committed against Him by our sins be pardoned unless we make atonement. The Saints punished themselves with life-long and austere penances for the slightest sins, and the Church can scarcely induce us to observe the law of Lent, though it is now reduced to the lowest degree of severity.
What is the cause of this want of the spirit of expiation and penance? It is that our Faith is weak, and our love of God is cold because our thoughts and affections are so set upon this present life that we seldom if ever consider things in the light of eternity? How many of us are like the King of France, who having obtained permission from the Pope that Saint Francis of Paola should come and live near him, threw himself at the Saint’s feet and besought him to obtain of God that he, the King, might have a long life! Louis XI had led a most wicked life, but his anxiety was, not to do penance for his sins, but to obtain, by the Saint’s prayers, a prolongation of a career which had been little better than a storing up wrath for the day of wrath. We, too, love this present life. We love it to excess. The laws of Fasting and Abstinence are broken not because the obeying them would endanger life or even seriously injure health, for where either of these is to be feared, the Church does not enforce her Lenten penances: but people dispense themselves from Fasting and Abstinence because the spirit of immortification renders every privation intolerable, and every interruption of an easy comfortable life insupportable. They have strength enough for any fatigue that business or pleasure calls for, but the moment there is question of observing those laws which the Church has instituted for the interest of the body as well as of the soul, all seems impossible. The conscience gets accustomed to these annual transgressions and ends by persuading the sinner that he may be saved without doing penance.
* * * * *
Apostle of penance! Your life was always that of a Saint and we are sinners: yet do we presume during these days to beg your powerful intercession in order to obtain of God that this holy Season may not pass without having produced within us a true spirit of penance which may give us a reasonable hope of receiving His pardon. We admire the wondrous works which filled your life — a life that resembled in duration that of the Patriarchs, and prolonged the privilege the world enjoyed of having such a Saint to teach and edify it. Now that you are enjoying in Heaven the fruits of your labours on Earth, think upon us and hearken to the prayers addressed to you by the faithful. Get us the spirit of compunction which will add earnestness to our works of penance. Bless and preserve the Order you have founded. Your holy relics have been destroyed by the fury of heretics. Avenge the injury thus offered to your name by praying for the conversion of heretics and sinners, and drawing down upon the world those heavenly graces which will revive among us the fervour of the Ages of Faith.
Also on this day according to the ROMAN
MARTYROLOGY:
At Caesarea in Palestine, during the persecution
of Galerius Maximian, the birthday of the martyr St. Amphian, who,
because he reproved the governor Urban for sacrificing to idols, was
cruelly lacerated and, with his feet wrapped in a cloth saturated
with oil, was set on fire. After these painful tortures, he was
plunged into the sea. Thus through fire and water he reached
everlasting repose.
In the same city, the passion of St. Theodosia, a
virgin of Tyre, who, in the same persecution, for having publicly
saluted the holy confessors as they stood before the tribunal and
begged of them to remember her when they should be with God, was
arrested and led to the governor Urban. By his order, her sides and
breasts were lacerated to the very vitals and she was thrown into the
sea.
At Lyons, St. Nizier, bishop of that city,
renowned for his saintly life and miracles.
At Como, St. Abundius, bishop and confessor.
At Langres, St. Urban, bishop.
In Palestine, the decease of St. Mary of Egypt,
surnamed the Sinner.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs,
confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
