FRANCIS OF PAOLA, Saint. - Founder of the Order of Minims. Born at Paola in Calabria, on 27 March 1416. At the age of twelve he wore the Franciscan votive habit for a year, and having fulfilled the vow he went to Assisi. Passing through Rome he venerated the tombs of the Apostles and martyrs; then, having returned to his homeland, he withdrew into a wood where he lived for six years as a hermit. When his cave was discovered, some young men wished to become his disciples: thus the Order of Minims had its origin.
The activity of the new apostle was directed at extinguishing the hatreds, selfishness and corruption of that century, calling men back from the resurgent paganism to the practice of the Christian life. Most effective was the example of austere penance joined to a great charity and to the gift of miracles and of prophecy with which the Saint was so abundantly endowed as to be comparable to the most illustrious thaumaturges of the Church. He was an open defender of the people against the oppression of princes and lords. Even to the king of Naples, Ferrante of Aragon, he reproached his bad government, threatening divine punishments. In vain he exhorted the monarch to desist from intestine wars, and instead to prevent the invasion of the Turk. Unfortunately the latter set foot on the Adriatic coasts (July 1480): Otranto was stormed, but also liberated, as the Saint had foretold, and with the contribution of his work and his prayers.
In obedience to Sixtus IV he went, at almost seventy years of age, in 1483 to France, to Louis XI, who hoped to be miraculously healed. The hermit comforted the sovereign and, despite the difficulties placed in his way by envious courtiers, succeeded in disposing the king's mind, until then tenaciously attached to earthly life, to desire the heavenly one. Thus Louis XI was able, with F.'s counsel, to settle not a few important affairs of the Kingdom, and, having received the Sacraments in full consciousness, to die most piously, to the edification of France and of all Europe. F. remained at the royal palace to give spiritual assistance to the king's children, entrusted to him by the king before dying, and then still further at the wish of his successors. The Dauphin, who later became Charles VIII, held the Saint in great veneration, from whom he acknowledged not a few personal favors and favors for the Kingdom.
For the love of peace F. proposed the marriage of Charles with Anne of Brittany (thus this beautiful province was united to France).
The characteristic virtues of St. F. of P. were humility and charity; extraordinary his mortification: he never ate meat or dairy foods, he fasted almost daily, he slept very little and almost always on the bare ground. He died at Tours on 2 April 1507 at the age of 91, of which twenty-five were spent at the court of France. He was beatified in 1513 and six years later canonized by Leo X, who called him "Sent by God to enlighten, like a mystic torch, the darkness of his century" (bull of canonization).
His cult spread throughout the world; many cities and some regions have elected him patron. Pius XII proclaimed him in 1943 patron of the mariners of the Italian nation. He is invoked to obtain offspring. Feast on 2 April.
Works: besides the monastic Rules, many of his letters are preserved. The most complete collection, though including not a few apocryphal ones, is that of F. Preste, Centuria di lettere di s. F. di P., Rome 1665.
Bibliography2 works
ICONOGRAPHY
Of St. F. of Paola it may be asserted that his true likeness is known, handed down by certain very ancient portraits. The first was commissioned by King Ferrante in 1483, when the Saint was his guest in Naples: it is preserved in the conventual church, formerly of the Minims, of Montalto Uffugo (Cosenza); however, it appears that it is not the original, but a very ancient copy. Two paintings in Rome are instead originals, one by an unknown artist, at the Trinità dei Monti, the other at S. Andrea delle Fratte by Paris Nogari (1535-1600). The most authentic portrait is by the painter of Louis XI of France, G. Bourdichon, who was a friend of the Saint. The original was sent to Leo X by Francis I on the occasion of the canonization, and it was still in the Vatican in the time of Clement XI. Of this there are many reproductions. All these portraits give the same physiognomy of the Saint, who is depicted with thick eyebrows, a well-proportioned nose, and a long beard. For the most part leaning on a staff, he often has the characteristic emblem: a radiant charitas.
Other images, episodes from his life, and numerous miracles have been painted or sculpted by distinguished artists: G. Romano, Cav. d'Aspino, Joan de Joannes, E. Murillo, C. M. Crespi, M. Preti, N. Gandolfi, G. Reni, G.B. Tiepolo, A. Cano, L. Giordano, P. Rubens, G.B. Mayno, P. Legros, etc. - See plate CIV.
