FRANCESCO SOLANO, saint. — A celebrated Spanish Franciscan missionary, born at Montilla (Andalusia) on 10 March 1549, died at Lima (Peru) on 14 July 1610. He entered the Franciscan Order in 1569. Ordained a priest, he devoted himself to preaching. While he desired to go to the mission in Morocco, he was assigned to that of Tucumán (1589).
Having arrived at Lima (1590) after a tiring journey, he continued on foot for 700 leagues, across the Cordillera, as far as Tucumán. He devoted himself with great fervor to the conversion of the Indians, whom he knew how to attract and win over through his gentleness and also by the sound of a violin accompanied by his beautiful voice. For one year he was superior of that mission. After 12 years of intense work (1590-1602), he was recalled to Lima, where he was guardian of a Retreat (Recoleta) and then at Truxillo. Worn out by the labors of preaching and by penances, he spent his final years (1606-10) in the infirmary of the great convent of S. Francesco in Lima, where he piously died on the feast day of s. Bonaventura, whom he venerated with particular devotion. Clement X beatified him in 1675, and Benedict XIII canonized him on 27 December 1726. Feast day: 13 July.