Saint Francis Caracciolo

Francis Caracciolo (October 13, 1563 – June 4, 1608), born Ascanio dei Caracciolo Pisquizi, was an Italian Catholic priest who co-founded the Order of the Clerics Regular Minor with John Augustine Adorno and Fabrizio Caracciolo. He decided to adopt a religious life at the age of 22. Francis (Francesco) Caracciolo was born in Villa Santa Maria in the Abruzzo region, in the Kingdom of Naples. He belonged to the Pisquizio branch of the Caracciolo family and received in baptism the name of Ascanio. From a young age, he had a reputation for gentleness and uprightness. When he was 22, he was attacked by one of the several skin maladies collectively described as "leprosy" in those days. So serious was this attack that he was considered hopeless. With death so near, he made a vow that if he regained his health, he would spend the rest of his life in the service of God and his fellow men. He recovered so quickly after this vow, that his cure was considered miraculous. Eager to fulfil his promise to God, he went to Naples to study for the priesthood. Five years after he went to Naples, a letter from Giovanni Agostino Adorno of Genoa to another Caracciolo, Fabrizio, begging him to take part in founding a new religious institute, was delivered by mistake to the newly ordained priest, and he saw in this circumstance an assurance of the divine will towards him (1588). He assisted in drawing up rules for the new congregation, which was approved by Pope Sixtus V, July 1, 1588, and confirmed by Pope Gregory XIV on February 18, 1591, and reconfirmed by Pope Clement VIII on June 1, 1592. The institute founded thereby, named the Order of the Clerics Regular Minor (the "Adorno Fathers"), is both contemplative and active. Circular adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is one of the pillars of their life. To the three usual vows a fourth is added, namely, that its members must not aspire to ecclesiastical dignities outside the order nor seek them within it.