Saint Francisco

Francis of Paola, O.M. (also known as Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507), was a Roman Catholic friar from the town of Paola in Calabria who founded the Order of Minims. He was named after Francis of Assisi and like him (but unlike most founders of men's religious orders) Francis of Paola was never ordained a priest. Around 1416, Francis was born in the town of Paola in the southern Italian province of Cosenza, Calabria. Paola was a small town near the Tyrrhenian Sea, midway from Naples to Reggio. His parents were very poor but worked hard. They were pious: God's love and doing His will was their single-minded desire, and all they strove for. They had lived together several years without a child. It is said that they earnestly beseeched God, through the intercession of St Francis of Assisi, for a son. They vowed to direct him to God's service, so that in due course he might serve Him and become an instrument to glorify His name. A while later a son was born. The parents saw this as prayer answered and named him after St Francis. Two other children were eventually born to them. When still in the cradle, Francis suffered from a swelling which endangered the sight of one of his eyes. His parents again had recourse to St Francis of Assisi. They made a vow that their son should pass an entire year wearing the "little habit" of St Francis in one of the friaries of his Order, a common practice in the Middle Ages. The child subsequently recovered. His parents seem to have made every effort to inspire Francis with pious sentiments, and to provide for him a suitable religious education. As a child, Francis duly showed a prefence for abstinence, solitude and prayer. In his thirteenth year, Francis was placed in the convent of Franciscan friars at San Marco Argentano, 42 km from his home.