Post #5629

He had the gift of the word of marvelous degree; he conserved his perpetual virginity; he practiced so much humility to be said the least of all, and wanted that his disciples would be called Minims. He dressed crudely, he walked barefoot, he slept on the ground. His abstinence was marvelous: he ate only once a day but bread and water, by which he added just a little bit of seasoning as it is permitted in Lent; and forced his friars to promise with a generous vow the observance of such practice during the whole year. God wanted to attest the sanctity of his servant with many miracles, among which one of the most famous happened when, rejected by the sailors, he spread his cloak over the waves and thus passed the Strait of Messina with his brother. Gifted of prophetic spirit, he made also many predictions. Louis XI, King of France, asked to Sixtus IV to send him the hermit of the fame of Thaumaturge, so that, treated with great honor, he remained at the court from 1482 to his death. During his staying in France, Francis perfected the Rule of the Order of Minims, definitively approved in 1496 by Alexander VI, he founded the Second Order and the Third reserved to the lay people, he started the devotion of the Thirteen consecutive Fridays . In the end, counting 91 years old, he went to the Lord in Plessis-lez-Tours, near Tours, the 2nd of April 1507, a Good Friday: his body, remained buried for 11 days, not only did not corrupt, but also gave a sweet smell. Already 6 years later, in 1513, Leo X, of whom was said prophesied the election to the Papacy, proclaimed him blessed and, the 1st of May 1519, he subscribed him among the Saints Confessors. His body was sacrilegiously burned by the Huguenot heretics in 1562. St. Francis of Paola is the co-patron of the city of Naples.