At Agnone in the Abruzzi, Saint Francis Caracciolo, priest, who, inflamed with wonderful charity toward God and neighbour, founded the Congregation of the Minor Clerks Regular.
Lifespan: 1563–1608
Beatified: 10 September 1770 by Pope Clement XIV
Canonized: 24 May 1807 by Pope Pius VII, Vatican Basilica
Memoria liturgica: 4 June
“Sangue preziosissimo del mio Gesù, tu sei mio, e per te e con te soltanto spero di salvarmi. O sacerdoti, sforzatevi di celebrare la Messa ogni giorno e di inebriarvi con questo sangue!”
“Most precious Blood of my Jesus, you are mine, and through you and with you alone do I hope to be saved. O priests, strive to celebrate Mass every day and to become inebriated with this Blood!”
He was born on 13 October 1563 at Villa Santa Maria (Chieti), into the noble and wealthy Caracciolo family.
His love for Jesus, the Bread of Life, arose very early, as did his vocation, while he still lived with his noble and wealthy family at Villa Santa Maria. No less was the love he bore for Our Lady, whom he honoured from childhood by wearing the scapular of Carmel, reciting the Rosary, and fasting every Saturday.
At twenty-two he was struck by a severe form of elephantiasis that disfigured his entire body. He therefore vowed to renounce earthly riches in exchange for his cure. He was heard.
Two years later he was ordained a priest and attracted notice for several reputed healings among the sick in the hospitals where he exercised his ministry, as well as in the prisons — always among the least. He therefore asked to join the Company of the Whites, which in Naples served condemned prisoners and galley slaves at the hospice of the Incurables. This was in 1588.
One day he received a letter from a Genoese nobleman, Don Agostino Adorno, and from the Abbot of Santa Maria Maggiore in Naples, Fabrizio Caracciolo. In fact, it had been addressed to a religious of the same name who belonged to his congregation, but it was delivered to him, and he received it as a sign of Providence. It was thanks to this mishap that, together with the two men mentioned, Ascanio gathered with the Camaldolese and drew up the constitution of a new institute of which he was a co-founder.
It was he who proposed adding to the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience a fourth vow, binding members to refuse any ecclesiastical office. When the new institute received official recognition, Ascanio took the name Francis.
In 1589 Francis travelled to Spain with Adorno, who wished to expand the new institute there. The journey proved fruitless: after a year they returned home, Francis gravely ill and Adorno dead. In 1591 Francis was elected perpetual superior general, an office he had to accept in obedience to his vow, though it changed nothing of his way of living penance and fasting, nor his habit of performing the most menial tasks.
He returned to Spain three years later, but in Madrid King Philip II threatened to have him close the Hospital of the Italians, where he cared for and assisted the sick. Only in 1601, having been elected master of novices, did he succeed in founding a house at Valladolid, demonstrating a remarkable gift of discernment among young men, predicting for some a vocation to religious life and for others, even, apostasy. In 1607 he was at last dispensed from every office to devote himself entirely to prayer.
“Hunter of souls,” “father of the poor,” and “the man of bronze”: these were the three nicknames by which Francis was known, perfectly reflecting the three faces of his ministry. He never ceased to visit the sick and assist the dying; in hospital he applied himself with great energy to the most menial tasks — making the beds, cleaning the wards, mending the clothes of the infirm.
He was ever ready, too, to collect alms for the education of young women, bringing everything he had to the poor, literally taking the bread from his own mouth, often fasting, and giving away the garments that all his brethren discarded. He was tireless, moreover, in hearing confessions, in teaching catechism to children, in organising works of charity, and in preaching eternal truths to the faithful.
While he sought the best for others, he wanted nothing for himself: Francis always chose the most cramped quarters, slept and ate very little, performed acts of penance, and went so far as to wear the hair-shirt even on feast days and during long journeys on foot. Above all he promoted devotion to the Eucharist, establishing that the members of the Order should take turns in Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. He never tired of urging other priests to this practice, exposing the Most Blessed Sacrament on the first Sunday of every month.
Having gone on pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loreto, he passed to heaven there on 4 June 1608, having invoked Saints Michael, Joseph, and Francis of Assisi. He was canonized by Pius VII in 1807.