 Saint Francis of Paola
Saint Francis of Paola lived in a very troubled time: secularism, unbelief and selfishness pervaded not only the world about him but also the Church. He, with his spiritual son, Saint John of God, were beacon lights for the Faithful in the descending gloom and darkness of the Protestant ‘reformation’. His was a period very much like our own. So that his threefold message of Humility, Charity, and Penance is especially needed today.
Conscious of the words of scripture ‘what have you that you have not received for every good gift comes from above’, he called himself ‘the least one’ (Minim). And he wanted his followers to consider them-selves also as the ‘least ones in the house of God: (Minims). This title is symbol and glory, and is fulfillment of the words of Jesus to ‘learn of Him because He is meek and humble of Heart’.
Saint Francis of Paola loved the solitary life, the life of a hermit. Prayer was the life of his life, and love was the life of his Prayer. But with tireless energy and compassion he received and relieved all those who came to him in sickness and distress even the animals were beneficiaries of his miracles!
The charity of Saint Francis of Paola is reflected in the works of his spiritual family; Saint Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Love of God, who especially opened the doors of holiness to the Laity, and is the patron of the Deaf; Saint Joan de Valois, saint of the ‘imitation of Mary; Blessed Gaspar de Bono, precursor of devotion to Saint Joseph; Saint Vincent Pallotti, pioneer in the active participation of the laity in the apostolate of the Church, and originator of the ‘Octave for Christian Unity’; Blessed Francis Faa di Bruno, advocate of devotion to the Holy Souls; Blessed Nicholas Barré, whose inspiration has filled the entire world with ‘Christian schools’.
The charity of Saint Francis of Paola is especially reflected in his spiritual son, Saint John of God, the father and guide of the Brothers of Mercy for the assistance of the mentally ill, the poor-sick, the way ward, the homeless, the Deaf.
The modern expression of devotion to the Blood of Christ (Agnes of the Incarnate Word); the apostolate of Our Lady of Sion for the conversion of the Jews (Alfonse Ratisbonne); the spirituality of the Humility of Mary; all these find their origins also in the Minim milieu.
Saint Francis of Paola received from God the mission of opposing, by his austerity and penance, the rising pagan spirit of his time. (How much more pagan and selfish our own time!) As a solemn protest he observed and asked his followers to observe a life of penance, precisely, a life lived in a spirit of ‘Perpetual Lent’, a ‘Lent’ continued throughout the year . . . fasting frequently, and frequently abstaining from meat, eggs, milk and its products, (this was the Lenten fast of the early Church). Thus to combat the invasion of sensuality, egoism, and unbelief.
The message of Saint Francis of Paola extends to all the ends of the earth. His voice speaks to generous souls to combat pride, selfishness and sensuality, to be ‘signs of contradiction’, to become holy and to cause others to become holy, by following him in HUMILITY, CHARITY, and PENANCE.
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