St. Francis of Paola

St. Francis of Paola was born on 27 March 1416 at Paola in Calabria, southern Italy, to devout parents who had prayed to St. Francis of Assisi for a child. After a boyhood spent partly among the Franciscans and a pilgrimage to Assisi and Rome, he withdrew as a young man to live as a hermit in a cave near his native town, and there, as others were drawn to share his life, he founded about 1435 the community that grew into the Order of Minims.

The name Minims, "the least," expressed the deep humility at the heart of his rule, which added to the usual vows a fourth, of a perpetual Lenten fast, abstaining always from meat and all animal products. Renowned throughout Italy and beyond for his austerity, his gift of prophecy, and the many miracles reported at his hands, he was summoned to France by the dying King Louis XI and spent his last years there as a revered counselor to the crown. He died at Tours on 2 April 1507 and was canonized in 1519. He is honored as a patron of seafarers, and his memory is kept on 2 April.