St. Felix was born to a peasant family in Cantalice. When he was twelve, he was hired out as a shepherd and plowman. He found such work conducive to meditation. A turning point in his life came when the team of oxen he was driving suddenly bolted, knocking him down and pulling the sharp plow across his body. When he found himself completely unharmed, he determined once to present himself for admission as a lay brother at the local Capuchin monastery of Citta Ducale.
Very quickly, Felix acquired a reputation for holiness. Even members of his community referred him as “the saint.” After making his final vows, he was sent to Rome, where he lived for forty years, serving the community’s official beggar for food and alms. People call him “Brother Deo Gratias,” for his habit of constantly giving thanks to God. Among his friends was St. Philip Neri, who read aloud to the illiterate brother the proposed rule for his new order and afterward incorporated his comments and amendments.
Felix was well know for his austerity. He walked barefoot, lived on little than bread crusts and table scraps, and was later found t have worn a shirt of iron links. If anyone insulted him he would reply, “I pray God that you may become a saint!”
He died on May 18, 1587, after receiving a vision of Our Lady. He was canonized in 1712.
St. Paschal, who was born in Spain, spent his early life as a shepherd. Though he had no formal education, he taught himself to read and write, and he enjoyed the long days and nights with his flock, which afforded hours of uninterrupted prayer. At the age of twenty-one, he applied for admission to a friary of reformed Franciscans of St. Peter of Alcántara, a community known for its strict poverty and austerity. Paschal adapted happily to this environment, assigned mostly to menial tasks and joining his brothers in care for the poor and sick.
What distinguished Paschal was his extraordinary devotion to the Eucharist. He would spend hours each night or early morning on his knees before the Blessed Sacrament. Often he volunteered to serve at one Mass after another. Even while he lived he was known as “the saint of the Eucharist.” And later, long after his death, he would be named the patron of all Eucharistic congresses and confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament.
On one occasion, Paschal was sent on a mission to France carrying letters for the minister general of the Observant Franciscans. It was a dangerous undertaking to cross Huguenot territory in his Franciscan garb, and several times he was stoned and severely injured. Nevertheless, he returned safely to resume his simple life.
He died on May 17, 1592, at the age of fifty-two. He was canonized in 1690.
I was born poor and am resolved to die in poverty and penance.
This married couple lived in the Italian town of Poggibonsi, where Luchesio worked as a merchant and moneylender. His life was marked by no special motive beyond making money. Sometime in his thirties, however, a change came over him, prompted perhaps by the death of his children. He gave up his business and distributed his wealth, keeping only a small plot of land to farm. He and his wife, Buonadonna, began to serve the sick and poor, sharing their food with those less fortunate and entrusting themselves to Providence.
At this point, St. Francis of Assisi happened to visit their town on one of his preaching tours. The couple were taken by his message and asked if there was not some way for them to follow his path without separating and entering religious life. Francis had longed to establish a Third Order in the Franciscan family for laypeople living in the world. Happily, he clothed Luchesio and Buonadonna in the plain habit and cord of the order. Tradition remembers them as the first Franciscan tertiaries.
The couple lived on for many years. As Luchesio approached the end of his life, Buonadonna prayed that they might not be separated by death. Her prayer was answered; both husband and wife died on the same day, April 28, 1260.
St. Zita is the patron of servants and domestic workers. Such was her own station for forty-seven years of service from the age of twelve until her death – to a wealthy family in Lucca, Italy. Early on, Zita, a member of the Third Order of St. Francis, was recognized for her unusual piety – a cause for derision among many of the household staff. She rose in the night for prayer and always attended the first Mass in the morning. But apart from such devotions, Zita considered her work itself to be an expression of her spiritual life: ” A servant is not good if she is not industrious; work-shy piety in people of our position in sham piety.” Gradually her qualities won respect and admiration. Her employer even overlooked her generosity to the poor. In her later years, she devoted increasing time to visiting the sick and those in prison. She had a special devotion to those under sentence of death; for these, she prayed without ceasing.
Zita died on April 27, 1278, at the age of sixty. She was canonized in 1696. Among other things, she is often invoked for help in finding lost keys.
