For years, Mark Roy sought success as a lawyer, before disillusionment over the dishonesty rampant in his profession inspired him to pursue religious life. Upon entering the Capuchin Franciscans of Freiburg, he received the name “Fidelis” – faithful. Following his ordination, he proved zealous in his commitment to prayer and poverty, and threw himself ardently into pastoral work. As he wrote, “Woe betide me if I should prove to be a half-hearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned captain.”
In 1622, he was assigned to lead a missionary team under the newly formed Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith to preach in Calvinist territories in Switzerland. It was an exceptionally dangerous mission. He set out armed only with a Crucifix, a Bible, a breviary, and a copy of the Capuchin rule.
He preached widely, but his presence provoked outrage among many Calvinist. Apart from religious differences, they saw in the Capuchins an advance guard of Austrian intervention. In truth, Fidelis sometimes traveled under the protection of Austrian soldiers. Still, he faced beatings, rock-throwing, and in one case, a musket fired in his direction as he was saying Mass. Anticipating his fate, he signed his letters, “Father Fidelis, soon to become food for worms.”
On April 24, after preaching in the church of Seewis, he was confronted by a Calvinist mob, demanding that he renounced his faith. “The Catholic religion is the faith of all ages,” he replied. “I fear not death.” He was felled by a single blow to his head and died instantly.
St. Francis liked to refer to Brother Giles, one of his original followers, as “the Knight of Our Round Table.” He especially commanded Giles for his simplicity and his spirit of poverty. For some years Giles accompanied Francis on his preaching tours. When the saint had finished preaching, Giles would turn to the people and say, “What he says is true! Listen to him!” Believing that Lady Humility was the best preacher, he advised a brother who wished to preach in the piazza of Perugia to proclaim in his sermon: “Boo, boo; too much I talk, but little I do.”
Eventually, after Francis encouraged him to go forth and spread the Gospel, he went on pilgrimages to Compostela in Spain, to Rome, and to the Holy Land. Wherever he went, he insisted on working in exchange for alms. A mission to Tunis to preach to the Muslims there ended in failure when local Christians, afraid of stirring up trouble, implored him to return to his ship.
Brother Giles spent much time contemplating the joys of heaven. Just the mention of word like paradise would incite him to ecstasy – a fact mischievously exploited by street urchins whenever they saw him approaching.
In The Life of Brother Giles by Brother Leo, it is noted that Giles possessed “seven very praiseworthy and wholesome and perfect qualities.” These included his faith, reverence, devotion, compassion, consideration, and obedience. “The seventh, that he was beloved by God and men because of the graces which were showered on him.”
Giles outlived most of the original friars. Yet the sad year of Francis’s death in 1226 was capped for Giles by an appearance from the Lord – the greatest event of his life, he said, after his birth, his baptism, and the day he took the habit. He retired to a hermitage in Perugia where he spent most of his time in silence. He died on April 23, 1262. He was beatified in 1777.
St. Benedict was the son of African slaves, owned by a rich family in Sicily. Set free as a child, Benedict attracted attention, even as a youth, for his patience and charity. Once, as he was being taunted on account of his color, a passing Franciscan noticed him and invited him to join his community of hermits. Benedict did this. Eventually, in light of his evident holiness, he was chosen to serve as a superior of the community.
In time, this informal group was directed by the pope to affiliate with a regular order. They joined the Order of Friars Minor. Benedict was accepted as a lay brother and put to work as a cook. Once again, however, his special gifts drew wonder and respect. Though he was illiterate, he had an extraordinary knowledge of Scripture and theology, and his gift for reading souls put him in great demand as a spiritual director. Eventually his fame became a form of penance, as the sick flocked to him for healing, and pilgrims of every station sought his counsel.
Benedict died in 1589 at the age of sixty-three. He was canonized in 1807. Apart from widespread veneration in Latin America, St. Benedict was claimed as a patron saint of African Americans.
The long-childless parents of this saint had prayed to St. Francis of Assisi for a son. When their prayers were answered, they named him Francis. No doubt their intentions exerted a powerful influence on his later vocation. At twelve, her spent a year in a Franciscan house, receiving there a basic education and acquiring a taste for asceticism. Eventually, when he was not yet fifteen, he took up the life of a hermit, living in a cave near his hometown of Paola.
In time, Francis attracted disciples, the foundation of a religious order he called the Minim Friars – a name reflecting the desire that they be counted the least in the household of God. Along with traditional religious vows, Francis added a fourth: that his followers abstain not only from meat but also from any animal products whatsoever. Beyond a spirit of penance, this strict diet also reflected the saint’s determination to extend the spirit on nonviolence to all God’s creatures. Among the miraculous legends associated with Francis are many involving the restoration of life to assorted animals, including a favorite trout, which a hapless cleric had caught and cooked.
In 1481, King Louis XI of France, facing death, begged Francis to come and heal him. Francis made a trip, traveling barefoot the whole way. Though he told the king that life and death were in God’s hands, he managed to reconcile the king to his fate and remained by his side until the end.
Francis died on Good Friday in 1507 at the age of ninety-one.
Blessed Joan was born to a noble family in France. As a child, it was said that her prayers had saved a neighbor boy, Robert de Sille, after he fell into a pond and nearly drowned. When Joan turned sixteen, she and Robert were married. Although they elected to maintain a celibate relationship, they were apparently a devoted couple and together they adopted and raised three orphans. During an invasion by the English, Robert was taken captive and held for ransom. He managed to escape, and afterward he and Joan devoted themselves to the ransom of other prisoners.
This charity infuriated Robert’s family. Upon Robert’s death in 1362, they expelled Joan from their house. For several years she supported herself as best she could, eventually learning to prepare medicines and becoming a Franciscan tertiary. But for a while she was reduced to living in pigsties and dog kennels. When her in-laws eventually restored her property, she gave it all to the Carthusians, and at the age of fifty-seven retired to a small room in Tours, where she devoted herself to prayer and works of mercy. Though some considered her mad, many others recognized her evident holiness. She was known for her gift of prophecy and her special dedication to prisoners – whether criminals or captives of war. At one time, she even persuaded the king to release all the prisoners of Tours. She died on March 28, 1414, and was beatified in 1871.
