April 2nd - St. Francis Paola

April 2nd - St. Francis Paola Apr 2, 2019 16:44:30 GMT

Post by Elizabeth on Apr 2, 2019 16:44:30 GMT

Saint Francis of Paola
Thaumaturge, Hermit, Founder of the Minim Friars
(1416-1507)

At the age of fifteen, Saint Francis left his poor home at Paola in Calabria, Italy, to live as a hermit in a cave on the seacoast. In time disciples gathered around him, and with them, in 1436, he founded the Order of the Minims. He chose this name that they might always consider themselves the least of monastic Orders. They observed a perpetual Lent, never touching meat, fish, eggs, or milk. Francis himself made the rock his bed; his best garment was a hair shirt, and boiled herbs were his only fare. His first consideration in all things was Caritas, charity.

Saint Francis was a thaumaturge, which denomination indicates a miracle-worker known for his virtually unceasing wonders. The Church recognizes that God, as a rule, does not raise up more than one every century. He cured the sick, raised the dead, averted plagues, expelled evil spirits, and brought sinners to penance. But opposition arose; a famous preacher, misled by a few misguided monks, set to work to preach against Saint Francis and his miracles. The Saint took no notice of it, and the preacher, finding that he made no way with his hearers, determined to go to see this poor hermit whom he did not know, and confound him in person. The Saint received him kindly, gave him a seat by the fire, and listened to a long exposition of his own frauds. He then quietly took some glowing embers from the fire, and closing his hands upon them unhurt, said, Come, Father Anthony, warm yourself, for you are shivering for want of a little charity. Father Anthony, falling at the Saint's feet, asked for pardon, and then, having received his embrace, left him, to become his panegyrist and himself attain great perfection.

When the avaricious King Ferdinand of Naples offered him a gift of money for his convent, Francis told him to give it back to his oppressed subjects, and softened his heart by causing blood to flow from the ill-gotten coin.

King Louis XI of France, trembling at the approach of death, sent for the poor hermit to come and ward off the foe whose advance neither his fortresses nor his guards could check. Francis went at the Pope's command, leaving his country and his foundations there, which he foretold he would not see again; and he prepared the king for a pious death. He set the court to marveling when a delicately seasoned fish, which the king had ordered prepared for his guest's dinner, swam away after Saint Francis cast it into the pool from which it had been taken. And the successors of King Louis showered favors on their remarkable guest, desiring him to remain in France. It was God's will that retained him there.

His Rule for the Order of Minims was adopted also by women religious, and spread throughout Europe; a less rigorous Rule was adapted for the Third Order Secular for those who desired a life of penance in their state. His name was reverenced everywhere in the Christian world; his prophecies were, during his lifetime, and are still today, held in great veneration. He died at the age of ninety-one, on Good Friday, 1507, with the crucifix in his hand and the last words of Jesus on his lips: Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

April 2nd - St. Francis Paola Jun 6, 2020 2:21:19 GMT

Post by Elizabeth on Jun 6, 2020 2:21:19 GMT

I found this letter from the following link: eabucchianeri.blogspot.com/2017/05/to-love-promised-great-monarch-sign-of.html

It comes from the following book: The Prophets and Our Times, by Rev R. Gerald. Culleton, Tan books and Publishers, 1941. It is still available to purchase from Tan if anyone is interested in buying a copy of the book.

St. Francis of Paola's letter to Simeon de Limena

“From your Lordship (i.e., addressing Simeon de Limena, Lord of Monalto) shall be born
the great leader of the holy militia of the Holy Spirit shall overcome the world, and shall possess the
earth so completely that no king or lord shall be able to exist, except that he belongs to the sacred
host of the Holy Ghost. These devout men shall wear on their breasts, and much more within their hearts, the sign of the living God, namely, the Cross. (…)

The first members of this holy order shall be natives of the city where iniquity, vice and sin abound. However, they shall be converted from evil to good; from rebels against God they shall become most fervent and most faithful in His divine service. That city shall be cherished by God and by the Great Monarch, the elect and the beloved of the Most High Lord. For the sake of that place all holy souls who have done penance in it shall pray in the sight of God for that city and its inhabitants. When the time shall come of the immense and most right justice of the Holy Spirit, His Divine Majesty wills that such city become converted to God, and that many of its citizens follow the great prince of the holy army. The first person that will openly wear the sign of the living God shall belong to that city, because he will through a letter be commanded by a holy hermit to have it impressed upon his heart and to wear it externally on his breast. (…)

That man will begin to meditate on the secrets of God, about the long visitation which the Holy Spirit will make and the dominion that he will exercise over the world through the holy militia. O! happy man, who shall receive from the Most High the greatest privileges! He will interpret the hidden secrets of the Holy Ghost, and he shall often excite the admiration of men by his revealed knowledge of the internal secrets of their hearts. Rejoice, my Lord, because that Prince above other princes, and King over other kings, will hold you in the greatest veneration, and after having been crowned with three most admirable crowns, will exalt that city, will declare it free, and the seat of the Empire, and it shall become one of the first cities in the world. (…)

You and your consort desire to have children: you shall have them. (Addressed to Lord Monalto) Your holy offspring shall be admired upon earth. Among your descendants there will be one who shall be like the sun amidst the stars; He shall be a first-born son; in his childhood he will be like a saint; in his youth, a great sinner; then he will be converted entirely to God and will do great penance; his sins will be forgiven him, and he will become a great saint. (…)

He shall be a great captain and prince of holy men, who shall be called "the holy Cross-bearers of Jesus Christ," with whom he shall destroy the Mahometan (Muslim) sect and the rest of the infidels. He shall annihilate all the heresies and tyrannies of the world. He shall reform the Church of God by means of his followers, who shall be the best men upon earth in holiness, in arms, in science, and in every virtue, because such is the will of the Most High. They shall obtain the dominion of the whole world, both temporal and spiritual, and they shall support the Church of God until the end of time. (…)

God almighty shall exalt a very poor man of the blood of Emperor Constantine, son of St. Helena, and of the seed of Pepin, (i.e, A French King) who shall on his breast wear a red Cross. Through the power of the Most High he shall confound the tyrants, the heretics, and infidels. He will gather a grand army, and the angels shall fight for them; they shall kill all God's enemies. (…)

From the beginning of the world, after the creation of man, and to the end of human generations, there have been and there shall be seen wonderful events upon the earth. Four hundred years shall not pass when his Divine Majesty shall visit the world with a new religious order much needed, which shall effect more good among men than all other religious institutions combined. This religious order shall be the last and the best in the Church; it shall proceed with arms, with prayer, and with hospitality. Woe to tyrants, to heretics, and to infidels, to whom no pity shall be shown, because such is the will of the most high! An infinite number of wicked men shall perish through the hands of the Cross-bearers, the true servants of Jesus Christ. They shall act like good husbandmen when they extirpate noxious weeds and prickly thistles from the wheat field. Those holy servants of God shall purify the earth with the deaths of innumerable wicked men. The head and captain of these holy servants of God shall be one of your posterity and he shall be the great reformer of the Church of God. (…)

How spiritually blind are those persons who, having no thought about things of God, fix their end in earthly objects. Wretched men! by far worse than the very beasts which are guided by their sense, because they cannot reason, they become brutalized. Hence they shall ever be in confusion. Let, therefore, the princes of this world be prepared for the greatest scourges to fall upon them. But from whom? First from heretics and infidels, then from the holy and most faithful Cross-bearers elected by the Most High, who, not succeeding in converting the heretics with science, shall have to make vigorous use of their arms. Many cities and villages shall be in ruins, with the deaths of an innumerable quantity of bad and good men. The infidels also shall fight against Christians and heretics, sacking, destroying, and killing the largest portion of Christians. Lastly, the army, styled "of the Church," namely, the holy Cross-bearers, shall move, not against Christians or Christianity, but against those infidels in pagan countries, and they shall conquer all those kingdoms with the death of a very great number of infidels. After this they shall turn their victorious arms against bad Christians, and destroy all the rebels against Jesus Christ. These holy Cross-bearers shall reign and dominate holily over the world until the end of time... But when shall this take place? When crosses with the stigmas shall be seen, and the crucifix shall be carried as the standard. (…)

The time is coming when His Divine Majesty will visit the world with a new religious order of holy Cross Bearers, who will carry a crucifix, or the image of our crucified Lord, lifted up on the principal standard in view of all. This standard will be admired by all good Catholics; but at the beginning it will be derided by bad Christians and by infidels. Their sneers shall, however, be changed into mourning when they shall witness the wonderful victories achieved through it against tyrants, heretics, and infidels. Many wicked men and obstinate rebels against God shall perish; their souls will be plunged into Hell. The punishment shall fall upon all those transgressors of the Divine
commandments who with new and false doctrines will attempt to corrupt mankind and turn men
against the ministers of God’s worship. The same chastisement is due for all obstinate sinners, but
not to those who sin through weakness because these being converted doing penance and amending the conduct of their life shall find the divine mercy of the Most High full of kindness towards them. O holy Cross Bearers of the Most High Lord, how very pleasing you will be to the great God much more than the children of Israel! God will through your instrumentality work more wonderful prodigies than he has ever done before with any nation. You shall destroy the sect of Mahomet (Islam) and all infidels of every kind and and of every sect. You shall put an end to all the heresies of the world by extinguishing all tyrants. You will remove every cause of complaint by establishing a universal peace which shall last until the end of time. You will work the sanctification of mankind. O Holy Men: People blessed of the Most Holy Trinity! Your victorious founder shall triumph over the world, the flesh and the Devil. (…)

One of your posterity shall achieve greater deeds and work greater wonders than your lordship (your Lordship: Simeon de Limena, Lord of Monalto). That man (the leader of the Crucifers) will be a great sinner in his youth, but like St. Paul he will be drawn and converted to God. He shall be the founder of a new religious order different from all the others. He shall divide it into three classes, namely: (1) Military knights, (2) Solitary priests, (3) most pious hospitalliers. This shall be the last religious order of the Church, and it will do more good for our holy religion than all other religious institutes. By force of arms he shall take possession of a great kingdom. He shall destroy the sect of Mahomet, extirpate all tyrants and heresies. He shall bring the world to a holy mode of life. There will be one fold and one shepherd. He shall reign until the end of time. On the whole, in the whole earth there shall be only twelve kings, one emperor, one pope. Rich gentlemen shall be few, but all saints. (…)

May Jesus Christ be praised and blessed for He has vouched to grant to me a poor unworthy sinner the spirit of prophecy not in an obscure way as to His other servants, but has enabled me to write and to speak in a most clear manner. I know that unbelieving and reprobate persons will scoff at my letters and will reject them; but they will be received by those catholic souls who aspire to the possession of heaven. These letters shall infuse such sweetness of divine love in their hearts that they will be delighted in perusing them often and in taking copies of them because such is the will of the Most High. In these letters it will be found out who belongs to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ and who does not, who is a predestinate or a reprobate. Much better will this be known through the holy sign of the living God. He shall be a saint of God who will take it, love it and wear it.” (Rev R. Gerald. Culleton, The Prophets and Our Times, Tan books and Publishers, 1941. pp. 157-162)