Francis Caracciolo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Francis Caracciolo
Saint Francis Caracciolo
Confessor
Born	October 13, 1563(1563-10-13), Villa Santa Maria, Province of Chieti, Region of Abruzzo, Kingdom of Naples (modern-day Italy)
Died	June 4, 1608 (aged 44), Agnone, Province of Isernia, Region of Molise, Kingdom of Italy
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	June 4, 1769, Rome by Pope Clement XIV
Canonized	May 24, 1807, Rome by Pope Pius VII
Major shrine	Church of Santa Maria di Monteverginella, Naples
Feast	June 4
Attributes	Confessor
Patronage	of the city of Naples, Italy and of Italian cooks
Saints Portal

Saint Francis Caracciolo (October 13, 1563–June 4, 1608), born Ascanio Pisquizio, was an Italian Catholic priest who co-founded the Congregation of the Minor Clerics Regular with Venerable John Augustine Adorno.^[1] He decided to adopt a religious life after recovering from leprosy at the age of 22.

1 Biography
2 Veneration
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

St Francis Caracciolo was born in Villa Santa Maria in the Abruzzo region, in the Kingdom of Naples. He belonged to the Pisquizio branch of the Caracciolo family and received in baptism the name of Ascanio. From his infancy, he had a reputation for gentleness and uprightness. He vowed himself to an ecclesiastical life, and distributing his goods to the poor, went to Naples in 1585 to study theology. In 1587 he was ordained priest and joined the confraternity of the Bianchi della Giustizia (The White Robes of Justice), whose object was to assist condemned criminals to die holy deaths.

A letter from Giovanni Agostino Adorno to another Caracciolo, Fabrizio, begging him to take part in founding a new religious institute, was delivered by mistake to the newly ordained priest, and he saw in this circumstance an assurance of the Divine Will towards him (1588). He assisted in drawing up rules for the new congregation, which was approved by Pope Sixtus V, July 1, 1588, and confirmed by Pope Gregory XIV on February 18, 1591, and reconfirmed by Pope Clement VIII on June 1, 1592.

The institute founded thereby, named the Congregation of the Minor Clerks Regular (the "Adorno Fathers"), is both contemplative and active. To the three usual vows a fourth is added, namely, that its members must not aspire to ecclesiastical dignities outside the order nor seek them within it. Perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is kept up by rotation, and self-mortification is practised. The motto of the order "Ad majorem Resurgentis gloriam" ("to the greater glory of the Risen One") was chosen because Francis and Augustine Adorno made their profession at Naples on Low Sunday, April 9, 1589.

In spite of his refusal Francis Caracciolo was chosen general on March 9, 1593, in the first house of the congregation in Naples, called St. Mary Major or Pietrasanta, given to the congregation by Sixtus V. He made three journeys to Spain to establish foundations under the protection of kings Philip II and Philip III. He opened the house of the Holy Ghost at Madrid on January 20, 1599, that of Our Lady of the Annunciation at Valladolid on September 9, 1601, and that of St. Joseph at Alcalá sometime in 1601, for teaching science. In Rome he obtained possession of St. Leonard's Church, which he afterwards exchanged for that of Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona, September 18, 1598, and later he secured for the institute the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina (June 11, 1606) which was made over to him by a papal bull of Pope Paul V, which was, however, annulled by the bull "Susceptum" of Pope Pius X (November 9, 1906).

St Francis Caracciolo was the author of "Le sette stazioni sopra la Passione di N.S. Gesù Christo" ("The Seven Stations of the Passion of Our Lord," Rome, 1710). He loved the poor. Like Saint Thomas Aquinas, a relative on his mother's side, his purity was angelic, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Pope Paul V desired to confer an important bishopric on him, but he steadfastly refused it. His frequent motto was "Zelus domus tuae comedit me." Invited by the Oratorians at Agnone, in the Molise region, to convert their house into a college for his congregation, he fell ill during the negotiations and died there on the Vigil of Corpus Christi, Wednesday, June 4, 1608.

[edit] Veneration

St Francis Caracciolo was beatified by Pope Clement XIV on June 4, 1769 and canonized by Pope Pius VII on May 24, 1807. His liturgical feast day is June 4. In 1838 he was chosen as a patron saint of Naples, where his body lies. At first he was buried in St. Mary Major, but his remains were afterwards translated to the church of Monteverginella, which was given in exchange to the Minor Clerks Regular (1823) after their suppression at the time of the French Revolution. St Francis is no longer venerated at Naples with the same fervor and devotion as it was in the 1800s.