St
Francis of Paola, 1416-1507
Feastday
2nd April
Born 1416
Died 1507
Following a pilgrimage in his teens to Rome
and Assisi, he became a hermit in a cave near Paola. Before he was 20 years old
he began to attract followers. By the 1450's the followers had become so
numerous that he established a rule for them and sought Church approval. This
was the founding of the Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi, who were approved
by the Holy See in 1474. In 1492 they were renamed the Franciscan Order of
Minim Fiars, which means they count themselves the least of the family of God. Prophet.
Miracle worker. Reputed to read minds. In 1464 Francis wanted to cross the
Straits of Messina to reach Sicily, but a boatman refused to take him. Francis
laid his cloak on the water, tied one end to his staff to make a sail, and
sailed across with his companions. Franz Liszt wrote a piece of music inspired
by the incident. Defender of the poor and oppressed. Gave unwanted counsel and
admonitions to King Ferdinand of Naples and his sons. Traveled to Paris at the
request of Pope Sixtus IV to help Louis XI prepare for death. Used this
position to influence the course of national politics, helping restore peace
between France and Brittany by advising a marriage between the ruling families,
and between France and Spain by persuading Louis XI to return some disputed
land. Francis died on Good Friday while still at court in France. In 1562
Huguenots broke open his tomb, found his body incorrupt, and burned it. The
bones were salvaged by Catholics, and distributed as relics to various
churches. 1
1. Taken from the Patron Saints at http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintf02.htm
“The Spirit of prophecy is granted to me often to foretell most wonderful events in relation to the reformation of the Church of the most high…” 1
“By the grace of the Almighty, the Great Monarch will annihilate heretics and unbelievers. He will have a great army and angels will fight at his side. He will be like the sun among the stars. His influence will spread over the whole earth. All in all, there will be twelve kings, one Emperor, one Pope and a few Princes. They will all lead holy lives…” 2
“A new order will then be founded by the Cruciferi
(cross bearers) because their members will have the cross on their banners.
This order will be composed of 3 groups: the first will be armed horsemen; the
second group priests and the third nurses. These knights of the cross
(crusaders) will convert mohamedans, heretics and fallen-away Christians to
Christ…” 3
“From your lordship (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…” 4
“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…” 5
“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... “ 6
“You and your consort desire to have children:
you shall have them. 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…” 7
“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 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…” 8
“God almighty shall exalt a very poor man
of the blood of Emperor Constantine, son of St. Helena, and of the seed of
Pepin, 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…”9
“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” 10
“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...” 11
“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 Mahoment 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 victorius founder shall triumph over the world,
the flesh and the Devil...” 12
“One of your posterity shall achieve
greater deeds and work greater wonders than your lordship. 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….” 13
“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 abscure 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 posession 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.” 14
References
1.
From the hand written letter of St Francis to Simeon Limena signed “Friar
Francis di Paulo” and dated 5th February 1482 as quoted by by
Desmond A. Birch Trial Tribulation and Triumph: Before, During and After
Antichrist, (Queenship Publishing. 1996) p
268
2. Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy (Tan
Books and Publishers 1970) p 38
3. Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on In
Apoc 17,7 as quoted by Desmond A. Birch Trial Tribulation and Triumph:
Before, During and After Antichrist, (Queenship Publishing. 1996) p 412-413
4. Rev R. Gerald.
Culleton The Prophets and Our Times (Tan books and Publishers 1941) p157
5. ibid p 158
6. ibid p158-159
7. ibid p 159
8. ibid
9. ibid
10. ibid p 159-160
11. ibid p 160
12. ibid p 160-161
13. ibid p 161-162
14. ibid 162