SAINT OF THE DAY
TUESDAY, 10 OCTOBER, 2023
SAINT FRANCIS BORGIA
PRIEST AND SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS
(28 October 1510 - 30 September 1572)
Francis Borgia was born on October 28, 1510 in Gandia, Valencia, Spain. He was the son of the Duke of Gandia. The great grandson, paternally, of Pope Alexander VI, the notorious Borgia Pope. Maternally, he was the great grandson of King Ferdinand of Aragon. Francis Borgia belonged to one of the most prominent families of the kingdom of Aragon, a family that gave the Church two popes.
Francis' grandmother joined her daughter in a convent of Poor Clares after the death of her husband. She held a pious influence in the court of the Borgia, to which Francis is indebted. It was with these two women (the mother and grandmother of Francis) that holiness penetrated into the scandalous lineage of the Borgia family.
Francis grew to be a pious young man, possessed of many natural gifts. He was a favorite at the court of Charles V. It is recounted that one day Francis passed through Alcalá, followed by his escort, and exchanged an emotional glance with a poor man being escorted to prison by the Inquisition. This man was Ignatius of Loyola, and at this moment Francis could not have had any idea what an important role this man would play in his destiny.
The following year, Francis married Eleanor de Castro, a Portuguese noblewoman, with whom he had eight children. On his father's death in 1543, he became the fourth Duke of Gandia. He was only thirty-three and lived a happy, peaceful life with his wife and children. But unlike so many other powerful nobles, Francis was a perfect Christian gentleman, a true man of God and his great joy was to receive Holy Communion often. This happy life ended when his beloved wife died in 1546.
As viscount and duke at the palace of Emperor Charles V, Francis stood in high honor. The sudden death of the beautiful Empress Isabella (May 1, 1539) and the sight of her disfigured face as her body was taken to Granada made him resolve to leave the world and serve the King of kings alone.
Francis did something that astonished all the nobles of Spain; he gave up his Dukedom to his son Charles. He sought admittance to the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Finally, in 1550, after settling his children and the affairs of his estate, he entered the Jesuits in Rome.
The news of the “Duke turned Jesuit” spread quickly. So many people came to his first Mass that they had to set up an altar outdoors. His Superior tested him by treating him in exactly the opposite way he had been used to all his forty-one years of life. He who had once been a Duke had to help the cook, carrying wood for the fire and sweeping the kitchen. When he served food to the priests and brothers, he had to kneel down in front of them all and beg them to forgive him for being so clumsy! Still he never once complained or grumbled. The only time he became angry was when anyone treated him with respect as if he was still a Duke.
Once a doctor who had to take care of a painful wound that Francis had gotten, said to him: "I am afraid, my lord, that I have to hurt your grace." The saint answered that he would not hurt him more than he was right then by calling him "my lord" and "your grace." It was not too long before the humble priest accomplished wonderful works for God's glory as he preached everywhere and advised many important people.
After doing wonders throughout his country he crossed into Portugal and surpassed himself there. In 1554 St. Ignatius made him commissary general of the Society of Jesus in Spain. He spread the Society of Jesus all over Spain and in Portugal. When he was made Superior General of the Jesuits, he sent missionaries all over the world and practically founded the Society in Spain establishing many houses and colleges.. Under his guidance, the Jesuits grew to be a very great help to the Church in many lands. He was crucial in dissolving the prejudices that his relative, Emperor Charles V, harbored against the Jesuits. He also assisted at the death of the dowager queen Juana, who had gone mad fifty years before, on the death of her husband. She died healed and at peace.
He also met St. Teresa of Avila, the great reformer of the Carmelite Order, and was the first to recognize her greatness. Back in Rome, St. Charles Borromeo, and Cardinal Ghislieri, later Pope Pius V. regularly attended his sermons.
At the death of Father Laynez, second general of the Jesuits, Francis was elected Father General of the Jesuit Order. Backed by St. Pius V who admired and trusted him, he was able to do great things for the Order in Rome and abroad. He built two churches, and at times using his personal influence to obtain acceptance of the Jesuits. He introduced so many reforms to the society of Jesus that he was considered in some ways to be its second founder. Francis was a man of contemplation and action in the fullest sense. He drew a lot of strength from the silence of his prayer.
Through his brother, Thomas, he sent a blessing to his children and grandchildren, and as their names were spoken to him, he prayed for each. In spite of such success, Francis Borgia remained completely humble.
Worn by the responsibilities of his post and a last trip throughout Europe in which he was publicly hailed as a saint, he returned to Rome on a littler. In 1571 Pius sent Borgia to Spain, Portugal, and France to strengthen the league against the Turks. He fell ill on the return journey and died shortly after reaching Rome on September 30, 1572. A selection of Borgia's letters was edited in Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu, S. Franciscus Borgia, 5 vol. (1894–1911).
His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. His images are found with St. Ignatius of Loyola in the centre, flanked by St. Francis Xavier on the left and St. Francis Borgia on the right.
St. Francis Borgia is one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Reformation. He was beatified on November 23, 1624, by Pope Urban VIII. He was canonized on June 20, 1670, by Pope Clement X. His feast day is on October 10.
PATRON: Against earthquakes; Portugal; Gandía; Rota, Marianas.
MAJOR SHRINE: Relics translated to Jesuit church in Madrid, 1901.
SYMBOL: Skull crowned with an emperor's diadem.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who art both the example and the reward of true humility: we beseech Thee that even as Thou didst make St. Francis of Borgia glorious by following Thee in despising earthly honors, so Thou wouldst suffer us also to become his companions alike in following Thee and in his glory. Who liveth and reigneth with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.