424 FRANCIS OF PAULA FRANCIS DE SALES He arrived only to witness the failure of the Christian army, but he was gratified in his desire for an interview with the Saracen chief, and was permitted to testify in presence of the infidels concerning Christ and the Chris- tian faith. On the occasion of the formal ap- probation of his order in 1223, he preached a sermon before the sacred college, which seems to have been the last of his important public performances. His failing health and growing blindness confined him more and more to that favorite seclusion of the hill of Alverno, on which a nobleman had built a church and con- vent for the Franciscan brethren. In this soli- tude he gave himself more ardently to prayer and religious exercises. His enthusiasm became rapture. His visions were multiplied. The Saviour and the saints seemed to appear, and the legend tells of the stigmata, the print of nails in the hands and feet, and of a wound in the side, corresponding to similar marks on the person of the Saviour, which Francis brought away with him from one of these interviews. It was even affirmed that blood continued to flow from his wounds ; and portions of this blood were long after exhibited for the rever- ence of the faithful. He was canonized July 16, 1228. The literary remains of St. Francis are neither numerous nor especially remark- able. They consist of letters, monastic con- ferences, parables, and poems in the Italian tongue. The best edition is that of 1641 (folio, Paris). The life of the saint has been many times written by brethren of the various branch- es into which his order has been divided ; by Thomas de Celano, his disciple; by St. Bo- naventura ; by Helyot; by Chalippe (4to, 1728, and 2 vols. 12mo, 1736); by Chavin (8vo, Paris, 1841) ; by Bohringer ; and by Frederic Morin (16mo, Paris, 1853). FRANCIS OF PAULA, Saint, founder of the order of Minims, born at Paula or Paola, Cala- bria, in 1416, died at Plessis-les-Tours, France, April 2, 1507. His family name has been va- riously given as Martorello, Martotillo, and Re- tortillo. Commines, who gives all the details of his stay in France, constantly calls him Frere Robert. This may have been his first name, to which that of Francis was added at a later date. He was devoted by his parents to St. Francis of Assisi, to whose intercession they ascribed his birth, after their marriage had been long childless. He was early placed in an unreformed convent of Franciscans in Calabria, where he surpassed all the monks in the strict observance of the rule. In 1428 he returned to Paula, resigned his right of inheri- tance, and retired to a grotto to lead the life of a hermit. He was hardly 20 years old when he found many followers, who built them- selves cells near his grotto. He received from the archbishop of Cosenza permission to build a church and convent, which were completed in 1436. From this year dates the establish- ment of the order of Minirns, which adopted the name of hermits of St. Francis. To the usual three monastic vows (poverty, chastity, obedience) St. Francis added as a fourth per' petual abstinence, not only from meat, but also from eggs and milk, except in sickness. He himself was still more ascetic. He slept on the bare ground, took no food before sunset, often contented himself with bread and water, and sometimes ate only every other day. The fame of miracles reported of him induced Pope Paul II. in 1469 to send his chamberlain to investigate the facts. The report was very favorable. Pope Sixtus IV. confirmed the new order, appointed the founder superior general, and permitted him to establish as many con- vents as he could. King Louis XL of France, attacked by a fatal disease, sent for him in the hope of being cured ; but Francis waited until, in 1482, the pope ordered him to go. He met the sick king in Tours, and exhorted him to leave the issue of his sickness to the will of God, and to prepare himself for death. The succes- sor of Louis, Charles VIIL, retained the saint in France, and consulted him in cases of con- science as well as in state affairs, and built for him two convents in France and one in Rome. Francis was canonized by Leo X. in 1519. FRANCIS DE SALES, a saint and bishop of the Roman Catholic church, born at the chateau de Sales, near Annecy, Savoy, Aug. 21, 1567, died in Lyons, Dec. 28, 1622. Both his parents were of noble birth. Francis, their eldest son, was sent successively to the college of Annecy, to the Jesuits' school in Paris, and to Padua, where he studied law, and at the age of 20 received the degree of Doctor of laws. His inclination, nevertheless, was toward the eccle- siastical life. He refused repeatedly the offered dignity of senator, and finally obtained his fa- ther's permission to accept the place of pro- vost in the cathedral at Geneva. On being ordained deacon, he gave the first proofs of his eloquence as a preacher. His earnest manner, and the spiritual elevation and beauty of his thought, gave him a powerful hold on his audi- ences. He was raised to the priesthood in 1593, and immediately gave himself up to the impulses of his zeal. He went on foot through the neighboring villages, visited the prisons, and became everywhere known as the friend of the sick and the poor. Accompanied by his cousin, Louis de Sales, he went on a mis- sion among the Protestants of the province of Chablais. All sorts of difficulties were thrown in his way, and nearly four years passed by without any considerable impression upon the masses. At last, however, conversions multi- plied ; new missionaries came to his aid, and in 1598 the Catholic religion was publicly re- stored and the reformed faith was suppressed throughout the province. Repeated conferen- ces were held with distinguished Protestant leaders, and the brilliant success of Francis in the argument with La Faye led the pope to select him to deal with Theodore Beza; but in this case he was not able to report a con- version. In 1599 he was chosen coadjutor to
