Saint Francis Borgia, Confessor
S. Francisci Borgiae Confessoris
Saint Francis Borgia, a Spanish duke and counsellor of princes, renounced his honours to enter the Society of Jesus, which he governed as its General, and is honoured for his humility and his zeal for souls.
Saint Francis Borgia was born in 1510 at Gandía, in the kingdom of Valencia, of one of the great houses of Spain. Raised to high station, he served at the imperial court, was honoured with the confidence of the Emperor, and in time succeeded to his father’s dukedom. He married, and was the father of a large family; and to all appearances his life was set upon a course of worldly greatness, in which he conducted himself with piety and uprightness.
The turning of his heart
It is related that the decisive turning of Saint Francis’s heart came when he was charged with accompanying the body of the Empress Isabella, whom he had known in her beauty and majesty, to her burial — and beheld how death had changed her. Struck to the soul by the vanity of earthly glory, he resolved to give himself henceforth to a Master who could not be lost. While yet in the world he ordered his life more and more by prayer and penance and the service of God; and when his wife had died and his children were provided for, he renounced his duke’s estate and entered the Society of Jesus, then newly founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
That a grandee of Spain should lay aside his rank to become a simple religious astonished his age and edified the Church. Saint Francis embraced the humble and hidden life with sincerity, glad to be lowly where once he had been exalted, and seeking only to serve. Yet his gifts of prudence and government could not remain hidden; he was set over the affairs of his Order in Spain, laboured in preaching and in the care of souls, and founded colleges and houses for the work of the Society.
General of the Society of Jesus
In time Saint Francis was chosen General of the Society of Jesus, the third to hold that charge, and he governed the growing Order with wisdom, humility, and zeal. Under his guidance the Society spread and was strengthened in many lands, and missions were sent to distant peoples; for which labours he is sometimes called a second founder of his Order. He bore the burdens of office without losing the spirit of prayer and self-abasement that he had embraced, and was untiring in promoting the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Worn out by his journeys and his labours in the service of the Church, Saint Francis Borgia died at Rome on the thirtieth of September, 1572, and was in time canonised. His feast is kept on the tenth of October. In him the Church honours a great lord of the world who counted all his honours as nothing for the love of Christ, and who found true greatness in humility and in the service of God.
The Collect
O Lord Jesus Christ, the pattern and reward of true humility: we beseech thee that, as thou didst make blessed Francis a glorious follower of thyself in the contempt of worldly honour, so thou wouldst grant unto us to be partakers of the same imitation and glory.
Dómine Iesu Christe, veræ humilitátis et exemplar et præmium: quæsumus; ut, sicut beátum Francíscum, terréni honoris contemptórem, gloriosum tui imitatórem effecísti, ita nos eiusdem imitatiónis et glóriæ tríbuas esse consórtes.
Patronage
He is venerated among the saints of the Society of Jesus and is honoured as an example of humility for those of high station; he is invoked against the disordered love of earthly honours.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar he is no longer kept on the universal calendar; his memory continues to be observed within the Society of Jesus on 3 October.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Francis Borgia?
His feast is kept on 10 October in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast.
Who was Saint Francis Borgia?
He was a sixteenth-century Spanish nobleman, Duke of Gandía and a counsellor of princes, who renounced his rank to enter the Society of Jesus after the death of his wife. He became the third General of the Order, did much to spread and strengthen it, and died at Rome in 1572. He is honoured for his humility and zeal.
Why did Saint Francis Borgia give up his dukedom?
Moved by the sight of how death had altered the once-beautiful Empress Isabella, whose body he accompanied to burial, he was struck by the vanity of earthly glory and resolved to serve God alone. When his wife had died and his children were provided for, he laid aside his dukedom and entered the Society of Jesus as a humble religious.
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