In light of today being Father’s Day, we honor all Secular Franciscans over the centuries who have been fathers. Some of those Secular Franciscan fathers have also been recognized by the Catholic Church as Saints and Blesseds. Among those are Saint. Ferdinand III of Castile, Saint Thomas More (whose feast day is this Tuesday). Saint Louis IX (a Patron of the Secular Franciscan Order), and Saint Louis Martin (the father of Saint Therese of Lisieux).
Ferdinand and his first wife Beatrice had 10 children. When she died, he married again and he and his second wife Jane had three children. As a king, he was a great administrator and a man of deep faith, with a strong devotion to Mary. He founded hospitals, and bishoprics, monasteries, churches and cathedrals during his reign. Her also compiled and reformed a code of laws which were used until the modern era. Ferdinand fought to free parts of Spain from the Moors, and rebuilt the Cathedral of Burgos and changed the mosque in Seville into a Cathedral. He was a just ruler, frequently pardoning former offenders to his throne.
More is famous for his support of the Catholic Church and his refusal to accept Henry VIII’s break with the Church – for which More was later executed, becoming a martyr.
But long before his death, he was a man of deep faith. Early in life he considered a religious vocation, but chose instead to marry and become a Secular Franciscan. He and his first wife had four children, and family life included daily prayer, and, unusual for the time, education for his daughters.
While imprisoned shortly before his death, More wrote a letter to his daughter Margaret, concluding it with, “And, therefore, my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills. And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.”
King Louis IX is a Patron of the Secular Franciscan Order. He and his wife Margaret had 11 children. He reformed the legal system in France, and was a leader in two Crusades, the Seventh and the Eighth, dying of disease during the latter.
King Louis was noted for his holiness, He was also known for his charity. Beggars were fed from his table, he ate their leavings, washed their feet, ministered to the wants of the lepers, and daily fed over one hundred poor. He founded many hospitals, a home for reformed prostitutes; a home for blind men, and supported the construction of a number of churches.
In a famous letter he reportedly wrote to his son, the future King Philip III, he said “…the first thing I advise is that you fix your whole heart upon God, and love Him with all your strength, for without this no one can be saved or be of any worth.
You should, with all your strength, shun everything which you believe to be displeasing to Him. And you ought especially to be resolved not to commit mortal sin, no matter what may happen and should permit all your limbs to be hewn off, and suffer every manner of torment, rather than fall knowingly into mortal sin.
If our Lord send you any adversity, whether illness or other in good patience, and thank Him for it, thing, you should receive it in good patience and be thankful for it, for you ought to believe that He will cause everything to turn out for your good; …”
Louis Martin and his wife and fellow saint Zelie Martin had nine children, five of whom lived to adulthood and became women religious – including Saint Therese of Lisieux.
Both Louis and Zelie were drawn to religious life, but were frustrated in their attempts, and instead met and married. The two Secular Franciscans created a family life rooted in faith – as evidence by their daughters all entering religious life. They never worked on Sunday. They carried out various works of mercy, and were generous with time and money towards the poor in the community. They always prayed for the souls of those who had died, and went out of their way to help dying people receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and Last Rites. They followed the Church’s guidelines of fasting and abstinence, supplementing them with further voluntary mortifications. As a couple, they attended 5:30 a.m. daily Mass. Saint Louis was very devoted to making pilgrimages and participating in all-night vigils in reparation for the loss of the Catholic faith in France at his time.
Saints Ferdinand, Thomas, King Louis, Louis Martin, and all Secular Franciscan father saints, pray for us.
