S. Francisci Borgiæ ConfessorisSt. Francis Borgia, Confessor

Lesson I

Lesson from the first book of Machabees

1 Mac 3:42-45

And Judas and his brethren saw that evils were multiplied, and that the armies approached to their borders: and they knew the orders the king had given to destroy the people and utterly abolish them. And they said every man to his neighbour: Let us raise up the low condition of our people, and let us fight for our people, and our sanctuary. And the assembly was gathered that they might be ready for battle: and that they might pray, and ask mercy and compassion. Now Jerusalem was not inhabited, but was like a desert: there was none of her children that went in or out: and the sanctuary was trodden down: and the children of strangers were in the castle, there was the habitation of the Gentiles: and joy was taken away from Jacob, and the pipe and harp ceased there.

Lesson II

1 Mac 3:46-53

And they assembled together, and came to Maspha over against Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of prayer heretofore in Israel. And they fasted that day, and put on haircloth, and put ashes upon their heads: and they rent their garments: And they laid open the books of the law, in which the Gentiles searched for the likeness of their idols: And they brought the priestly ornaments, and the firstfruits and tithes, and stirred up the Nazarites that had fulfilled their days: And they cried with a loud voice toward heaven, saying: What shall we do with these, and whither shall we carry them? For thy holies are trodden down, and are profaned, and thy priests are in mourning, and are brought low. And behold the nations are come together against us to destroy us: thou knowest what they intend against us. How shall we be able to stand before their face, unless thou, O God, help us?

Lesson III

1 Mac 3:54-60

Then they sounded with trumpets, and cried out with a loud voice. And after this Judas appointed captains over the people, over thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens. And he said to them that were building houses, or had betrothed wives, or were planting vineyards, or were fearful, that they should return every man to his house, according to the law. So they removed the camp, and pitched on the south side of Emmaus. And Judas said: Gird yourselves, and be valiant men, and be ready against the morning, that you may fight with these nations that are assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary. For it is better for us to die in battle, than to see the evils of our nation, and of the holies: Nevertheless as it shall be the will of God in heaven so be it done.

Lesson IV

Francis, fourth Duke of Gandia, was the son of John Borgia, Duke of Gandia, and of Joan of Aragon, daughter of Alphonso, natural son to Ferdinand V. surnamed the Catholic, King of Aragon. (He was born at Gandia, in the kingdom of Valencia, in the year of our Lord 1510.) He passed his boyhood at home in great innocence and godliness, and was still more remarkable for his Christian graces and the hardness of his living, at the Court of the Emperor Charles V., and as Vice-Roy of Catalonia. (On May the 1st, 1539) died the Empress Isabella, and Francis, (as her master of the horse,) was commanded to attend her body to Granada, where it was to be buried. (At Granada the coffin was opened, in order that he might swear to the magistrates of the city that it was indeed the body of the late Empress,) and the sight of the awful change which death had made in her countenance so thrilled him with the thought of our mortality and corruption, that he bound himself by vow, as soon as he lawfully might, to give up all things, and to serve the King of kings only. From that time he so advanced in Christian graces, that his life might be called the miracle of princes, showing, in the midst of a vast mass of business, an image of perfection attained in a cloister. greatly endeared him to Princes and Popes, and besides founding or enlarging very many houses in diverse places, he sent brethren into the kingdom of Poland, into the islands of the Ocean, and into the provinces of Mexico and Peru, and into other lands also Apostolic men who spread the Roman Catholic faith by their preaching, their sweat, and their blood.

Lesson V

His wife, Eleanora de Castro, died (on the 27th of March, 1546,) and (in 1551) he entered the Society of Jesus, that therein he might hide himself more safely, and bar by the obligation of a vow the path to dignities. He was the worthy leader of many princes who have embraced a life of hardship, and Charles V. himself when he resigned the Empire did not deny that he had been moved and shown the way by Francis. In his struggle after austerity Francis, by fasting, by iron chains, by the roughest of hair -cloth, by long and bloody flagellations, and by denying himself any but very little sleep, reduced his body to the last degree, but would still spare no toil to overcome himself and to save souls. Thus full of ghostly strength, he was appointed by holy Ignatius, ~(in the year 1554,) Commissary-General of the Society in Spain, Portugal, and the Indies, and (on the 2nd of July, 1565,) notwithstanding all the precautions he could take to prevent it, he was chosen by the general Congregation of the Society to be General, being the third who held that office. In this position his wisdom and holiness of life

Lesson VI

He thought so little of himself that he gave himself the nickname of Francis the sinner. By the Popes he was oftentimes offered the dignity of Cardinal of the Roman Church, but the lowly firmness with which he refused it could never be overcome. In his cheap esteem of the world and of himself his chief pleasures were to clean the house, to beg for food from door to door, and to wait upon the sick in hospitals. He spent many hours every day, oftentimes eight and sometimes ten, in prayer and meditation. An hundred times every day he worshipped God upon his knees. He never missed the opportunity of offering the Holy Liturgy, and the fire from God which burnt within him sometimes shone forth in his countenance when he was lifting the Sacred Host, or preaching. By an inward power given him from God he could tell where the most Holy Body of Christ, under the Eucharistic veils, was kept. (In 1570, the year before the victory of Lepanto,) the blessed Pius V. sent Francis with the Cardinal Alexandrini on an embassy (into France, Spain, and Portugal,) to unite the Christian Princes against Turkey. His vital strength was then nearly worn out, but, through obedience, he undertook the toil of the journey. He became much worse during the travelling, and on his return brought to a blessed end at Rome, as had been his desire, the pilgrimage of this life, (a little before midnight between the last day of September and the first of October,) in the sixty-second year of his own life, and that of salvation 1572. Holy Teresa, who used his advice, called him an holy man, and Gregory XIII., a faithful servant. He was famous for many and great signs and wonders, and Clement X. at last numbered him among the Saints.

Lesson VII

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

Matt 19:27-29

At that time, Peter said unto Jesus: Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee what shall we have therefore? And so on.

Homily by St. Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem.)

Bk. iii. on Matth xix.

Peter was a fisherman, he was not rich, he earned his bread by his hand and skill, and nevertheless he is thus bold, and saith confidently: We have forsaken all. And because it sufficeth not to forsake only, he addeth that which to do is to be perfect: and followed thee. We have done that which Thou hast commanded us, what reward therefore wilt Thou give us? And Jesus said unto them Amen I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. He said not, Ye which have forsaken all, for this did even Crates the philosopher, and they which have set nothing by riches are many, but, Ye which have followed Me. This did the Apostles, and this do believers do.

Lesson VIII

In the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, and when the dead shall rise again from corruption incorruptible, (i Cor. xv. 53,) ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones of judgment, condemning the twelve tribes of Israel, because, when ye believed in Me, they would not. (John iii. 18.) And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. This place agreeth well with that other where the Saviour saith I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. (Matth. x. 34.) Every one, therefore, that hath set no store by affection, and riches, and the pleasures of the world, for Christ's faith's sake, and the preaching of the Gospel, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Lesson IX

By reason of these words, an hundredfold, some will have that there shall be a thousand years after the resurrection, wherein they that have forsaken all things shall receive an hundredfold of those things which they have forsaken, and shall inherit everlasting life. Such men consider not that though in other things this were worthy, as touching wives it is unseemly for it becometh us not to think that he that hath forsaken one wife in this world, shall receive an hundred wives in that which is to come. But the meaning is this, that every one that for the Saviour's sake hath forsaken earthly things, shall receive spiritual things which things, being rightly weighed against earthly things, are as though an hundredfold were weighed against one.

Te Deum