Welcome to INSPIRING LIVES, a series on the lives of Saints in the catholic
church from around the world. In this series we bring you those saints who are canonized
by Pope John Paul II. Saints are holy people who lived ordinary lives in extraordinary
ways. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her
unique gifts. These saints are examples of great holiness and virtue, and they invite
us to follow their paths to holiness. Their unique stories inspire us to be rooted
in our faith. God calls each one of us to be a saint. Today we shall listen to
the heroic life of St. Francis Anthony Fasani (1681-1742). He was a sought-after
confessor and preacher. One witness at the canonical hearings regarding Francesco’s
holiness testified, "In his preaching he spoke in a familiar way, filled as he was
with the love of God and neighbor; fired by the Spirit, he made use of the words and
deed of Holy Scripture, stirring his listeners and moving them to do penance." Francesco
showed himself a loyal friend of the poor, never hesitating to seek from benefactors
what was needed. He was canonized on 13th April 1986 in the St. Peter's
Square in Rome. xxx Francis was born in Lucera, Southeast Italy, on
6th August 1681, the son of Giuseppe Fasani and Isabella Della Monaca.
His parents gave him the name ‘Giovanniello’ at his baptism. They had the joy of seeing
their ‘Giovanniello’ grow up endowed with promising moral and intellectual gifts.
His life was directed toward God in a singular manner from his very infancy, thanks
to the Christian education received from his parents and to the workings of the grace
of a religious and priestly vocation upon his soul. Francis began his studies
at the Franciscan friary of the Friars Minor at Lucera. It was here that Giovanniello's
understanding of his vocation became clearer - a vocation to which he gave himself
totally. He entered the Order of Friars Minor and took the names of Saints Francis
and Anthony, thus expressing his fervent desire to follow their example by consecrating
himself to an evangelical and apostolic life. Professing his vows in 1696, the young
Friar Francis Anthony completed his liberal arts studies and followed with his philosophical
studies in the seminaries of his province. Thereafter, he began theological studies
in Agnone and continued them in the General Study Centre at Assisi near the tomb of
St. Francis. It was there that Francis Anthony was ordained to the priesthood in 1705
and there, too, that he completed his theological studies in 1707. His application
to studies, carried out with diligence and with a lively desire to assimilate the
salvific value of the mysteries of faith, made him ‘profound in philosophy and learned
in theology.’ The Venerable Antonio Lucci, bishop of Bovino, attested to this in the
canonical hearings investigating Fasani's holiness. Bishop Lucci was a fellow student
of his and imitated him in the exercise of religious virtue. xxx For
35 years, he lived at Lucera, always giving splendid witness to the gospel in life
and zealous pastoral ministry. The faithful of his neighborhood admired him for this
reason. Within his Franciscan Order, he was a respected teacher of scholastic philosophy
and a revered master of novices. He also made notable contributions to the spiritual
and doctrinal formation of his confreres. In 1709 he received a graduate degree in
theology and from then on Fr. Fasani was known to all as ‘Padre Maestro’ or Father
Master. He exercised the offices of local superior and minister provincial with charity
and wisdom, demonstrating that he was an effective animator of the religious life
of his brethren. Through an intense spiritual formation aided by enlightened spiritual
masters, Francis Anthony progressed in a life of union with God, patterning himself
on the Lord through religious consecration and the priestly charism. His spiritual
life was characterized by those virtues of St. Francis of Assissi. He imitated St.
Francis in building his religious life on the basis of a generous participation in
the mysteries of Christ through the most faithful practice of the evangelical counsels,
which he considered to be a radical expression of perfect charity. In fact, it was
said in Lucera: ‘Whoever wants to see how St. Francis looked while he was alive should
come to see Padre Maestro.’ Fr. Francis had fervent devotion to the Immaculate
Mother of the Lord and he made her known to others, while at the same time knowing
and making known the maternal role entrusted to her in the history of salvation. xxx The
priestly life of Father Anthony Fasani was a splendid testimony to fidelity and dedication
to the mission given to all priests in the Church. In exercising this evangelical
mission Fr. Fasani gave himself totally to such an extent that a witness could assert:
‘He allowed himself no rest in the salvation of souls.’ The ministry of preaching
the word of God assumed a special role in his pastoral life. He preached popular missions,
retreats, Lenten devotions and novenas almost constantly. He invited ‘all people to
conversion and holiness’ through a type of preaching based on the scriptures that
was well prepared and persuasive. It had the particular purpose, as one witness recalled,
‘of rooting out vices and sins and planting in their place goodness and the exercise
of virtue.’ Fr. Fasani dedicated himself with zeal-especially the administration
of the sacrament of Penance and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. ‘He heard the
confession of every type of person’, asserted a witness, ‘with the greatest patience
and kindness on his face’. He was charitable and welcoming to all, giving as his reason
the hope of being able one day to say to the Lord: ‘I was indulgent, I don't deny
it; but it was You who taught me to be so.’ The most holy Eucharist was the summit
of his religious life and wholly represented the goal toward which he ordered his
entire priestly ministry. In fact, he always considered the Eucharist ‘the source
and summit of evangelization,’. A fervent minister, Fr. Fasani celebrated the Eucharist
with an intense ardor that lifted and nourished his spirit while at the same time
it edified all the participants. Through his preaching he inculcated in the faithful
the love of the Eucharist, promoting even daily communion. xxx The
poor, the sick, and the imprisoned held a privileged place in his pastoral activities.
Motivated by his ideal of gospel charity, he loved to pray with the poor and for them.
Every day he personally distributed to the poor the alms of his religious community
and he often gave them gifts and special goods collected from benefactors. Often his
prayers obtained extraordinary interventions of divine Providence for the poor. He
visited and comforted the sick, exhorting them to seek reasons for hope and resignation
in the goodness of God. The spiritual care of the imprisoned, an apostolate given
to him by the Bishop of Lucera, permitted him to visit them daily and to exhort them
to trust in the merciful love of God. He was also given the responsibility of assisting
those condemned to death in their last moments. When Fr. Fasani was taken by his
final illness in 1742, he wanted to offer it to the Lord in a spirit of perfect joy,
saying ‘The Will of God: that is my Paradise.’ On 2nd November of the same
year, comforted by the holy sacraments and the protection of the Immaculate Virgin
Mary for which he prayed, Fr. Francis Anthony Fasani surrendered his soul to God.
At his death in Lucera, children ran through the streets and cried out, ‘The saint
is dead! The saint is dead!’ The fame of the sanctity that surrounded him spread
more after his death. Pope Pius XII, having approved two miracles attributed to the
intercession of Venerable Fasani, raised him to the honor of Blessed on 15 April 1951.
Pope John Paul II canonized him on 13 April 1986 in the St. Peter's Square in Rome. The
witnesses at the canonical proceedings for his holiness assure us that God rewarded
the apostolic zeal of Fr. Fasani with abundant fruits of conversion and a renewed
Christian life among the faithful. Eventually we become what we choose. The holiness
of Francesco Antonio Fasani resulted from his many small decisions to cooperate with
God’s grace. Today he invites us to do so.P.J. Joseph SJ