Saint Francis Borgia
First Point
Nothing is more admirable than the humility of Saint Francis Borgia. In the world he had been a great lord in the court of the Spanish king. Then, having withdrawn from the world and having entered the Company of Jesus, he desired, to the extent he had been honored in the world, to be despised now that he had renounced the world. He considered himself and on all occasions treated himself as the least and most criminal of all people. This he showed particularly on one occasion when he had to sleep next to a priest of the Company, who all night long spit in his face. He did not complain but wiped his face each time with his handkerchief. Next morning, when this priest apologized for what had happened, Saint Francis told him that he could not have spit on a dirtier place. To act and to speak this way is to know how to join patience with humility and to carry both to the summit of perfection. This saint often said that he found no spot more appropriate for him than to place himself at the feet of Judas, but when he found Jesus Christ already there on the day of the Last Supper, he no longer knew where to place himself in order to be as low, he said, as he deserved. See how much this saint humbled himself and to what extent he despised himself. You had, perhaps, a quite lowly place in the world, and yet do you not fear and avoid experiences of contempt more than this saint desired, sought, and ardently loved them? At least be strong enough to accept and to bear them willingly when you encounter some occasion of being humbled.
Second Point
In the world this saint had been immensely wealthy, yet he made himself poor, very poor, for the love of God once he had quit the world. He kept nothing of all his wealth on quitting the world, and after he became a religious, he never handled gold or silver coins, so that he entirely forgot their value. His bed, his clothes, his way of life, and his room were all characterized by great poverty. This saint took pleasure in practicing this virtue; it seemed that the more he felt the rigors of poverty, the happier he was, because he knew that Jesus Christ had given us the example of this virtue and had practiced it to the highest degree from his birth. For this reason, he felt that it was only right that those who wish to join Jesus most closely and who had the honor of belonging to his Company ought to share in a perfect manner the love and practice he had for this virtue, which he desired to be the inseparable companion of his disciples. This was also what this saint required of all the members of his Company when he was their General. He even wished that all the houses of professed members who belonged to the Company would have no other foundation than poverty. Is this the sort of foundation on which you desire your community to be built? It is a sure and unfailing foundation for those whose faith is true and who are interiorly inspired by the Spirit of our Lord. You cannot do better than to base your fortune on this foundation; it is the one that Jesus Christ thought to be most solid and on which the holy Apostles began to build the edifice of the Church.
Third Point
What greatly helped this saint to give himself entirely to God is that even while he was still in the world, he loved to mortify himself so much that when he was obliged to appear at court functions or to attend some entertainment, he wore a hair shirt underneath his clothes in order to be able to control himself in the dangerous occasions so frequently found in such assemblies. When he went on a journey, the baggage he guarded most preciously was the one containing his instruments of penance, such as his different hair shirts and his disciplines. He liked everything that made him uncomfortable, and he was glad to be baked by the heat of the sun in summer and chilled by the cold in winter. The most disagreeable seasons were the most pleasing to him. When he suffered great sorrows, he was joyful, and he showed no one more gratitude than the ones who persecuted him, because he considered himself very blessed1 in persecution, according to the spirit of the Gospel. He even claimed that he would be very sorry at the hour of his death if he had spent a single day without suffering for the love of Jesus Christ.We are truly Christian only insofar as we are like our Savior, and it is a love for suffering and mortification that makes us resemble him.Learn, like this saint, to spend no day without mortification through a spirit of religion in order to give witness to the one you profess.
Historical Context
Francis Borgia (1510–1572) was born in Gandia, Spain, of a noble, wealthy family. He married at age 19 and had eight children. He became Duke of Gandia when his father died in 1543. Gradually, he was attracted to the Jesuits, and after his wife died in 1546, he asked Saint Ignatius to accept him into the new order and joined with the Emperor’s permission in 1551. He became the third General Superior of the order, in 1565. He was canonized in 1671, when De La Salle was 20 years old. The feast is not celebrated in the current liturgical calendar.
Scripture Citation
- Mt 5:11