#Charles Friar

[strawberry-selfships]

my bald (including partial balding if theres still a big slappable space) army:

george costanza, charles winchester iii, henry jones sr, father grigori, kryten, saru, king haggard, cad bane, snoke, palpatine, gluttony, art von delay, kronika, grant grant, dale horvath, hershel greene, otis laurey, friar tuck, boba fett, dr. coomer, davros, the vulture, aaaaand newest arrival terence fletcher

GO MY BALD ARMY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Heraldry is the pride of the noble, and the romance of the historian.

- Stephen Friar

Projection of the royal standard onto the Great Gate of Trinity College, Cambridge, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

King Charles III studied Archaeology and Anthropology for a year and then History for two years. While Trinity has a long association with the British royal family, the then Prince of Wales was unique in undertaking the same course of study as other undergraduates, graduating in 1970. The College, under the Master Lord Butler, was committed to making Prince Charles’ experience as normal a student life as possible. There were no special favours given or asked.

He joined the College orchestra, practising the cello in his rooms, played polo, including for the University, and learnt to fly. He was a natural on the stage and took part in several comic revues where he poked fun at fussy tropes of the university and also at himself. In many ways his time at Trinity was a refuge for the future king away from the public gaze and just be himself.

[the-queer-classic-lit-ship-ever]

completely forgot about my promise, so here you go

[tenth-sentence]

The padre said that the Christian Indians did not much like coming to mass, but that otherwise they showed respect for religion.

"Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, 1832-36" - Charles Darwin

[fiction-quotes]

M. Todgers's Commercial Boarding House was a house of that sort which is likely to be dark at any time; but that morning it was especially dark. There was an odd smell in the passage, as if the concentrated essence of all the dinners that had been cooked in the kitchen since the house was built, lingered at the top of the kitchen stairs to that hour, and, like the Black Friar in Don Juan, 'wouldn't be driven away.'  In particular, there was a sensation of cabbage; as if all the greens that had ever been boiled there, were evergreens, and flourished in immortal strength. The parlour was wainscoted, and communicated to strangers a magnetic and instinctive consciousness of rats and mice. The staircase was very gloomy and very broad, with balustrades so thick and heavy that they would have served for a bridge. In a sombre corner on the first landing, stood a gruff old giant of a clock, with a preposterous coronet of three brass balls on his head; whom few had ever seen – none ever looked in the face – and who seemed to continue his heavy tick for no other reason than to warn heedless people from running into him accidentally. It had not been papered or painted, hadn't Todgers's, within the memory of man. It was very black, begrimed, and mouldy. And, at the top of the staircase, was an old, disjoined, rickety, ill-favoured skylight, patched and mended in all kinds of ways, which looked distrustfully down at everything that passed below, and covered Todgers's up as if it were a sort of human cucumber-frame, and only people of a peculiar growth were reared there.

  —  Martin Chuzzlewit (Charles Dickens)

[randomnessandapologies]

You know what y’all I have three minutes and a lack of a will to do anything actually productive.

Here’s my proposal for Romeo and Juliet x Dead Boy Detectives

A few notes: tybalt is no longer a cousin to Juliet and instead a potential suitor

Romeo: Charles

Juliet: Edwin

Lord/Lady Capulet: Ethster

Lord/Lady Montage: Jenny

Nurse: Niko

Mercutio: Crystal

The Prince: the night nurse

Paris: Monty

Tybalt: the cat king

Friar Laurence: tragic mick

Apocothary: the lady that Niko talks to

The poison: Netflix cancelation

[princesssarisa]

Romeo and Juliet for the character ask

Favorite thing about them:

Romeo: His tenderness and passion, and the sheer poetry with which he expresses them. Also, the fact that he's allowed to be tender, emotional, and "unmasculine" (not that he's as "effeminate" as disdainful pop culture sometimes claims he is, but still...), yet the narrative doesn't condemn him for it, and it hasn't stopped him from becoming the most iconic young lover of all time.

Juliet: Her own tenderness and passion which match Romeo's beat for beat, combined with intelligence, eloquence, and wit not often seen in an ingenue. Also, the fact that Shakespeare lets her be passionate and sexual and rebel against her parents, yet never frames her as a "loose woman" or "unmaidenly" for it, but keeps her a fully sympathetic heroine.

Least favorite thing about them:

Romeo: The killing of Tybalt. Despite every argument that can be made to justify it… even if honor and friendship demand nothing less after Mercutio’s death… the fact remains that he kills his new bride’s beloved cousin, and all the rest of the tragedy stems from that act.

Juliet: The selfish aspect of her choice to fake her own death: that she does it even though it means putting her parents and the Nurse through unimaginable pain. Not that I have much sympathy for her parents after the way they treated her, and after being abused by them and then betrayed by the Nurse, I understand why Juliet isn’t too concerned about their feelings. But I might have liked her to be a little more torn for their sake.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I can be passionate and melodramatic.

*I love deeply and intensely.

*I'm an only child.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I've never held a sword or dagger.

*I have a good relationship with my parents.

*I've never been suicidal.

Favorite line: How to choose?! All the most famous quotes, and basically everything else they say to and about each other.

brOTP:

Romeo: Mercutio and Benvolio.

Juliet: The Nurse until her betrayal.

OTP: Each other.

nOTP: Their parents or Friar Laurence.

Random headcanon:

Romeo: He's only fifteen, or maybe even fourteen. Not that I object to portraying him as sixteen or seventeen, but I do object whenever someone thinks he's in his twenties. In Juliet's speech looking forward to consummating their marriage, she believes that he's a virgin like herself, and unless we're meant to see her as being painfully naïve, that belief makes more sense the younger he is.

Juliet: Her wit and cleverness are partly thanks to the influence of the Nurse's witty husband, who was a strong, affectionate presence in her life when he was alive. As for how willing and eager she is to consummate their marriage, rather than shy and nervous like other girls her age might be... well, apart from her sheer passion for Romeo, that's the influence of the Nurse.

Unpopular opinion: I wish more critics would take their suffering seriously and not just view it as typical "teen angst." By this I don't just mean haters, but critics who sympathize with them too. I'd like to see people view Romeo's mental health, and its neglect by his family and friends, as more of a real concern, rather than just labeling him (either disdainfully or affectionately) as a melodramatic, impulsive teenager. Ditto for Juliet's dysfunctional relationship with her parents and Romeo's lack of communication with his, rather than just saying "All teens fight with/rebel against/feel unable to confide in their parents." It takes more than that to drive two young people to suicide!

Song I associate with them:

Romeo:

"Ah! Léve-toi, soleil!" from Charles Gounod's opera Roméo et Juliette.

Juliet:

"Ah! Je veux vivre" from Gounod's opera.

Both:

Nino Rota's main theme from the Zeffirelli film (a.k.a. "What Is A Youth?" or "A Time For Us"):

Tchaikovsky's "Fantasy Overture":

And their various love duets from Gounod's opera.

Favorite picture of them:

The iconic painting by Frank Bernard Dicksee.

This painting by John Henry Frederick Bacon.

Their lifeless bodies in Frederic Leighton's painting of the final scene.

Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer in the 1936 film – too old, yes, but I have to honor them because they served as prototypes for Disney's Snow White and her Prince.

Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh, 1940.

John Stride and Judi Dench (yes, she was young once), 1960.

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey in the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli film.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film.

Adetomiwa Edun and Ellie Kendrick, Globe Theatre, 2009.

Orlando Bloom and Condola Rasheed, Broadway, 2014.

The Prince and Cinderella Richard Madden and Lily James, West End, 2016.

Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn in Prokofiev's ballet, 1966:

Some other images from Prokofiev's ballet:

From Ian Judge's LA Opera production of Gounod's opera: the opera has Romeo still alive when Juliet revives, so they die together, and Judge's staging features this poignant final tableau, where they feebly reach for each other's hands just before they expire.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @thevampiricnihal, @cto10121, @giuliettaluce

[scotianostra]

On July 3rd 1449 James II took formal control of his kingdom following his marriage to Marie of Guelders, niece of the Duke of Burgundy in Holyrood Abbey.

Marie, or Mary as she became known in Scotland had been earmarked to marry Charles, Count of Maine, but her father could not pay the dowry. Negotiations for a marriage to James II in July 1447 when a Burgundian envoy went to Scotland and were concluded in September 1448. Philip promised to pay Mary’s dowry, while Isabella paid for her trousseau. Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy settled a dowry of 60,000 crowns on his great-niece and Mary’s dower (given to a wife for her support in the event that she should become widowed) of 10,000 crowns was secured on lands in Strathearn, Athole, Methven, and Linlithgow.

William Crichton, Lord Chancellor of Scotland was sent to Burgundy to escort her back and they landed at Leith on June 18, 1449. Marie was 15 and James 19 when the two wed on July 3rd and immediately after the marriage ceremony, Mary was dressed in purple robes and crowned Queen of Scots. Consort by Abbot Patrick.

A sumptuous banquet was given, while the Scottish king gave her several presents. The Queen during her marriage was granted several castles and the income from many lands from James, which made her independently wealthy. In May 1454, she was present at the siege of Blackness Castle and when it resulted in the victory of the king, he gave it to her as a gift. She made several donations to charity, such as when she founded a hospital just outside Edinburgh for the indigent; and to religion, such as when she benefited the Franciscan friars in Scotland. The couple had six children, the oldest James, became James III.

James II died when a cannon exploded at Roxburgh Castle on August 3rd, 1460, before his death he had ordered another castle be built for his wife who was left to oversee it’s construction as a memorial to him, Ravenscraig was still being built when Marie moved into east tower. She also founded Trinity College Kirk in Edinburgh’s Old Town in his memory, she herself died and was buried there in 1483, the old Kirk was demolished, amid protests in 1833 and Marie was interred at Holyrood Abbey.

[tmarshconnors]

*A pastor who fails to deal with sin is like a doctor who fails to deal with illness. You better find another one."

Martin Luther OSA was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history. 

Nailed the 95 Theses: Martin Luther is best known for his 95 Theses, which he is said to have nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. This act is commonly considered the starting point of the Protestant Reformation, challenging the Catholic Church's practices, particularly the sale of indulgences.

Excommunicated and Outlawed: In 1521, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and declared an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms. Despite this, he continued to promote his reforms and translated the Bible into German, making it more accessible to the common people.

Translation of the Bible: Luther translated the Bible into German, starting with the New Testament in 1522 and completing the Old Testament in 1534. His translation played a significant role in shaping the German language and making the Scriptures accessible to a broader audience.

Theological Contributions: Luther's theology emphasized key doctrines such as justification by faith alone (sola fide), the authority of Scripture alone (sola scriptura), and the priesthood of all believers. These ideas were foundational to the development of Protestantism.

Lutheranism: Martin Luther’s teachings and reforms led to the establishment of the Lutheran Church, one of the major branches of Protestantism. His followers, known as Lutherans, continued to develop his theological insights and build upon his reforming work, influencing the course of Christian history.

[iamred-iamyellow]

so I’m gonna write a lestappen Romeo and Juliet fic after I finish the folklore love triangle andddd I wanna know who should be who

[gyspy-moon-rose]

Witchcraft The Beginnings.

Witchcraft. It is a very simple word with a deep meaning and history. The idea of witchcraft stretches over a long period of time and spreads throughout the world. The idea becomes known around 560 B.C. when the two Old Testaments condemn witches, until today. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were one of the most well-known witchcraft trials over the world. But many have also occurred before then. The idea originated in Europe and had traveled to the New World.

Witchcraft has been described as working with the Devil. If a person were a witch, that person would have made a pact with the Devil, and would be able to perform black magic. Scientists who study the witchcraft trials say the hysteria has to do with people’s idea about how everyday events can be explained. The events are explained in terms of a belief of witchcraft. People want order in their society and hate chaos. Anything like enemies and catastrophes make people feel they are not part of the natural order. Whatever threatens the order is considered witchcraft.

The two Old Testaments, Exodus and Leviticus, had first condemned witches around 560 B.C. with the quotes, “Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. ” and “Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.” The anonymous Jewish priest wrote them in present-day Iraq during the reign of Evil Merodach, a dark time of Jewish exile. The priest might have been assigned to write them by other priests and scribes.

Many arguments about witches follow 560 B.C. Each statement is contradicting the one before it, and many recent arguments are always accepted as the new and correct theory. For example, around 420 C.E., a church leader, St. Augustine, argued that demons and witches could not function under the face of God. This is accepted as the new orthodoxy of the Church. But in 1273, Thomas Aquinas argued that dangerous demons and witches are roaming the country.

Witch-hunts were popular and people felt it was a necessity to conduct the hunts. From the mid-1400s to the mid-1600s, witchcraft trials erupted, sending death rates up. From 50,000 to 80,000 people were executed throughout Europe. About eighty percent of those executed were women. The deaths per country varied, with a high of 26,000 in Germany to about 10,000 in France, 1,000 in England, and only four in Ireland. The Reformation divided Europe between Protestant regions and those loyal to the Pope, but Protestants also took witchcraft seriously.

Witch hysteria swept France in 1571 after Trois-Echelles, a defendant accused of witchcraft from the court of Charles IX, announced to the court that he had over 100,000 fellow witches roaming the country. Judges responding to the ensuing panic by eliminating those accused of witchcraft most of the protections that other defendants enjoyed.

Once in a while between the witch-hunts, many inspiring and frightening events happened. In 1453, and epidemic swept France and killed several children. The public had blamed the disease on black magic.

The people of France then took several suspects and tortured them harshly. The accusers tortured the suspects until five of them confessed of having caused the plague.

The witches were soon hanged.

Not long after, in 1484, Pope Innocent VIII declared that witches were meeting with the Devil and casting spells that destroyed crops and killing infants. He asked two friars, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, to publish a full report on witchcraft. The Malleus Maleficarum ("Hammer of Witches") was published in 1486. It relegated the old orthodoxy that said witches were powerless under the face of God.

The Malleus Maleficarum suggested that one way to determine a person a witch was to find a Devil’s Mark on their body, and to have the suspect brought to court walking backwards to minimize their chances to cast spells on officials.

In 1566, England executed its first witch, Agnes Waterhouse. She was a wrinkled old woman with a hunched back. She was thrown into jail, and suffered long days of fear and hunger, until she confessed to the evil deeds she was charged with. She had used a cat named Satan to conduct her evil work. Waterhouse had used the cat to kill the neighbor’s hogs, kill widow Goodday’s flock of geese and cow, and kill her own husband. She rewarded Satan by giving him blood to drink from her own face. Agnes Waterhouse was hanged immediately.

Less than thirty years later, King James was sailing with his wife, Princess Anne, from his honeymoon in Denmark when the ship experienced fierce storms and rough waves. The ship’s captain had convinced King James that witches were real when he blamed them for causing the horrible weather. When six Danish women confessed to having created the storms, King James began to take witchcraft seriously. When he arrived in Scotland, he burned many witches. This became the largest witch-hunt in British history.

The famous playwright, Shakespeare had written a play that was performed in 1606. The play was called Macbeth. In Macbeth, Macbeth encountered three witches. These three witches play important roles in the tragedy.

The largest witch-hunt in French history occurred from 1643-1645, but following the witch-hunt of France, trials in Europe start to decrease in the late 1640s. Soon Europe’s history of witchcraft faded away. In 1682, England executed its last witch, Temperance Lloyd.

What contributed to the end of witchcraft execution and hunts in Europe was the Enlightenment, beginning around the late 1680s. The Enlightenment brought reason, doubt, and humanitarianism. Each helped defeat superstitions. The Enlightenment said that there was no real evidence that there were witches that caused harm, and that the use of torture upon them to force out confessions was cruel.

The two Old Testaments, which had the quotes that the Jewish Priest wrote, had affected people of Europe because they influenced so many arguments of witches and God, and people were willing to believe the latest statement made about witches. When the two Old Testaments explained that witches were to be killed, St. Augustine argued that they were actually powerless under God. St. Augustine’s view was accepted, and many people did not worry. But later, the accused confessed on having witchcraft powers, and people in Europe believed them and started freaking out. They wanted eliminate any trace of evil in the area.

Europe was done with witch-hunts, but the history of witchcraft affected the Salem Witch Trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony area because the Puritans took the history, ideas, and beliefs of witchcraft with them to the New World. The Puritans thought they were safe, but when the afflicted girls started acting strangely, they thought it was witches that were tormenting them. They thought they were witches because they thought back in Europe they wiped out the witches, but the New World was full of unknown things. To the Puritans, any little strange behavior is strange, unusual, and not normal. Anything similar was considered bad, and because the Devil was associated with evil, he himself was involved in the hysterias.

The Puritans were afraid of the Devil because they believe the imaginary world of God and the Devil is as real as their visual world, them, and the Native Americans. The Puritans believe the Devil and the Native Americans are the same. The witchcraft idea comes from people’s religion, beliefs, and fears. The Puritans still had the ideas of witchcraft stuck in their heads.

This is why the idea of witchcraft still lives on today

Timeline:

c. 560 BC: The Bible condemns witches with two quotes.

c. 420: St. Augustine argues witchcraft is an impossibility.

1208: Satan becomes sinister following.

1273: Thomas Aquinas argues that dangerous demons exist.

Mid-1400s: Witchcraft trials erupt in Europe.

1453: An epidemic killed a few children in France. The public blamed it on black magic and tortured five people until they confessed. They were executed.

1484: Pope Innocent VIII and Malleus Maleficarum.

Early to mid-1500s: The Reformation sends death rates up after Trois-Echelles, an accused witch, announced that he had over 100,000 fellow witches roaming the country. Judges responding to the ensuing panic by eliminating those accused of witchcraft.

1566: England executes its first witch, Agnes Waterhouse.

1591: King James authorizes the torture of suspected witches in Scotland.

1606: Shakespeare's Macbeth performed with witches playing important roles.

1643-1645:The largest witch-hunt in French history occurred.

Late 1640s: The number of trials in France began to decrease.

1682: England executes its last witch, Temperance Lloyd.

January 1692–May 1693: Salem Witch Trials in the New World.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

5/3/2017: Meghan teases that Harry uses caviar pills to cure his male pattern baldness. “He” credits Meghan’s holistic wellness.

As opposed to his very obvious hair transplant which is why his hair is now balding in friar tuck pattern instead of balding like William. 

His hair transplant was done in 2016, but the proper results were seen in 2017. He transplanted hair to the front and corners of his hairline. 

************

Personally I don’t think Harry ever got a hair transplant. He’s balding in the same way that Charles did. The only difference is that Harry’s hair is thin and wiry (which gives it that bushy pubic style when it goes too long) and Charles’s hair is thicker. Also Charles has a better haircut for it and you can tell Harry is still in denial about it.

(William has the same balding that Edward does, imo.)

[wishesofeternity]

“Ecclesiastics were so common and employed in so many activities that their presence in espionage was inevitable. Edward IV used monks from Cerne and Abingdon to help locate Henry VI in 1465, and in 1492 a monk was one of two spies employed by Henry VII. Henry used priests to take his messages to Brittany in 1492 to contact Breton rebels and stir them against Charles VIII of France. And since he used them as spies and messengers he knew that they would be used against him. Thus he ordered his Deputy at Calais, Gilbert Talbot, to prevent the passage into England of one Robert Stewart, friar, from France. Real clerics engaged as spies form one half of the equation. The other is the adoption of clerical disguise. After Warbeck's defeat in 1497 one of his followers, an ex-household official of Edward IV disguised himself as a hermit and avoided capture for several weeks.·'" Bernard de Vignolles recounted how a Spanish astrologer, hired to help murder Henry VII, was to come to England disguised as a pilgrim on his way to the shrine of Compostella. 'He would come to England in the habit of a friar, and because (he) had lost two of his teeth he would procure two others of ivory, of the colour of his own.' The pretended pilgrimage was a boon to secret diplomacy. It was a ruse advised by Vegetius, repeated by Christine de Pisan and personally employed by Philippe de Commynes. The Scots sent negotiators to England under colour of a pilgrimage to Durham; and the Douglases negotiated with the English government while ostensibly on pilgrimage to Canterbury or Rome.”

- “Espionage and Intelligence from the Wars of the Roses to the Reformation”

[thiefpodcast]

The Friar • Episode 3 :: Poor-Fellows

Uthric, First Spear of the Poor-Fellows, learns of the theft of the relic Waergwengleom.

The Friar is a short, low-fantasy, original adventure. Put your headphones on and turn the volume up.

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Credits: Written and produced by Michael Schofield All voices performed by Charles Villard

Ambience by Tabletop Audio. Music by Allen Grey Sound design, foley by Michael Schofield

I can't do this without the support of the Fyrd*: our thegns, Trei Brundrett, and spear-throwers: Rebekah Monson, Laura Spears, Andy Piestner, Joshua Simpson, Kevin Wilson; and our free-peoples: the voice-actor Patrik Deraković-Rakas, Kaiya, the Warlock of Many Faces and creator of HER ODYSSEY, a single-player RPG about a wanderer trying to return home; Counterspell Culture; the artist Anton Prusov, and Okie Emuoyibo.

You can join the Fyrd for free and help me make more stories about the Aendhrin and the legacy of Caledoran at patreon.com/michaelschofield.

Asterisk: the supporters listed here are those at the time of the original publication of this episode.

[blade-liger-4ever]

I finished The Complete Sir Marrok, and I had this wacko-brilliant idea, at least in terms of a modern day (sort of) take on the tale:

The Complete Sir Marrok in the vein of The Dukes of Hazzard.

Just think about it.

Lady Irma could be some kind of witch from Appalachia, and Marrok could have his own land near the mountain range, and bonus points, he's the local sheriff! Heck, maybe he could even be a relative of some kind of high-class family, and therefore he's got enough ties to higher ups to pull some strings and get the people of his county good food, supplies, etc. It'd totally work!

And somehow or other, Irma gets to turn him into a wolf, though he'd likely have to be a red wolf - but hey, just make him bigger than normal. He'd still stand out to folks when he appears. A red wolf is a rare sight, and a big one even rarer.

Then Irma could be manipulating events, and she'd put in Prior Richard, who'd be our stand in for Boss Hog, as the mayor, while Morcar would be like some uber nasty invertion of Enos, trying to get Agnes (Daisy Duke) from Sir Simon (Uncle Jesse). That way, you could put in (maybe, I'm speaking crazy now) Bo and Luke Duke as the son of Sir Simon and one of them as Sir Roger, though maybe not so much Sir Roger. And you could still fit in Father John and the friars, though I got nothing on who could be standing in for them. All I do know is I'm picturing Jim Caviezel as Father John, and I keep having visions of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) as Marrok. Maybe Max Charles as his missing son Walter too (I will literally take them in live action or animation as this duo, modern day retelling or a straight up adaptation of the book. Please, I'm begging you, see my vision!)

Anybody else got ideas? Like Marrok's adventures as a red wolf who goes around the county saving people and searching for his son, who got sent out of state but returns as a young lawman?

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (April 2)

Catholics will remember St. Francis of Paola on April 2.

The saint founded a religious order at a young age and sought to revive the practices of the earliest monks during a period of corruption in the Church.

Francis was born in the Southern Italian region of Calabria on 27 March 1416. His parents, who maintained a strong devotion to St. Francis of Assisi, named their son after him.

The boy's father and mother had little in the way of wealth, but they passed on a rich spiritual heritage to their son, with the hope that he would imitate his namesake.

The young Francis showed signs of a remarkable spiritual life, following his parents' lead in accepting poverty as a path to holiness.

When his father placed him in the care of a group of Franciscan friars to be educated at the age of 13, Francis made a personal decision to live strictly according to the rule of their religious order.

After a year with the friars, Francis rejoined his parents as they made a pilgrimage to Assisi in Rome and the historic Franciscan church known as the Portiuncula.

When the family returned to their hometown of Paola, Francis – at the age of only 15 – asked his parents' permission to live as a hermit, in the manner of the earliest desert fathers such as St. Anthony of Egypt.

The young monk slept in a cave and ate what he could gather in the wild, along with occasional offerings of food from his friends in the town.

Within four years, two companions had joined him. The townspeople assisted in building three individual cells for the hermits, as well as a chapel where a priest would offer Mass.

With approval from the local archbishop, this small group continued to grow into a larger religious order, without compromising the young founder's insistence on penitential and primitive living conditions.

They were first known as the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi but later renamed the “Minimi” (or “Minims”), meaning “the least,” and signifying their commitment to humility.

Francis and his monks were notable not only for their austere lifestyle but also for their strict diet, which not only eliminated meat and fish, but also excluded eggs, dairy products, and other foods derived from animals.

Abstinence from meat and other animal products became a “fourth vow” of his religious order, along with the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Francis instituted the continual, year-round observance of this diet in an effort to revive the tradition of fasting during Lent, which many Roman Catholics had ceased to practice by the 15th century.

Ironically, Francis' pursuit of solitary communion with God attracted attention from a range of important figures, including several European kings and other nobility along with Popes and bishops.

Some of these men regarded Francis as a spiritual leader in a corrupt age, while others may have been more interested in his gifts of prophecy and miraculous healing.

Francis traveled to France at the request of Pope Sixtus IV, taking with him his nephew Nicholas, whom he had raised from the dead.

There, the notoriously power-hungry King Louis XI was approaching the point of death himself.

He hoped that Francis would perform a miracle and restore his health.

Francis told the king bluntly that he should not fear the end of his earthly life, but the loss of eternal life.

From that time, the hermit became a close spiritual adviser to the king.

He discussed the reality of death and eternity with him, and urged him to surrender his heart and soul to God before it was too late.

The king died in Francis' arms in 1483.

Louis XI's son and successor, Charles VIII, maintained the monk as a close adviser, in spiritual and even political affairs.

Nonetheless, Francis persisted in following the monastic rule he had developed while living in his hermitage outside of Paola.

He continued as superior general of the Minim Order and founded new monasteries in France.

Francis sensed that his death was approaching at the age of 91 and returned to living in complete solitude for three months to prepare himself.

When he emerged, he gathered a group of the Minim brothers and gave them final instructions for the future of the order.

He received Holy Communion for the last time and died on April 2, Good Friday of 1507.

He was beatified on 1 November 1518. Pope Leo X canonized him on 1 May 1519.

Although the Minim Order lost many of its monasteries in the 18th century during the French Revolution, it continues to exist, primarily in Italy.

Francis is said to have raised the dead; healed the sick and crippled; averted plagues; expelled demons; spoken prophetically to bishops, popes, and kings; and performed many other miracles.

He is the patron saint of Calabria, seafarers, boatmen, mariners, and naval officers.