Franciscan saints and other holy people you should know
St. Francis of Assisi might be the first name that comes to mind when you think of a Franciscan saint or holy person. St. Clare and St. Anthony of Padua probably aren’t far behind.
But over the centuries, countless people have followed Jesus in the footsteps of St. Francis and St. Clare. They have been teachers and missionaries, mystics and caregivers, kings and queens, and regular people who made the extraordinary choice to answer God’s call to serve the poor and the marginalized. Their lives were very different, but each found a way to live the Gospel and share their gifts with others through prayer, fraternity and service. Their example can inspire us to do the same today.
The reflections below are adapted from “Day by Day with Followers of Francis and Clare” by Br. Pat McCloskey, OFM. Not everyone included has been canonized or beatified. What they share is a Franciscan spirit and an example that can encourage us to care for one another, serve people on the margins and build a world that shows greater respect for God’s creation.
St. Francis of Assisi
Born: 1181/2
Died: 1226
Canonized: July 16, 1228
Feast day: Oct. 4
Who is St. Francis?
St. Francis of Assisi was one of the world's first great ecologists, composing the Canticle of the Creatures, seeing all things as reflecting their Creator. The Poor Man of Assisi urged forgiveness among all people. His hometown daily welcomes thousands of people of all religions and none—all inspired by his peacemaking and respect for all people. In 1979, St. John Paul II declared St. Francis the patron saint of ecology.
St. Clare of Assisi
Born: July 16, 1194
Died: Aug. 11, 1253
Canonized: Sept. 26, 1255
Feast day: Aug. 11
Who is St. Clare?
Born into a noble family and greatly influenced by St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare set in motion a religious revolution by establishing at nearby San Damiano a monastery of nuns from all classes of society. They refused dowries and lived by the work of their hands and begging if necessary. Soon other monasteries of women followed their example of prayer and austere living. She was canonized two years after her death. St. Clare is the patron saint of television and protection from eye disorders.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Born: 1207
Died: Nov. 17, 1231
Canonized: 1235
Feast day: Nov. 17
Who is St. Elizabeth of Hungary?
By the age of 24, St. Elizabeth was a wife, mother of four children, widow, and a generous friend of the poor, especially those who were sick. After Louis, her husband, died on crusade, her in-laws made life very difficult for Elizabeth and their children. Refusing to be consumed by resentment, she instead built a hospital. She is a co-patron of the Secular Franciscan Order.
St. Louis IX of France
Born: April 25, 1214
Died: Aug. 25, 1270
Canonized: 1297
Feast day: Aug. 25
Who is St. Louis IX of France?
St. Louis went on crusade twice, dying on his second one. As a king he was very concerned about ensuring justice for all his people. A friend of Sts. Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas, he and his wife taught their 11 children to live out their baptism with great generosity. He is a co-patron of the Secular Franciscan Order.
St. Agnes of Bohemia
Born: Jan. 20, 1211
Died: March 2, 1282
Canonized: Nov. 12, 1989
Feast day: March 2
Who is St. Agnes of Bohemia?
Daughter of one king and sister of another, Agnes declined two marriage proposals by kings in favor of the monastic life. St. Clare of Assisi wrote her four letters and sent five nuns for Prague's new monastery that Agnes financed. As a cloistered nun, she was very active in helping poor women and men.
Blessed Angela Salawa
Born: Sept. 9, 1881
Died: March 12, 1922
Beatified: Aug. 13, 1991
Feast day: March 12
Who is Blessed Angela Salawa?
As a young woman, Angela moved to Krakow, became a domestic worker, and joined the Secular Franciscan Order. She ministered to World War I veterans, regardless of their nationality. At her 1991 beatification, St. John Paul II said: “It was in this city that she worked, that she suffered, and her holiness came to maturity. While connected to the spirituality of St. Francis, she showed an extraordinary responsiveness to the action of the Holy Spirit.”
St. Anthony of Padua
Born: Aug. 15, 1195
Died: June 13, 1231
Canonized: May 30, 1232
Feast day: June 13
Who is St. Anthony of Padua?
Born in Portugal, Fernando entered the Augustinians and later became a Friar Minor, hoping to spread the Gospel in Morocco. After sickness prevented that, Anthony taught theology for a short time, preached very effectively in southern France, and for three years led the friars in southern France. He later served as provincial minister in northern Italy. Anthony is linked to finding lost objects and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1946. Many educational, charitable, and environmental initiatives are under his patronage.
Mother Alfred Moes
Born: Oct. 28, 1828
Died: Dec. 18, 1899
Who was Mother Alfred Moes?
Born in Luxemburg, Mother Alfred had already joined three religious communities before she founded one in Joliet, Illinois. She was a force of nature who worked with Dr. William Worall Mayo and his two doctor-sons (all Protestants) to found St. Mary Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. It became part of the world-famous Mayo Clinic that now has satellite facilities in Arizona and Florida. She died as a member of her fifth religious community.
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Mother Alexia Hoell
Born: 1838
Died: 1918
Who was Mother Alexia Hoell?
Bemma joined a group of Franciscan Sisters in Germany. The anti-Catholic Kulturkampf prompted her and two other sisters to emigrate to Campbellsport, Wisconsin to staff the parish school and open an academy for young women. In time, she and Mother Alfons established the School Sisters of St. Francis, who taught and ran hospitals. Mother Alfons said that Mother Alexia had “an extraordinary, lively, deeply social perception.”
St. Bonaventure
Born: 1221
Died: July 15, 1274
Canonized: April 14, 1482
Feast day: July 15
Who is St. Bonaventure?
Born in Italy but educated at the University of Paris, Bonaventure was a contemporary of St. Thomas Aquinas. After entering the Order of Friars Minor, he taught for a short time before serving as the Order's minister general between 1257 and 1273. Like St. Francis, Bonaventure saw all creation as a ladder leading people back to their Creator. His most famous book is The Soul's Journey to God. He was canonized in 1482 and later declared a Doctor of the Church.
St. Elizabeth of Portugal
Born: Jan. 4, 1271
Died: July 4, 1336
Canonized: June 24, 1625
Feast day: July 4
Who is St. Elizabeth of Portugal?
The daughter of one king and the wife of another, Elizabeth was related to St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Like her relative, Elizabeth was a tireless peacemaker within her contentious family. She prayed for Denis, her unfaithful husband who eventually asked pardon of God and her. She established orphanages and arranged marriage dowries for poor young women.
St. Elzéar and Blessed Delphina (1285-1323; 1283-1358)
St. Elzéar’s birthdate: 1285
St. Elzéar’s date of death: Sept. 27, 1323
Blessed Delphina’s birthdate: 1284
Blessed Delphina’s date of death: 1358
Feast day: Sept. 26
Who are St. Elzéar and Blessed Delphina?
Elzéar and Delphina are perhaps the only Secular Franciscan couple who are formally canonized or beatified. Elzéar came from a noble family in southern France. After he married Delphina, they very generously assisted poor people. Theirs was a very Catholic household. For 35 years as a widow, Delphina continued their corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Elzéar was canonized in 1369, and Delphina was beatified in 1694.
Blessed Frédéric Janssone
Born: Nov. 19, 1838
Died: Aug. 4, 1916
Beatified: Sept. 25, 1988
Feast day: Aug. 5
Who is Blessed Frédéric Janssone?
Frédéric worked as a traveling salesperson in France to support his widowed mother. After his priestly ordination in 1870, he served as a military chaplain. Once he joined the Friars Minor, he served 11 years in the Holy Land during two assignments. Sent to Canada in 1881, he made his headquarters at the Shrine of Our Lady at Cap-de-Madeleine near Trois-Rivières. He preached parish missions, ministered to a Poor Clare monastery, and promoted the Secular Franciscan Order. He was beatified in 1988.
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853)
Born: April 23, 1813
Died: Sept. 8, 1853
Beatified: Aug. 22, 1997
Feast day: Sept. 9
Who is Blessed Frédéric Ozanam?
As a law student at the Sorbonne in Paris, Frédéric once extolled Christianity's contributions to civilization. A fellow discussion club member then asked: “Let us be frank, Mr. Ozanam; let us also be very particular. What do you do beside talk about the faith that you claim is in you?” Stung by that question, Frédéric founded the St. Vincent de Paul Society, now very active worldwide. He was beatified in Paris by Pope Benedict XVI during the 1997 World Youth Day.
Mother Ignatius Hayes
Born: 1823
Died: May 6, 1894
Who was Mother Ignatius Hayes?
The daughter of an Anglican clergyman in England, Elizabeth became a Roman Catholic under the influence of the Oxford Movement. Seeking to establish a religious community, she came to Belle Prairie, Minnesota and initially worked with children of Canadian settlers. Eventually her group became three communities: Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (Little Falls, Minnesota), Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (Rock Island, Illinois), and Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception with headquarters in Rome.
Brothers John McMahon and Vincent Hayes
Who were Brothers John McMahon and Vincent Hayes?
Originally members of the Franciscan Brothers of Ireland, John and Vincent came to the U.S. in 1847 and opened a boys' school in Pittsburgh. Eleven years later at the invitation of Bishop John Loughlin, they opened St. Francis College (now University) in Brooklyn and founded the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, currently the largest congregation of Religious Brothers founded in this country. They expanded their educational and pastoral ministry.
Fr. John Patrick Doyle
Born: 1874
Died: 1952
Who was Fr. John Patrick Doyle?
Born in Ireland, Fr. John came to the U.S. and graduated from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. As a diocesan priest he taught there and served as chaplain for the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn. After joining the Third Order Regular Friars in Loretto, Pennsylvania, he later served as president of St. Francis College (now University) there. One of his favorite sayings was, “Coraggio, il diavolo è morto” (Have courage. The devil is dead.)
St. Junipero Serra
Born: Nov. 24, 1713
Died: Aug. 28, 1784
Canonized: Sept. 23, 2015
Feast day: July 1 in the United States; Aug. 28 everywhere else
Who is St. Junipero Serra?
After a very successful career teaching philosophy in Majorca, in 1750 St. Junipero Serra joined Mexico's San Fernando Missionary College and served in its missions in Sierra Gorde and on the Baja peninsula. In 1769, he founded Mission San Diego in what is now U.S. California, the first of eight missions he would establish there. Another 13 were set up by his successors. He is buried at Mission San Carlos (Carmel) and in 2015 was canonized in Washington, D.C., the first canonization on U.S. soil.
Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna
Luchesio’s birthdate: Circa 1180
Buonadonna’s birthdate: Unrecorded
Died: April 28, 1260
Feast day: April 28
Who are Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna?
Blessed Luchesio, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Buonadonna, met St. Francis of Assisi in Poggio Bustone, probably in 1213. Their desire to live the Gospel radically influenced Francis to establish the Secular Franciscan Order for singles and for married couples. This couple soon became well known for generously assisting poor people. They died on the same day in 1280.
Mother Maddalena Bentivoglio
Born: July 31, 1834
Died: Aug. 18, 1905
Who is Mother Maddalena Bentivoglio?
After nine years as a Poor Clare in Rome, Maddalena and her older sister Costanza came to the United States to establish a Poor Clare monastery. After unsuccessful attempts in New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Cincinnati, they founded one in Omaha. Louis Lavelle wrote: “It is courage that makes the saint, and courage is no more than confidence in grace that comes from on high and is always available though we do not open our hearts to it” (Four Saints).
St. Marianne of Moloka’i (St. Marianne Cope)
Born: Jan. 23, 1838
Died: Aug. 9, 1918
Canonized: Oct. 21, 2012
Feast day: Jan. 23
Who is St. Marianne of Molokai?
After a very successful career as a teacher and hospital administrator, Marianne was leading her community in Syracuse, New York when the Hawaiian government sought help in serving women afflicted with leprosy. She and six sisters went to Hawaii in 1883. Five years later she joined St. Damien de Veuster's ministry on the island of Molokai, where she died.
Blessed Mary Angela Truskowska
Born: May 16, 1825
Died: Oct. 10, 1898
Beatified: April 18, 1993
Feast day: Oct. 10
Who is Blessed Mary Angela Truskowska?
Praying in Warsaw before a statue of St. Felix of Cantalice, Angela and her companions soon became known as Felician Sisters, dedicated to assisting orphans, those with disabilities, and homeless people. Many sisters became educators at all levels. Felician Sisters came to Wisconsin in 1874 and soon flourished. Mother Angela was beatified in 1993.
Mother Mary Francis Bachmann
Born: Nov. 14, 1824
Died: June 30, 1863
Who is Mother Mary Francis Bachmann?
An immigrant from Bavaria, Maria Anna married and had two daughters and two sons. After her husband died and she had provided for her children, she and her sister-in-law founded the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia to teach and run hospitals. Local bishops encouraged the formation of diocesan communities from the Philadelphia-based one. Mother Francis often said: “My confidence in God is very great, and all my hopes are centered on Him in whose service we are engaged.”
Blessed Mary Frances Schervier
Born: Jan. 3, 1819
Died: Dec. 14, 1876
Beatified: April 28, 1974
Feast day: Dec. 15
Who is Blessed Mary Frances Schervier?
Born in France, Mary Frances founded the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. They initially nursed people at home and later in hospitals and homes for the aged; some members later became teachers. She visited the U.S. in 1863; her sisters nursed soldiers during the Civil War. She was beatified in 1974.
Venerable Matt Talbot
Born: May 2, 1856
Died: June 7, 1925
Who is Venerable Matt Talbot?
Born in Dublin, between the ages of 15 and 30, Matt was heavily addicted to alcohol. One day he took “the pledge” to quit drinking, joined the Secular Franciscan Order, and began attending daily Mass. His first seven years of sobriety were especially difficult. Matt Talbot retreats today have helped thousands of men and women maintain their sobriety, always a daily decision. St. Paul VI declared him Venerable in 1973.
St. Maximilian Kolbe
Born: Jan. 8, 1894
Died: Aug. 14, 1941
Canonized: Oct. 10, 1982
Feast day: Aug. 14
Who is St. Maximilian Kolbe?
The Polish-born Raymond joined the Conventual Franciscans and studied in Rome where he was ordained and founded the Knights of Mary Immaculate. He established a City of the Immaculate in Nagasaki, Japan and another near Warsaw. The Nazis shut down his Polish foundation that had grown tremendously. Sent to Auschwitz in May 1941, Maximilian volunteered three months later to take the place of Franciszek Gajowniczek, a prisoner condemned to death in retaliation for another prisoner who had escaped. When Maximilian was canonized in 1982, Franciszek was there.
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Born: May 25, 1887
Died: Sept. 23, 1968
Canonized: June 16, 2002
Feast day: Sept. 23
Who was St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina?
This Capuchin was ordained a priest in 1910 and later drafted during World War I. Tuberculosis caused his discharge and assignment to San Giovanni Rotondo near Bari. He received Christ's stigmata and thereafter served mostly as a confessor. He once said: “The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the cost of suffering.” He was canonized in 1999.
St. Peter of Alcántara
Born: 1499
Died: Oct. 18, 1562
Canonized: April 28, 1669
Feast day: Oct. 19
Who is St. Peter of Alcántara?
After studying at the University of Salamanca, this nobleman established a very ascetic reform group within the Friars Minor. Most of the first friars serving in the New World were Alcantarines, many of them from Extremadura in southern Spain. This former spiritual director of St. Teresa of Avila was canonized in 1669.
Blessed Solanus Casey
Born: Nov. 25, 1870
Died: July 31, 1957
Beatified: Nov. 18, 2017
Feast day: July 30
Who is Blessed Solanus Casey?
This Capuchin priest spent much of his life as porter at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit. Although not allowed to preach formally, his compassion and short exhortations soon made him famous. A Capuchin confrere observed that this preaching restriction “brought forth a greatness and holiness that might never have been realized in any other way.” People constantly asked Father Solanus to pray for their sick relatives and friends. He helped establish a soup kitchen that continues to serve poor people. He was beatified in 2017.
Mother Teresa O'Neil
Born: 1843
Died: May 12, 1926
Who was Mother Teresa O'Neil?
With Franciscan Fr. Pamfilo da Magliano, OFM, Mother Teresa founded in 1859 a congregation of Franciscan Sisters in Allegany, New York. Most of their members taught in Catholic schools or later served in hospitals or urban residences for working women and men. According to Sister Veronica Rodrigues, community archivist, “Her life was one of trials, ... but she weathered all, trusting in God and his Mother to help her solve her problems.”
Mother Theresa Hackelmeier
Born: c. 1827
Died: Sept. 27, 1860
Who is Mother Theresa Hackelmeier?
Already a sister in Vienna, Austria, Theresa came to Oldenburg, Indiana in 1851 and founded a Franciscan congregation whose members taught school, cared for orphans, and engaged in perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. They later worked among the Crow Native Americans in Montana and indigenous people in Papua New Guinea.