Saint of the Day – 1 June – Saint Annibale Maria di Francia (1851-1927)

Saint of the Day – 1 June – Saint Annibale Maria di Francia (1851-1927) Priest, Founder, Carmelite Tertiary, Apostle of Charity, orphans, the poor, Apostle of Prayer for Vocations, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist, Marian devotee – he founded a series of orphanages and the Congregations of the Rogationist Fathers and the Daughters of Divine Zeal.   Patronages – Prayer for Vocations, Orphans, the Poor, Messina, Italy, Anthonian Orphanages, the Rogationist Fathers and the Daughters of Divine Zeal.   Also known as Hannibal Mary di Francia.

Annibale Maria Di Francia was born in Messina, Italy, on 5 July 1851  . His father, Francis was a Knight, the Marquises of St Catherine of Jonio, Papal Vice-Consul and Honorary Captain of the Navy.   His mother, Anna Toscano, also belonged to an aristocratic family. The third of four children, he lost his father when he was only fifteen months old.   The sad experience of losing a parent, made him deeply sensitive to the plight of children bereft of parents and this, influenced his life and his educational system.

In childhood he developed such love for the Eucharist that he was allowed to receive Communion daily, something quite exceptional in those days.   He was only seventeen when, at prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, he was given the “revelation of Rogate”, that is, he deeply felt that vocations in the Church come only through prayer. Subsequently he found that such prayer is commanded by Jesus in the Gospel when He says:   “Ask [Rogate] the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers to gather his harvest” (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2).   These words became the fundamental insight to which he dedicated his entire life.

Annibale proved to be of lively intelligence with remarkable literary abilities.   As soon as he felt the call of God, he immediately responded by placing himself and his talents at the service of God.   After his theological studies, he was Ordained a Priest on 16 March 1878.   A few months before his Ordination, he met an almost blind beggar, Francesco Zancone, a providential encounter which led him to discover the sad social and moral reality of one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the outskirts of Messina (Case Avignone). It was the beginning of a long walk and his boundless love for the poor and the orphans, was one of the primary characteristic of his life.

With the permission and the encouragement of his Bishop, Msgr. Joseph Guarino, he made the Avignone ghetto his home and dedicated himself completely to the redemption of its inhabitants.   In accordance with the Gospel, he saw them as “sheep without a shepherd.”   It was an experience strongly marked by misunderstandings, difficulties and obstacles of every kind which he overcame by great faith, seeing Jesus Christ in the poor and marginalised people.   He was carrying out what he defined as the “spirit of a twofold charity – the evangelisation of and the care for the poor.”   In 1882 he started his orphanages, which were called “Anthonian Orphanages” because they were placed under the patronage of St Anthony of Padua.   His concern was not only to provide the children with food and occupation but, above all, to assure that they were brought up in a way, that integrated the moral and religious aspects of their lives, offering a family climate, which helped lead them to discover and follow God’s plan for them.

With his missionary spirit he wanted to reach out to the orphans and the poor all over the world.   But how could he do it?   He perceived that the “Rogate” was the real answer. He wrote:  “What are these few orphans we attend to, these few people we bring the good news to, compared to the millions who are lost and abandoned as sheep without a shepherd?...   I looked for an answer and I found a complete one in the words of Jesus:  ‘Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers to gather his harvest’.   I concluded then, that I had found the secret key to all good works and to the salvation of all souls.”

Annibale felt that the Rogate was not simply the Lord’s recommendation but, an explicit command and an “infallible remedy.”   For this reason, his charism can be considered as giving life to a providential foundation in the Church.   He was also a forerunner in considering the work of committed lay persons, like parents, teachers and even good government workers, as vocations.

To carry out his apostolic ideals in the Church and in the world, he founded two religious Congregations: the Daughters of Divine Zeal, in 1887 and the Rogationists ten years later. He wanted both institutions to live the Rogate as a fourth vow.   The institutions were canonically approved on 6 August 1926.

In a petition to St Pius X, in 1909, Father Annibale stated:  “From my early youth I have committed myself to that Holy Word of the Gospel – ‘Rogate ergo…’   From my small Institutes, an unceasing daily prayer is raised by the orphans, the poor, the priests and the consecrated virgins, to the most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, to St Joseph and the Apostles, that they may abundantly provide the Church with holy and chosen priests and with evangelical workers for the spiritual harvest of souls.”

To spread the prayer for vocations he promoted several initiatives – he had personal epistolary contacts with the Popes of his time, he instituted a “Holy Alliance,” a movement of prayer for vocations intended for the clergy and the “Pious Union of the Evangelical Rogation” for all the faithful.   He published the periodical “God and Neighbour,” to involve everyone in these ideals.

“The entire Church must formally pray for this aim,” he wrote, “because the purpose of the prayer to gain vocations must concern all the faithful, every Christian who has at heart the good of souls and, in a particular way, the Bishops who are the shepherds of the spiritual flock and to whom souls are entrusted.  They are the living Apostles of Jesus Christ today.”   The annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1964 can be considered a response to his intuition.

His love for the Priesthood was great.   He strongly believed that the world could be redeemed only through the work of many holy Priests.   That is why he was deeply concerned with the spiritual formation of the seminarians entrusted to him by the Bishop of Messina.   He used to say, that without a lot of prayer and a solid spiritual training, “all the efforts of Bishops and of seminary educators would only result in artificial priests.”    He strove to become himself a model of the “good labourer” of the Gospels and to be a Priest according the Heart of Jesus.   His charity knew no bounds and was directed towards all kinds of people in need, including Priests facing difficulties and cloistered nuns.

Even when he was still alive, his reputation as a saint was widespread on all levels. When he died in Messina, on 1 June 1927, people began to say:  “Let us go to see the sleeping saint.” He died comforted by the vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom he had loved so much during his life.

His funeral, according to the chronicles and pictures in the newspapers of that time, became a triumph.   Civil authorities promptly granted permission for his burial in the Shrine of the “Evangelical Rogation” which Fr Annibale himself had built in Messina and wanted to be dedicated to the command of the Gospel:   “Ask, therefore, the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into his harvest…”

The religious families founded by Blessed Annibale are currently present on all the continents.   According to the ideals of their founder, they dedicate themselves to spreading the prayer for vocations through centres for vocations, publishing houses and printing presses, institutions for orphans and abandoned children, schools for deaf and mute, nutritional centres, homes for aged, homes for single mothers and professional and vocational schools.

The sanctity and mission of Fr Annibale as an “outstanding Apostle of the prayer for vocations” are deeply felt in our time by all who are concerned with the need for vocations in the Church.   St John Paul II proclaimed Father Hannibal a Blessed on 7 October 1990 and defined him as the “authentic forerunner and zealous master of the modern pastoral care for vocations”. … Vatican.va

On 30 June 1990 the Medical Commission of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously agreed that the case of Gleida Danese – a young Brazilian girl who was doomed to die because of the rupture of the aorta but who suddenly recovered – had no possible medical explanation.   Both the Commission of Theologians on 14 July 1990 and then the Congress of Cardinals and Bishops on 27 July 1990, unanimously agreed upon the miraculous recovery of the girl and found that it was to be attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Annibale Maria Di Francia.

He was Canonised on 16 May 2004, by St Pope John Paul II, who said of him:

“Whoever loves me will keep my word” (Jn 14: 23).   In these words of the Gospel we see illustrated the spiritual profile of Annibale Maria Di Francia, whose love for the Lord moved him to dedicate his entire life to the spiritual well-being of others.   In this perspective, he felt above all the urgency to carry out the Gospel command:  “Rogate ergo… Pray then to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!” (Mt 9: 38).

He left to the Rogationist Fathers and the Daughters of Divine Zeal the task to do their utmost with all their strength so that prayer for vocations would be “unceasing and universal.”   This same call of Fr Annibale Maria Di Francia is directed to the young people of our times, summed up in his usual exhortation:  “Fall in love with Jesus Christ.

From this providential intuition, a great movement of prayer for vocations rose up within the Church.   I hope with all my heart that the example of Fr Hannibal Mary Di Francia will guide and sustain such pastoral work even in our times.”

The need for such a prayer has been recognised by the Supreme Authority of the Church. St Pope Paul VI on 23 January 1964 instituted the “World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Since then, every year, the Popes remind the universal Church that still today salvation comes to us through the work of many and holy ministers of the Gospel and that to obtain them from God we must pray.

On 7 July 2010, Pope Benedict XVI blessed a marble Statue of St Annibale Maria di Francia (1851-1927), Founder of the Congregation of the Rogationist Fathers of the Heart of Jesus and of the Daughters of Divine Zeal.   The statue is positioned in an external niche of the Vatican Basilica near the Arch of the Bells with other Founder Statues.