THE LIFE OF SAINT FELIX OF CANTALICE.pptx

Saint Felix born in cantalice

1. St. Felix of Cantalice

2. ST. FELIX OF CANTALICE Capuchin lay brother; born in Italy, May 18, 1515; and died in Rome, May 18, 1587. Felix was the third of four sons born to devout peasant parents, Santi and Santa Porri . They were poor farmers. At about the age of ten, Felix was hired out first as a shepherd to a family at Cittàducale , where he later worked as a farm hand. Until his 28th year he labored as a farmhand and shepherd .

3. He was known to be devoted to prayer in the midst of his work. Felix led a remarkably innocent life, and spent much time in prayer, especially during his long vigils with the flocks. One day, while he was breaking in a team of young oxen, the animals were suddenly spooked and crushed on Felix, pulling the plow over his body. He survived, but this narrow escape caused him to rethink his life, and in 1543 he sought admission to the Capuchin friars in Cittaducale as a lay brother

4. Finally, desirous of imitating the Desert Fathers, he sought admission to the newly formed branch of Friars Minor known as Capuchins. In the novitiate of the order's Roman province at Anticoli , Felix (who retained his baptismal name) manifested the heroic spirit of charity, prayer, and penance that characterized his entire life despite temptations and a malignant fever that tried his vocation

5. He pronounced his solemn vows in the friary of Monte San Giovanni, May 18, 1544, and spent three more years in spiritual formation at Tivoli and Viterbo . In 1547 he was sent to the Convent of St. Bonaventure, Rome, where for the next 40 years he served his brethren as questor .

6. This meant that every day Felix had to trudge the streets of Rome, stopping at homes and shops to collect in a sack the food offered by benefactors for St. Bonaventure's large community. The barefoot friar with the huge sack over his shoulder became a celebrity. Children flocked to him, hailed him with his own constant greeting, "Deo gratias ." Along the way he converted hardened sinners, consoled sufferers, and fed the poor.

7. Day after day, for forty years (from 1547 to 1587), as a humble questor, he walked the streets of Rome, begging alms from door to door, but at the same time leaving behind him the beauty of a gospel word, spoken as only he knew how: singing along with the children listening to people’s troubles gladly accepting whatever he was offered .

8. He always kept his eyes cast down, but that did not prevent him from seeing and understanding the need of the person who stood before him: relieving a pain, comforting the afflicted, healing some physical or moral ill. No-one who met the Capuchin questor Brother Felix ever went away empty-handed. And those hands of Brother Felix were the same hands that had received from the Mother of God the Child Jesus, whom he had tenderly embraced: that is the picture of him that has come down to us!

9. MAN OF THE PEOPLE AND MAN OF GOD Being among people of every social class, day in and day out, brought him into contact with the many forms of spiritual and material misery of his times. He collected everything in his knapsack, and back home in the friary he emptied it all into the hands of the guardian: there would be bread, beans, and whatever else he had been given, but there were also all the misfortunes he had seen, the children he had taught to sing, the tears of many, the kindness of the goodhearted souls who had gladly given alms.

10. Felix would take to the church, and offer his prayer and the remains of his day for them, which usually meant most of the night. To this he added the penances of every kind to implore God’s intervention for everyone, rich and poor, all of them in need of God’s mercy.

11. Being among people did not distract him from union with God, in fact it was his way of contemplating the mystery of God’s love for human beings. We could say that Brother Felix was a street contemplative. Surrounded by people he was joyful, cheerful, in a simple manner, characteristics that made everyone feel close to him. He was a true brother of the people! They knew him as Brother “Deo gratias ”. That was in fact his motto, his way of giving thanks for the alms he received.

12. And if anyone made fun of him or thought him mad, he rejoiced inwardly and even managed to win the person round, because he welcomed everyone with the patience of God, who knows how to wait for sinners and never stops loving them.

13. The Romans were edified and amused by his accustomed outcry: "Make way for the Capuchins' ass!" One day (St.) Philip neri deposited his great clerical hat on the brother's cowled head, and obliged him, as a test of humility, to go thus on his rounds. But Felix in return insisted that Philip drink publicly from a huge flagon of wine, to the great glee and merriment of the onlookers.

14. Felix enjoyed the friendship of other saints and eminent persons. (St.) Charles borromeo consulted him, unlettered though he was, on the rule of life to be given his Oblates. Another personal friend was sixtus v, who, on the day of Felix's death, urged the process of his beatification. Sixtus declared that he had witnessed 18 miracles wrought by the holy questor, and that he would testify to them personally.

15. He was severe with himself, believing that pampering the body led to sluggishness in the soul. Whenever he could do so without being noticed, he fasted on bread and water, seeking the crusts that were thrown away by others. He wore clothes that induced pain, and always went about without shoes. In spite of all this, he constantly gave thanks to God, saying, “Deo gratias .” In fact, the street children of Rome knew him as Brother Deogratias .

16. A SAINT HAD LIVED AMONG THEM His apparently simple spirituality was firmly based on the person of Christ, and he had a particular admiration for the crib and the cross. Our Lady and St. Francis he held in high veneration, and his prayer to them was strongly affective in tone; on receiving communion, he would be moved to tears.

17. All this made him a true son of Saint Francis, a brother who approached everyone, rich and poor, cardinals and mendicants, learned and unlettered, with the same welcoming and respectful attitude of love for the person who stood before him.

18. The friars who lived with him and reaped the benefit of his daily wanderings through the streets of Rome, experienced his zeal for prayer: he was the one who called them to matins in the middle of the night, and again to lauds at the dawn of the new day. But equally they were surprised, after his death, to see the endless crowds of people flocking to venerate his body.

19. They were all there, the children and the cardinals, the simple folk and the nobles, the beggars and Pope Sixtus V. Now the whole of Rome was coming to see the humble questing friar; instead of Br. Felix going out among the people, as he had done for so many years, the direction was reversed, and they came to him.

20. Consoled by heavenly visions, Felix died on the feast of his patron, which was also the anniversary of his own birth and religious profession. His body lies in the Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception, Rome, on the present Via Veneto.

21. Uurban VIII beatified Felix on Oct. 1, 1625. With his canonization by Clement XI May 22, 1712, Felix of Cantalice became the first Capuchin saint. He is often depicted according to one of his visions, holding the Infant Jesus, whom the Blessed Virgin has placed in his arms.

22. The miracles which were said to have been a feature of his earthly life now bean to be recounted, and they were many. Even among his fellow friars there were some who were amazed.

23. Thus did Brother Felix teach his final lesson, the one that validated his entire life: in all things he had lived in humility, hiding what the Lord used to give him in prayer, his mortifications, his self-giving while keeping nothing back for himself, but begging all and giving all for the good of those he had met during the day.

24. The message of Brother Felix for us today BEING A GIFT TO THE BROTHERS What was distinctive about Saint Felix and what has fixed him in our memory is that he was a brother, a questor. He would approach people to ask them for something, beg them for something, but most of all to give: to give them Jesus, to give them the gift of inner peace which is the fruit of prayer, to give wise advice from his rich experience of life.

25. From his own poor, hard-working family he had learned the precious lesson of giving himself to anyone in need, according to the precious saying of Jesus the Teacher: “There is more joy in giving than in receiving” (Ac 20,35).

26. Every one of us has received from the Lord this marvelous capacity to be a gift. Today our saintly confrere encourages us to live in our everyday lives the fascinating adventure of being a gift to all, because it is in the exercise of a life generously given that our personalities unfold to their full potential, as Vatican II also confirms: “man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” (GS, 24)

27. But Br. Felix had also not infrequently experienced a harsh refusal, or had a door slammed in his face, but his reply at those moments was always: “Deo gratias !” In that way he revived that perfect joy, embodying in his own life the lesson he had learned from Saint Francis.

28. He was not one of those who are disturbed by a word which they take as an insult to them personally, or when anything is taken from them (Adm. XIV). As a true peacemaker he bore it all out of love of our Lord Jesus Christ, preserving peace in soul and body (Adm. XV) This speaks volumes about the painstaking work he conducted on himself, and his patient acceptance of correction by others.

29. CONTEMPLATIVES IN ACTION But there was something else in Felix that was distinctive: his extraordinary ability to welcome everyone and everything and to transform every situation into a prayer which he offered up to God in the secret hours of the night. His biography highlights just this prayerful spirit: Brother Felix was made for contemplation. Without any effort, he could concentrate on heavenly thoughts

30. Even while walking the streets of Rome, amidst the hustle and bustle of the carriages and the clamour of passers-by. But that could hardly assuage his spirit’s thirst for the things of God. And so he prayed at night. The hours of the night-time adoration would pass without his even noticing”(Santi e Santità nell’Ordine Cappuccino, Roma 1980, vol. I, 48).

31. This is a valuable lesson for us, dear brothers, to be welcomed with a generous heart and put into practice. Even today, a life of prayer is still the surest measure of how genuine we are as consecrated persons. It is rightly said as a slogan “you are what you pray”, in other words, prayer reveals the quality of your life.

32. It is precisely for this reason that someone once paraphrased the well-known proverb as: “Tell me how you pray and I will tell you who you are”. Prayer is a vital exercise which determines the quality of every hour of the day. “Pray – adds Fr. Mariano of Turin – not much…, but well; or else, much and well. Pray because it is beautiful, because it is right, because it is sweet, and not so much as a duty. Fulfil that duty as a pleasure, the greatest pleasure of all.”(R. Cordovani (ed.), Assoluto e

33. The holy friar was always ready to help, always welcoming. His warmth made him sought after by everyone. Not because he had a title or degree, or a certified role approved by society, but because his title was that of a genuine believer in Christ, certified by his way of life. He could truly say that God was his only good!

34. This is where his life assumes a significance that is valid for every age and every place. In our day we are all inclined to search for degrees and titles and we want to be in charge of our own lives; there may be a risk here of excluding Christ from our personal history

35. As soon as Saint Felix of Cantalice got back to the convent and delivered the provisions, he found his way to church. There he first said a prayer for the benefactors, then he poured out his heart in devotion especially before the Blessed Sacrament and at the altar of our Lady. He also passed many hours of the night there, and one time the Mother of God placed the Divine Child in the arms of the overjoyed Felix.

36. Saint Felix of Cantalice was most conscientious in observing every detail of his role and vows. He did not wait for the orders of his superiors; a mere hint from them was enough. Although always in touch with the world, he kept careful guard over his chastity in every word and look, that Pope Paul V said he was a saint in body and soul.

37. Poverty was his favorite virtue. Since his holy father St Francis forbade his friars to accept money in any form, Saint Felix of Cantalice could not be prevailed upon to accept it under any circumstances.

38. How pleasing his spirit was to God was to be proved in a remarkable way. Once on leaving a house, Felix slung his sack over his shoulder, but felt it weigh so heavily that it almost crushed him. He searched the sack and found a coin which someone had secretly slipped into it. He threw it away in disgust, and cheerfully and easily took up his sack again.

39. Almighty God granted Saint Felix extraordinary graces. Many sick persons he restored to health with the Sign of the Cross. A dead child he gave back alive to its mother. In the most puzzling cases he was able to give helpful advice. Honored by the great and lowly, he considered himself the most wretched of men, but earned so much more merits with God.

40. The Church of San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle is named after him. In 19th-century Poland, the Felician Sisters, a religious congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Third Order Regular, was founded to care for the poor and adopted him as their patron saint.

41. Our Foundress, Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska, looked to Saint Felix of Cantalice as the patron saint and namesake of our congregation. Saint Felix of Cantalice led a life of devout prayer coupled with service to God’s people — inspiring the contemplative-active model of religious life that Blessed Mary Angela would help to pioneer with our congregation’s founding.

42. The son of peasants in Cantalice, Italy, Felix spent his early years as a shepherd and farm hand. He later became a Capuchin friar, and soon became known for his pious yet joyful presence on the streets of Rome, seeking donations for the friars’ ministries to the poor and sick. Walking barefoot through the streets with a sack slung over his shoulders, Brother Felix blessed all those he met with a humble “Deo Gratias !” (thanks be to God!), causing many to refer to him as “Brother Deo Gratias .”

43. Felix could also be found ministering to children on the city’s streets, instructing them through canticles he had composed about the goodness of life. They would come to greet him with smiles and requests for more songs and stories.