St. Francis of Paola

Francis of Paola belongs to the severe line of founders, yet the life works because austerity in him never becomes pride. Drawn toward solitude from youth, he withdrew to the Calabrian coast and there let prayer, penance, and hiddenness shape him until disciples began gathering almost in spite of him. From that beginning grew the Minims, whose very name and rule expressed Francis's love of littleness, poverty, abstinence, and self-denial. The later movement of his life gives it real range.

Popes approved the order, common people trusted him, and even Louis XI of France summoned him in hope of healing and counsel. Francis's authority never comes from official power or scholarly prestige. It comes from holiness so evident that both princes and peasants felt it. He stands as hermit, founder, and counselor, but above all as a man whose penance remained humble.