St. John Francis Regis

John Francis Regis was a son of the lesser gentry in southern France, educated by the Jesuits and admitted into the Society in 1615. The spiritual shape of the young Jesuit was already distinct: severe with himself, tender toward others, and unusually effective with ordinary people. While still a student he was teaching catechism in country places and winning not only children but adults. During his theology years at Toulouse he spent much of the night in prayer, and after his ordination in 1631 he was sent at once into the missionary work that would consume the rest of his short life. He moved first through Languedoc and then through the Vivarais and the Velay. His style was plain rather than polished, but it carried such warmth and urgency that enormous crowds gathered. He gave the mornings to Mass, preaching, and the confessional, and the afternoons to hospitals and prisons. He was drawn especially to the poor, to neglected country people, and to women trapped in lives of sin. At Montpellier he helped convert Huguenots and lax Catholics, organized ladies to visit prisoners, and rescued a number of women from vice.

In the mountain regions his work became even harder. The districts were lawless, the winters bitter, the journeys long through snow, and many villages were almost cut off from the sacraments. Regis kept going anyway, sometimes with nothing but a few apples in his pocket, sometimes delayed by drifts and storms, sometimes walking with an injured leg. Priests later testified that whole parishes seemed changed after his missions. In Le Puy he widened the work again, setting up relief for the poor, a granary, prison aid, nursing help, and a refuge for vulnerable women and girls, even while criticism and suspicion rose around him. Miracles were also reported that strengthened his reputation, including cures and the replenishing of food stores in time of need. The end was austere and beautiful. Sensing his death near, he set his affairs in order, headed out in dreadful weather to La Louvesc, contracted pleurisy on the road, yet still preached and heard confessions through Christmas. On December 31 he died with his eyes fixed on the crucifix after crying out that he saw our Lord and His Mother opening heaven for him.