The Saints In Art - F

( Originally Published 1908 )

FAUSTINUS and JOVITA, SS. (15th February)

Patron Saints of Brescia. Two brothers who suffered martyrdom under Hadrian about 120. They are often associated in pictures with St. Apollonius, Bishop of Brescia.

FELICITAS, ST. (10th July and 23rd November)

During the persecutions in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a rich Roman widow, the mother of seven virtuous sons, was brought before the tribunal of Publius the Prefect. One by one her sons were led forth, tortured, and then put to various painful deaths be-fore her eyes. To increase her suffering, she was then imprisoned for four months, before she too was brought out to torture and death. The story closely resembles that of the Jewish matron in the Second Book of the Maccabees.

She is represented hooded, or veiled, as a widow, with a palm, generally with her seven sons as attributes.

FELIX, ST. (of Cantalicio). (Ital. SAN FELICE), (the first saint of the Order of Capuchins). (21st May)

Born in Umbria, in 1513. He lived in the monastery at Rome, and spent his time in begging for its needs. A legend says that one stormy night, when on his usual errand, a radiant child appeared to him, and gave him a loaf of bread as an alms, and then, with a benediction, vanished.

He is represented in the Capuchin habit, carrying a beggar's wallet.

FERDINAND OF CASTILE, ST. (30th May)

The son of Alfonso, King of Leon, and Berengaria of Castile. He vowed never to draw his sword against the Christians, but fought with great success against the Moors, driving them out of a large part of Spain. At the battle of Xeres, Santiago himself is said to have appeared, fighting for him. His only daughter, Eleanor, who inherited her father's virtues, married Edward I. of England. He died in 1252, and was canonised in 1668.

He is represented in Spanish art in armour, crowned, holding a sword, or an orb.

FINA, ST.

Patron Saint of San Gimignano in Tuscany. A poor girl, who patiently endured cruel sufferings from disease, lying upon an oaken plank. She was warned of her approaching release by a vision of St. Gregory, and died in 1253, at the age of fifteen, when all the bells of the town rang of their own accord, and her room was found full of flowers. Her dead hand cured her nurse of a grievous malady.

She is sometimes represented lying on her board, and beholding the apparition of St. Gregory above her.

Her life is illustrated by frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Collegiate Church of San Gimignano, where her feast is still celebrated, every five years, on the first Sunday in August.

FLORIAN, ST. (4th May)

A native of Ems, and one of the eight Tutelar Saints of Austria. He was a Roman soldier, who professed Christianity, and was martyred in the reign of Galerius, being thrown into the River Ems with a stone tied round his neck. Many miracles are recorded of him, among them that he extinguished a conflagration with a pitcherful of water.

FRANCESCA ROMANA, ST. (9th March)

Born in Rome, in 1384, and married to a rich noble. She was distinguished for her virtue and piety. The legend of her is characteristic. Though unwearied in her devotions, yet if called away by her husband, or by any domestic duty, she would close her book, saying : " A wife and a mother, when called upon, must quit her GOD at the altar, and find Him in her household." Once, when reciting the Office of the Virgin, she was called away four times, always at the same verse, and returning the fifth time she found that verse written on the page in letters of gold by the hand of her guardian angel. On her husband's death, she joined an Olivetan congregation of Benedictine nuns, and became their Superior, living in great sanctity till she died.

She is represented as a Benedictine nun, with her guardian angel, and holding the book of the Office of the Virgin in her hand.

FRANCIS ST. (of Assisi). (Ital. FRANCESCO.)

(17th September and 4th October)

This famous saint, the Founder of the Franciscan Order, was born at Assisi in 1182. His father was Pietro Bernadone, a silk and wool merchant, and it is said that he had his son taught French at an early age for the sake of his trade, and that in con-sequence the boy's companions called him Francesco, though he was christened Giovanni. As a youth he was gay and worldly, but a grievous illness caused him to turn to serious thoughts, and he determined to retire from the world. While he knelt before the crucifix in the Church of St. Damiano he heard a voice saying : " Francis, repair my Church"; and he at once set to work to raise money for this purpose, and practised such austerities that he was thought mad. His father tried to restrain him, and brought him before the Bishop of Assisi, but he abjured his parents, his heritage, and all his possessions, stripping off even his clothes in his enthusiasm for poverty. He then wandered barefoot over the mountain wilds, praising GOD for the earth his mother, and the moon his sister, and had for his companions the flowers and the stars. Thus prepared, he set out on his mission. Very soon he had many followers, stirred by his enthusiasm, and he found it necessary to bind them together by a rule of life. Absolute poverty was the first condition. In 1210 St. Francis went to Rome, and after some difficulty obtained the sanction of Pope Innocent III. to the institution of his Order. Ten years later the number of his friars had grown to 5000, and missionaries went out into various countries. He himself then went to Egypt to preach to the Mahometans, and was brought before the Sultan. He offered to throw himself into the flames, on condition that the Sultan and his people would become Christians, but he was sent back to Italy without hurt, and without a convert, though five of his missionaries were martyred in Morocco. A few years after his return he resigned his office of Superior at Assisi, and again retired to the mountains, where he spent his days in prayer and contemplation. Here he had his celebrated vision of CHRIST crucified, and received the " Stigmata," or " Five Wounds," in his hands, feet, and side. He died in 1226, and was canonised two years later, when the foundation of his great church at Assisi was laid.

Legends of his life and visions are in-numerable. Those most often represented, besides the incidents just mentioned, are : his vision of the Virgin coming down and placing the Divine Child in his arms; his meeting and espousing Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, as three poor maidens ; his preaching to the birds ; and his death in the midst of his friars.

He is represented in the grey or brown habit of his Order, with a knotted cord, often with a crucifix, and is always clearly distinguished by the Stigmata.

Frescoes by Giotto and his followers at Santa Croce, Florence, and at Assisi ; by Benozzo Gozzoli at Montefalco, and by Ghirlandaio in Santa Trinità, Florence.

FRANCIS BORGIA, ST. (10th October)

Duke of Gandia, in Spain. He held high office under Charles V., but gave up the world, and joined the Jesuits. In 1555 he became the third General of the Order.

He is represented in Spanish art in his Jesuit habit.

FRANCIS DE PAULA, ST. (2nd April)

The founder of the Reformed Franciscan Order of the Minimes. He was born at Paola, in Calabria, and from infancy dedicated by his parents to a religious life. At the age of fifteen he became a hermit in a cave near Reggio. In course of time others joined him ; cells and a chapel were built, and in 1436 he instituted the " Hermits of St. Francis," or " Minimes," so called as being the least of all in the Church of God. Such was the fame of his sanctity that he was sent for to visit Louis XI. on his death-bed at Plessis-le-Tours. After the death of Louis he remained at the French Court, where he had considerable influence during the reigns of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. He died at Plessis-le-Tours in 1507.

Picture in S. Andrea delle Fratte, Rome.

FRANCIS XAVIER, ST. (3rd December)

Born of noble family at his father's castle among the Pyrenees. He went to Paris to study theology, and there became the friend and associate of Loyola. He joined the Jesuit community, and was sent as a missionary to Goa in India. He spent the rest of his wonderful and laborious life in the East, and, after encountering many hardships and obstacles, he died in an attempt to reach China.