# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Francis Borgia, Confessor (Oct 10).
# Sourced directly from web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/10-10.txt,
# English/Sancti/10-10.txt. Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one
# continuous vita. No Lectio7-9 own content (a direct
# `@Commune/C1:LectioN` cross-reference) -- not transcribed, per the
# bare-cross-reference convention.
id: st-francis-borgia
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Franciscus, Gandiæ dux quartus, Joánne Borgia et Joánna Aragónia
        Ferdinándi Catholici nepte génitus, post puerílem ætátem inter
        domesticos mira innocéntia et pietáte transactam, in aula
        primum Cároli quinti Cæsaris, mox in Catalauniæ administratióne,
        admirabílior fuit christianæ virtútis et vitæ austerioris
        exemplis. Ad Granatense sepúlcrum Isabellam imperatricem cum
        detulísset, in ejus vultu, fœde commutato, mortalium ómnium
        caducitátem rélegens, voto se adstrinxit, rebus ómnibus, cum
        primum licéret, abjectis, regum Regi unice inserviéndi. Inde
        tantum virtútis increméntum fecit, ut, inter negotiórum turbas,
        religiosæ perfectiónis simillimam imáginem réferens, miraculum
        príncipum appellarétur.


        Mortua Eleonora de Castro cónjuge ingréssus est societátem
        Jesu, ut in ea latéret securius et præcluderet dignitátibus
        áditum, interposita voti religióne; dignus, quem et viri
        príncipes complures in amplecténdo severiori instituto fúerint
        secuti, et Cárolus quintus ipse in abdicando imperio
        hortatórem sibi aut ducem exstitisse non diffiterétur. In eo
        arctioris vitæ studio Franciscus jejuniis, catenis férreis,
        asperrimo cilício, cruentis longisque verberatiónibus, somno
        brevíssimo, corpus ad extremam usque maciem redégit, nullis
        præterea parcens labóribus ad sui victoriam et ad salútem
        animárum. Tot ítaque instructus virtútibus, a sancto Ignátio
        primum generalis commissarius in Hispaniis, nec multo post
        præpositus generalis tertius a societáte universa, licet
        invítus, elígitur. Quo in munere princípibus ac summis
        Pontificibus prudéntia ac morum sanctitáte apprime carus,
        præter complura vel cóndita vel aucta ubíque domicília, socios
        in regnum Poloniæ, in insulas Oceani, in Mexicanam et Peruánam
        provincias invéxit; missis quoque in alias regiónes apostolicis
        viris, qui prædicatióne, sudóribus, sánguine fidem catholicam
        Romanam propagarunt.


        De se ita demisse sentiebat, ut peccatóris nomen sibi proprium
        fáceret. Romanam purpuram, a summis Pontificibus sæpius
        oblatam, invicta humilitátis constántia recusávit. Vérrere
        sordes, emendicáre victum ostiatim, ægris ministrare in
        nosocomíis, mundi ac sui contemptor, in deliciis hábuit.
        Singulis diébus multas continenter horas, frequenter octo,
        quandoque decem, dabat cæléstium contemplatióni. Centies
        quotídie de genu Deum adorábat. Numquam a sacrificando
        abstinuit, prodebatque sese divinus quo æstuábat ardor, ejus
        vultu, sacram Hostiam offeréntis aut concionántis, intérdum
        radiante. Sanctíssimum Christi corpus in Eucharistia latens ubi
        asservarétur, instinctu cælésti sentiebat. Cardinali
        Alexandrino, ad conjungendos contra Turcas, christiános
        príncipes, legato comes additus a beato Pio quinto, arduum
        iter, fractis jam pene viribus, suscépit ex obediéntia; in qua
        et vitæ cursum Romæ, ut optarat, feliciter consummávit, anno
        ætátis suæ sexagesimo secundo, salútis vero millesimo
        quingentésimo septuagesimo secundo.
      en: >-
        Francis, fourth Duke of Gandia, was the son of John Borgia, Duke
        of Gandia, and of Joan of Aragon, daughter of Alphonso, natural
        son to Ferdinand V. surnamed the Catholic, King of Aragon. He
        passed his boyhood at home in great innocence and godliness, and
        was still more remarkable for his Christian graces and the
        hardness of his living, at the Court of the Emperor Charles V.,
        and as Vice-Roy of Catalonia. The Empress Isabella died, and
        Francis, as her master of the horse, was commanded to attend
        her body to Granada, where it was to be buried, and the sight
        of the awful change which death had made in her countenance so
        thrilled him with the thought of our mortality and corruption,
        that he bound himself by vow, as soon as he lawfully might, to
        give up all things, and to serve the King of kings only. From
        that time he so advanced in Christian graces, that his life
        might be called the miracle of princes, showing, in the midst
        of a vast mass of business, an image of perfection attained in
        a cloister.


        His wife, Eleanora de Castro, died, and he entered the Society
        of Jesus, that therein he might hide himself more safely, and
        bar by the obligation of a vow the path to dignities. He was
        the worthy leader of many princes who have embraced a life of
        hardship, and Charles V. himself when he resigned the Empire
        did not deny that he had been moved and shown the way by
        Francis. In his struggle after austerity Francis, by fasting,
        by iron chains, by the roughest of hair-cloth, by long and
        bloody flagellations, and by denying himself any but very
        little sleep, reduced his body to the last degree, but would
        still spare no toil to overcome himself and to save souls. Thus
        full of ghostly strength, he was appointed by holy Ignatius
        Commissary-General of the Society in Spain, Portugal, and the
        Indies, and, notwithstanding all the precautions he could take
        to prevent it, he was chosen by the general Congregation of the
        Society to be General, being the third who held that office.


        He thought so little of himself that he gave himself the
        nickname of Francis the sinner. By the Popes he was oftentimes
        offered the dignity of Cardinal of the Roman Church, but the
        lowly firmness with which he refused it could never be
        overcome. In his cheap esteem of the world and of himself his
        chief pleasures were to clean the house, to beg for food from
        door to door, and to wait upon the sick in hospitals. He spent
        many hours every day, oftentimes eight and sometimes ten, in
        prayer and meditation. An hundred times every day he worshipped
        God upon his knees. He never missed the opportunity of offering
        the Holy Liturgy, and the fire from God which burnt within him
        sometimes shone forth in his countenance when he was lifting
        the Sacred Host, or preaching. By an inward power given him
        from God he could tell where the most Holy Body of Christ,
        under the Eucharistic veils, was kept. The blessed Pius V. sent
        Francis with the Cardinal Alexandrini on an embassy to unite
        the Christian Princes against Turkey. His vital strength was
        then nearly worn out, but, through obedience, he undertook the
        toil of the journey. He became much worse during the
        travelling, and on his return brought to a blessed end at
        Rome, as had been his desire, the pilgrimage of this life, in
        the sixty-second year of his own life, and that of salvation
        1572.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
