Written by Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

This week we celebrate the feast day of St. Felix of Cantalice, the first Capuchin Franciscan Friar to become a saint. He died in 1587 and was declared a saint in 1712. Felix had been a simple farmer in Cantalice, Italy. One day while plowing, he had a terrible accident that should have ended his life. The oxen bolted and the sharp plow knocked him down and went over his body. But he was left unscathed. He determined that this miraculous event called him to serve God with the Capuchins.

Living in Rome from 1547 to 1587, Saint Felix of Cantalice endured many of the terrible famines that struck the eternal city during that century. With his questor’s sack slung over one shoulder, he was sent out day after day, by order of his superiors, to beg food for his Capuchin Brothers and for the poor. Felix quickly became known in the city as “the bread man,” on his continuous mission of asking bread from those who had it, and giving it to those who had none. In this way, he lived those corporal works of mercy of feeding the hungry, and giving alms to the poor.

In the midst of a Roman plague one year, worried that the Brothers might run out of food, it was suggested that Felix no longer beg on behalf of the poor. At this, Felix exclaimed: "Brothers, do you really think that the Brothers will starve if we beg for alms for the poor? Believe me! As long as the poor get something to eat, our Brothers will not starve either." He soon begged enough to feed not only his Brothers, but many others in the city. We see that God will never be outdone in generosity.

St. Felix’s active mercy and reliance on God’s providence continued in the lives of those Sisters who took their name from him. In the early years of St. Mary’s Home, the Felician Sisters and residents found themselves gathering to pray one afternoon for a gift from heaven; the last crust of bread had just been eaten, and there was nothing left to give. Yet they were confident in Jesus’ words: “The birds of the air neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Mt 6”26). They prayed, and in a matter of hours, a baker they had never met before arrived at the front door to donate a cartload of bread. Our Felician core values challenge us daily to grow in respecting human dignity. We continue to have solidarity with those in need and, as the Felician Sisters have always done, to serve where we are needed.

Blessed Angela: “To those who love God all things work out for the good.”