(by John Blackeye) The crossing into the sea with his cape - His best known miracle is the one documented in April 1464. St. Francis had arrived with two of his brothers in Catona and was heading for Messina. He asked a boatman to let them cross the strait for charity, since they had no money.
The man refused, and then Francesco knelt down, began to pray, traced the cross on the sea and took off his cloak holding it out over the water. Then he went up there with his friars, and with the favorable wind they reached the other shore without any problem.
The miracle of the hangman - After crossing the Strait of Messina and arriving in Milazzo, Sicily, they found a hanged man who had been hanging for three days. The saint took pity on him and asked the brothers to untie the corpse.
When the hanged man fell into the saint's arms, he opened his eyes and begged him to accept him in order, where he spent his last years of life.
The miracle of the stones
San Francesco settled in Milazzo, where he had to build a church. For this he used two huge stones as a base. Saint Francis is said to have lightened their weight and managed to pull them off the ground by themselves, transporting them with their own hands to the established place.
The appearance of the archangel Michael - San Francesco di Paola is often represented with a shield on his head or chest, on which we read the inscription "Charitas". According to tradition, while the saint was absorbed in contemplation, the archangel Michael appeared to him with a shield in his hands that looked like a shining sun, in the center of which the word CHARITAS was read in golden letters. The angel gave him the shield and recommended that he transform it into the emblem of his order.
The deceived devil - Legend says that the saint had planned to build a bridge to facilitate the passage from one bank of the Isca river to another. The devil appeared to him with the proposal to build it in one night in exchange for the soul of the first wanderer who had crossed it.
The friar accepted, but the next day, when the devil appeared to collect what was established, the saint,
cunningly, he passed a dog and invited the devil to take the soul of the animal.
The devil, furious at being deceived, violently hit the wall, causing a hole and leaving the imprint of the imprinted hand.
The image imprinted on a napkin - Tradition says that one day, while the saint was eating his meager meal, he realized that a painter was trying to portray him in secret. Francesco considered himself unworthy of any honor of this kind, and so he covered his face with a napkin. To exalt his humble servant, God performed the miracle: the features of his face were imprinted on the napkin.
The relic is kept in a church in Vietri Sul Mare (Salerno)
Francesco was born in Paola (CS) on March 27, 1416 from a couple of parents already years old; the father Giacomo Alessio said “Martolilla"And the mother Vienna of Fuscaldo, during the fifteen years of marriage already passed, had waited in vain for the birth of a son, for this they prayed to St. Francis of Assisi, to intercede for them and unexpectedly in the end the son arrived.
Gratefully, his parents called him Francesco; the saint of Assisi still intervened in the life of that child: after just a month it was discovered that he was suffering from an abscess to the left eye that extended to the cornea, the doctors despaired of saving the eye. The mother made a vow to St. Francis, to keep her son in a convent of Friars Minor for an entire year, dressing him in the Franciscan habit; the vote of the dress is a custom still existing in Southern Italy. After a few days the abscess completely disappeared.
He was raised without ease, but never lacked the necessary; he learned to read and write at the age of 13, when his parents, wanting to fulfill the vow made at S. Francesco, took him to the Franciscan convent of San Marco Argentano. In that year the teenager immediately revealed exceptional gifts. After the year of the vow, Francis wanted to return to Paola amid the displeasure of the friars and in agreement with his parents they embarked on a pilgrimage to Assisi at the tomb of St. Francis, he was convinced that that trip would allow him to find the way to follow in the future.
Francesco da Paola died on 2 April 1507 in Plessis-les-Tours, near Tours (F) where he was buried: it was a Good Friday and he was 91 years old.
Pope Leo X (Giovanni de 'Medici, 1513-1521) proclaimed it in 1513he was blessed and in 1519 canonized him.