Ascanius, or as we must call him by his name in religion, Francis, Caracciolo, was born at Villa Santa Maria in that quarter of Italy known as the Abruzzi. The family of the Saint was noble, being a junior branch of the ancient house.
While still a youth, Francis
Caracciolo was attacked by "leprosy" He was cured in consequence,
it is said, of a vow to devote his life to the service of God, and
with this end in view Francis Caracciolo went, at the age of about
twenty-two, to study for the priesthood at
Naples.In the intervals of reading, Francis Caracciolo busied himself with works of devotion and charity, consoling the inmates of hospitals and prisons.
After his Ordination in 1587, Francis Caracciolo joined a pious confraternity, known as the "The White Robes of Justice." This Society, like that of the better-known Misericordie, attended condemned criminals and prepared them to die well. All this time, Francis seems to have had in mind the founding of a new religious Order, and next year the matter came to a head.
It happened that the same idea had also occurred to another devout man, Giovanni Agostino Adorno, who unburdened his mind on the subject in a letter addressed to another member of the Caracciolo family, named Fabricius Ascanio. The letter was delivered by a very natural error to our Saint, who saw in the occurrence a clear indication of the divine will.
Joining in at once with John Adorno and Fabricius Caracciolo, our Saint and they retired for a while to the desert of Camaldoli, where the holy trio drew up the Rule of what was to be the Minor Clerks Regular. Francis then went to Rome to obtain the approval of the Pope for the new Foundation. Sixtus V approved the Congregation on 1st July of the same year (1588).
The new Congregation of the Minor Clerks Regular thus established was one of considerable severity. The Clerks bound themselves to distribute various practices of penance among themselves daily.
At his solemn profession at Naples, 9th April, 1589, Fr. Caracciolo took the name of Francis.
The first house of the Clerks was one at Naples, known as St. Mary Major's, which had been made over to them by Sixtus V, but the expansion of the Congregation soon made it imperative to found others elsewhere.
Spain early extended its welcome to the newest arrivals in the monastic field, and St. Francis undertook no fewer than three journeys to that most Catholic country under the special protection first of Philip II and afterwards of his son, Philip III.
On one of these voyages, the ship that bore the holy Founder and his fortunes was nearly wrecked, but the vessel was saved by the prayer of our Saint. Francis established three branches-the House of the Holy Ghost at Madrid (20th January, 1599), that of Our Lady of the Annunciation at Valla, (9th September, 1601), and St. Joseph at Alcala (1601).
Before this the Clerks obtained in Rome the Church of St. Leonard. Pope Paul V, who greatly admired the heroic virtues and practical wisdom of Francis, wished to make him a bishop, but desisted at the earnest entreaty of the Saint. He was at that time in negotiation with the Oratorian Fathers with reference to taking over their house at Agnone in the Abruzzi for the use of his Congregation, and he lost no time in going to that place.
Arrived there, he was shortly after seized with fever, and having received all the last rites, he died surrounded by the Oratorian Community of the place on the Vigil of Corpus Christi, 4th June, 1608.
His body was removed to the Church of St. Mary Major, Naples, where it remained till it was transferred to the Church of Montivergonella which had been made over to the Clerks Regular, 1893, apparently in exchange for the other seized during the occupation of Naples by the French Revolutionary Army.
The Saint was proclaimed patron of the City of Naples in 1838, but the devotion to him which was once so marked a feature of the spiritual life of the place is said now to be much less in evidence.
In 1995, Saint Francis Caracciolo became the Patron of all cooks in the Catholic world.
3CARACCIOLO,
Niccolò (1658-1728)
Many important people were
born in Villa Santa Maria, among which, Niccolò Caracciolo, who was
was born there on November 8, 1658.
Villa Santa Maria was at that time part of the diocese of
Teano.
Of the branch of the dukes
of Melfi, the father of Niccolò Caracciolo was the 5th prince of
Villa Santa. His mother, Zenobia del Giudice, was a sister of
Cardinal Francesco del Giudice (1690). Other cardinals of the
family were Marino Ascanio Caracciolo (1535); Innico Caracciolo,
seniore (1666); Innico Caracciolo, iuniore (1715); Giovanni
Costanzio Caracciolo (1759); Diego Innico Caracciolo (1800); and
Filippo Giudice Caracciolo, Orat. (1833).
Niccolò Caracciolo studied in the
Seminario Romano, Rome and in the University of Naples, (doctorate
in utroque iure, both canon and civil law, March 15, 1684).
Niccolò Caracciolo was ordained priest and later became Governor of
Fabriano, September 19, 1691. President of Montalto, January 2,
1693. Governor of Ancona, June 28, 1695. Governor of Viterbo,
November 23, 1697. Governor of Perugia and Umbria, November 7,
1698. Provincial governor of Marca Anconitana, May 23, 1699.
Niccolò Caracciolo was elected titular archbishop of Tessalonica in
Greece May 10, 1700. Consecrated, June 6, 1700, Rome, by Cardinal
Fabrizio Paolucci. Assistant at the Pontifical Throne, June 9,
1700. Nuncio in Tuscany, June 25, 1700 until March 14, 1703.
Transferred to the metropolitan see of Capua, April 23, 1703.
Vice-gerent of Rome, December 4, 1712 until December 16, 1715.
Regent of the vicariate of Rome, April 6, 1714.
Niccolò Caracciolo was elected cardinal priest in the consistory of
December 16, 1715; with dispensation for having an uncle who was a
living cardinal. Pro-vicar general of Rome, December 18, 1715 until
his resignation, December 6, 1717. Received the red hat and the
title of S. Martino ai Monti, February 5, 1716. Returned to his see
of Capua. Participated in the conclave of 1721.
Niccolò Caracciolo died on February 7, 1728, in Capua. His body is
still buried in the metropolitan cathedral of
Capua.