Saint Francis Borgia was the Duke of Gandia and Viceroy of Catalonia, an intimate and trusted friend of the King and Queen of Spain. When his wife died, he distributed his vast estates and titles among his children and became a religious. He joined the Society of Jesus and was its third General. He was one of the great opponents of the rise of Protestantism in the sixteenth century. Saint Francis Borgia died in 1572, the same year as his great friend, Saint Pius V, who gave us the feast of the Most Holy Rosary. Saint Francis Borgia’s last words as he was dying were, “I long for Jesus”.
See also: St. Francis of Assisi on the Priesthood
Saint Francis Borgia (detail), by Alonzo Cano (1601–1667)
