(also known as Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507), was a Roman Catholic friar from the town of Paola in Calabria who founded the Order of Minims.

They made a vow that their son should pass an entire year wearing the "little habit" of St Francis in one of the friaries of his Order, a common practice in the Middle Ages.

[3] His parents seem to have made every effort to inspire Francis with pious sentiments, and to provide for him a suitable religious education.

In his thirteenth year, Francis was placed in the convent of Franciscan friars[4] at San Marco Argentano, 42 km from his home.

One of the oldest Franciscan buildings in Calabria, the Conventual Complex of the Friars Minor at San Marco Argentano is thought to have been founded around 1284 by Pietro Cathin, a disciple and companion of St Francis of Assisi.

On arriving back home, he opted to withdraw, with his parents' consent, to live in solitude about half a mile from the town.

To avoid being distracted by visits, he moved shortly thereafter to a more remote retreat in a rock corner on the coast, where he made himself a cave.

The three sang the divine praises every day in the chapel, where Mass used to be celebrated by a priest coming up from the parish church.

By the end of 1454, sanctioned by Pyrrhus (Petrus) Caracciolo, Archbishop of Cosenza, Francis built a large monastery and church.

This project triggered an outburst of enthusiasm and devotion toward Francis from the people in the countryside around; even members of the local nobility carried stones and joined in.

[3] One example was highlighted when someone, on oath, contributed to the subsequent canonisation process: through Francis' intercession, he was prepared to swear, a painful lame thigh had instantly healed.

Freely undertaken were the Evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, traditional among mendicant Catholic religious orders since the days of St Francis of Assisi, more than two centuries earlier.

Reviving this observance, Francis hoped, might follow his imposing on himself and his companions an unbroken, year-round abstinence from meat and other animal products.

This request was welcomed, and on 30 November 1470 Caracciolo promulgated Decet nos, wherein authority over Francis' confraternity was renounced by the archbishop and placed directly with the Holy See.

In the bull Sedes apostolica (17 May 1474) Pope Sixtus IV recognised the Congregation of Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi in the Territory of Padua, in which the members chose to live in a permanent Lenten manner.

He then founded the monasteries of Spezzano della Sila (1474), Corigliano Calabro (1476) and Crotona, the latter being in charge of Brother Paolo Rendacio.

[5] When King Louis XI of France was terminally ill, he sent an embassy to Calabria to beg Francis to visit him.

Attributed to his intercession as he passed through Provence was the cure of many people sick from the plague afflicting the region at this time.

[13] Francis travelled to the king's residence, the Château de Plessis-lez-Tours (now within the village of La Riche), and was with him as he died.

Francis influenced many in the French church, particularly Jan Standonck, who founded the Collège de Montaigu along what he thought were Minimist lines.

[3] Francis followed a diet not only free from animal flesh, but also from all animal-derived foods, such as eggs and dairy products.

In 1515, King Louis XII died without a male heir and the throne went to Francis I, of the royal family's Valois-Angoulême branch.

Louise of Savoy and her spouse, the Count of Angoulême, who is almost certainly the figure depicted to the left of the bed, decided to name the child Francis in honor of the saint.

The young man entered his order and is the celebrated Nicholas Alesso who afterwards followed his uncle into France, and was famous for sanctity and many great actions.

The priest, annoyed by this great concern for a mere fish, threw the cooked trout on the ground, shattering it into several pieces.

Francis placed the pieces back in the pool and, looking up to Heaven and praying, said: 'Antonella, in the name of Charity, return to life.'

Being in need of food, the workmen caught and slaughtered Francis' pet lamb, Martinello, roasting it in their lime kiln.

Although the Minim order lost many of its monasteries in the 18th century during the French Revolution, it continues to exist, primarily in Italy.

[7] In 1562, a group of Protestant Huguenots in France broke open his tomb and found Francis' body incorrupt.

They dragged it forth, burned it and scattered the bones, which were recovered by Catholic faithful and distributed as relics to various churches of his order.