His father Francis was a knight of the Marquises of St. Catherine of Jonio, Papal Vice-Consul and Honorary Captain of the Navy.

Here under the guidance of his spiritual director, he was introduced to a devout life and he developed such love for the Eucharist that he was allowed to receive Holy Communion daily, something exceptional in those days.

[4] On 11 July 1909 he wrote to Pope Pius X: "From my youth I have devoted myself to the words of the Gospel: Pray therefore the Lord of the Harvest ...

In my charitable institutions, orphans, poor, priests and nuns, all pray incessantly to the loving Hearts of Jesus and Mary, to the Patriarch St. Joseph and to the Apostles, that they may provide the Holy Church with numerous and chosen laborers for the harvest of souls".

Upon discovering this, Archbishop Giuseppe Guarino discouraged him in his ideas, but encouraged him rather to stay in Avignone to continue working with the poor.

[2] With the blessing of his Archbishop and the encouragement of John Bosco he began an evening school for boys, a day kindergarten for girls from five to eight years old.

He was concerned that in his institutions the children were provided not only with food and prepared for a job, but more importantly that they would receive a solid moral and religious education.

With the help of those who were his most reliable collaborators - Pantaleone Palma and Francis Vitale - Di Francia was able to lay the groundwork of his male congregation, The Rogationist Fathers of the Heart of Jesus.

"What are these few orphans we attend to, these few people we bring the good news to, compared to the millions who are lost and abandoned as sheep without a shepherd?

The trial period was weathered successfully, having a healthy and vigorous effect on the community, and the women's congregation was put on a safe footing.

[3] He was noted for propagating the devotion of the "Servitude of Love" taught by Louis de Montfort and he embodied the spirit of complete abandonment into the hands of Mary.

His charity knew no bounds, and it was directed toward all those in need, including priests facing difficulties and cloistered nuns who often are forgotten by benefactors.

Many of his contemporaries, and among them Luigi Orione, requested that a formal cause for canonization be promptly started, but World War II put a temporary stop to the undertaking.

[7] In 1979 the Congress of Cardinals voted to begin the formal cause for beatification which began in Messina on 8 March 1980; at the same time the ecclesiastical tribunal set up a committee of historians.

On 21 December 1989 Pope John Paul II promulgated the Decree on the heroic virtue of the Servant of God.

Both the commission of theologians and the Congress of Cardinals and Bishops in July 1990 agreed upon the miraculous recovery of the girl and found that it was to be attributed to the intercession of the Hannibal Di Francia.

They work in institutions for orphans and abandoned children, schools for deaf and blind, homes for aged and pregnant girls, educational institutions and vocational schools, missions and parishes, religious printing houses and vocation centers which promote the ideals of Rogate.