Saint francis borgia biography

Francis Borgia () gave up incredible wealth, power and privilege as a Spanish nobleman to enter the Society of Jesus where his experience brought him to leadership as the third superior general of the young Society of Jesus. The oldest son of the third duke of Gandía, Borgia was born in the family palace in Valencia. His great grandfather on his father's side was Pope Alexander VI, and his mother's grandfather was King Ferdinand the Catholic.

Like other young nobles he was trained for life at court and in was appointed page to his cousin Catherine, the sister of Emperor Charles V who invited him back to court after he studied philosophy for three years. In he married Leonor de Castro of Portugal, Empress Isabella's first lady-in-waiting. The 20 year-old Borgia was honored by the Emperor who named him Marquis of Llombai and placed him in charge of the imperial household. During the next 10 years Francis and Eleanor had eight children and lived in great familiarity with Charles and Isabella until the Empress unexpectedly died May 1,

Her death led directly to Borgia's conversion when Francis accompanied the funeral cortege to the burial place in the royal chapel in Granada. When the coffin was opened, he saw not the beautiful face of the year-old queen but a face beyond recognition. Not wanting to serve another master who would die, he began to devote himself to prayer and penance.

After he returned from Granada, he was appointed Viceroy of Catalonia in June and then became the fourth duke of Gandía after his father died four years later. He returned to the family palace to manage his estates, but when his wife Leonor died March 27, , he resolved to dedicate the rest of his life to God's service. He was familiar with the Jesuits, having founded a Jesuit college in Gandía and being a personal friend of Father Peter Favre whom he asked to inform Ignatius of his decision. Ignatius welcomed him into the Society but recommended that he tel

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(Spanish FRANCISCO DE BORJA Y ARAGON )

Francis Borgia, born 28 October, , was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; died 30 September, The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry. His grandfather, Juan Borgia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome on 14 June, , by an unknown hand, which his family always believed to be that of Cæsar Borgia. Rodrigo Borgia, elected pope in under the name of Alexander VI, had eight children. The eldest, Pedro Luis, had acquired in the hereditary Duchy of Gandia in the Kingdom of Valencia, which, at his death, passed to his brother Juan, who had married Maria Enriquez de Luna. Having been left a widow by the murder of her husband, Maria Enriquez withdrew to her duchy and devoted herself piously to the education of her two children, Juan and Isabel. After the marriage of her son in , she followed the example of her daughter, who had entered the convent of Poor Clares in Gandia, and it was through these two women that sanctity entered the Borgia family, and in the House of Gandia was begun the work of reparation which Francis Borgia was to crown. Great-grandson of Alexander VI, on the paternal side, he was, on his mother's side, the great-grandson of the Catholic King Ferdinand of Aragon. This monarch had procured the appointment of his natural son, Alfonso, to the Archbishopric of Saragossa at the age of nine years. By Anna de Gurrea, Alfonso had two sons, who succeeded him in his archiepiscopal see, and two daughters, one of whom, Juana, married Duke Juan of Gandia and became the mother of our saint. By this marriage Juan had three sons and four daughters. By a second, contracted in , he had five sons and five daughters. The eldest of all and heir t

Grandee of Spain and Jesuit priest (–)

For other uses, see Francisco de Borja (disambiguation).

Francis BorgiaSJ (Valencian: Francesc de Borja; Spanish: Francisco de Borja; 28 October – 30 September ) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander&#;VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his wife, Borgia renounced his titles and became a priest in the Society of Jesus, later serving as its third superior general. He was canonized on 20 June by Pope Clement X.

Early life

He was born in the Duchy of Gandía in the Kingdom of Valencia (part of Crown of Aragon), on 28 October His father was Juan Borgia, 3rd Duke of Gandía, the son of Giovanni Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). His mother was Juana, daughter of Alonso de Aragón, Archbishop of Zaragoza, who, in turn, was the illegitimate son of King Ferdinand II of Aragon. His brother, Tomás de Borja y Castro, also entered the Church, becoming Bishop of Málaga, and later Archbishop of Zaragoza.

As a child he was very pious and wished to become a monk, but his family sent him instead to serve in the court of his second uncle Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (who was also King Charles I of Spain), where he was welcomed warmly. He excelled there, accompanying the Emperor on

Francis Borgia, the third superior general of the Society of Jesus, “is a little–known and poorly understood saint,” writes Cándido de Dalmases (who previously wrote a biography of St. Ignatius of Loyola). Born into Spanish royalty, Borgia became a key advisor to Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor (and king of Spain). After the death of his wife in , Borgia completed the Spiritual Exercises and then asked to join the then–obscure Society of Jesus. De Dalmases chronicles his rise to the post of superior general and assesses the charge that because his character was molded in such a rarified milieu, Borgia never succeeded in assimilating to the Society’s spirit. This volume also details Borgia’s far–reaching administrative decisions as superior general, and the expansion of the Society to Asia and the Americas under his leadership.