June 4 + Saint Francis Caracciolo

Francis was born of a royal family in the Kingdom of Naples. As a little boy he started reciting the rosary daily. Very early in his life he contracted a troublesome skin disease resembling leprosy, and was miraculously cured of it. He spent every possible moment of his life in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. While kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, his face blazed with light, which everyone could see. His favorite devotion was visiting the Blessed Sacrament in unfrequented churches, where few people came.

In 1588, Francis founded the Clerics Regular, whose main work was the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He died when only 44 years old, on the eve of Corpus Christi. His last words were, “Let us go, let us go to Heaven!”

When his body was opened after death, his blood spouted a red and scented fluid and his vital organs were incorrupt. Francis' heart was found as if it were burnt up, and these words imprinted around it: "Zelus domus Tuæ comedit me" — "The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up."