Felix of Cantalice

Felix of Cantalice, O.F.M. Cap. , was born onMay 1515 to peasant parents in Cantalice, Italy, in the central Italian region of Lazio. Canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712, he was the first Capuchin friar to be named a saint.

Felix was the third of four sons born to Santi and Santa Porri. They were poor farmers. At about the age of ten, Felix was hired out first as a shepherd to a family at Cittducale, where he later worked as a farm hand. Until the age of twentyeight he worked as a farm laborer and shepherd. He developed the habit of praying while he worked. Toward the end of autumn 1543, Felix entered the newly founded Capuchin friars as a lay brother at the Citta Ducale friary in the municipality of Anticoli Corrado. It is said that he was well noted for his piety. In 1547 he was sent to Rome as quaestor of the Capuchin Friary of St. Bonaventure, where he spent his remainingyears begging alms to help in the friars work of aiding the sick and the poor.

Source: Wikipedia