About the holy man Brother Francis of Suriano, priest and preacher

Brother Francis was from a place called Suriano situated in the mountains of Viterbo. He was born to honest parents. As a child he went to school and became quite well versed in positive grammar. Then he approached some lords and for some years attended their courts in Rome. He was quite well involved in the vanities of the world. However, as it pleased the Lord God, when he turned about eighteen years of age, he began to understand the dangerous situation of the courts. To put an end to many sins he began to go to confession often and to attend the most holy sacraments. Because of this God enlightened him that he should leave the world straight away. He became a Friar in the Franciscan Order, taking up the habit of the Zoccolanti.

While often in holy contemplation, he gave himself to austerity with so much fervour that, because of the way he taxed his memory, his head became so weak that some time he stayed fifteen days without any, or very little, sleep at all. Worrying that he would lose his mind he abstained from study. Because of this he did not make great progress in letters. Nonetheless when those Fathers saw his fair talent and quite good intelligence, they made him a preacher. However, because of that infirmity he did not want to exercise such an office. As it pleased the Lord God, when he was in the fraternity of a little house where there was a simple, very devout Guardian, a feast-day came. The Guardian enjoined on him to do the sermon in a castle near the friary. Brother Francis complained to the Guardian and said to him, “Father Guardian, you know my situation well and yet you impose on me to preach.” The Guardian replied, “I did it with good intent. However, if you cannot do it, leave it.” When Brother Francis later thought that he lacked obedience he returned to the Guardian and said to him, “Father, enjoin me to preach. I do not want to go against obedience. If it is your will, I will do what you want.” He replied, “It is my will, my son, and I believe that a little exercise will do you good. Go with the blessing of God because obedience will help you.” Therefore he went and God so cooperated with him that he gave a sermon that amazed the world. It was truly a work of God because neither he nor the Friars would ever have been aware of the beautiful gift he had received from God of preaching as well as his beautiful natural disposition. However Brother Francis was very encouraged by this and the Superiors from then on wanted him to preach. This is just what I heard from his own mouth because I was very well acquainted with him for many years. He told me that he preached Lent, Advent and all the feast-days for fourteen years continuously, always in the lowly places in order to feel surer of himself.

When the Capuchin Congregation came along he burned with an incredible fervour to observe his profession perfectly. When he heard that Father Bernardine of Asti had become a Capuchin he didn’t want to wait any longer. He came and Father Louis of Fossombrone received him. He was no sooner clothed that already being a preacher he began to preach with such fervour that in his day he was regarded as the best preacher in Italy.

He was not very learned, none the less from practice he had such a good grasp of the sciences it was as if he had been educated in them. When learned men who did not know him listened to him preach so highly, they regarded him as the best philosopher and theologian in the world. He managed to harmonise philosophy with the Scriptures and theology in the pulpit that he amazed the world. He preached in the leading cities of Italy and nearly always conducted his sermon for three hours. His preaching was so good that it seemed it only lasted half an hour. Sometimes he had twenty five thousand people at his sermon. His voice was so resounding and good that the one who stood at the back heard as well as the one near the pulpit. He used to reprimand so forcefully that when they left his sermon all they went home astonished. They were so much in suspense and frightened that that they could not longer take to temporal matters. He had the Prayer of the Forty Hours better organised than Father Joseph of Ferno for when the Hour was over, he gave a brief sermon to all parties and had them all embrace one another and reconcile together. The Lord God gave him so much power that there was no reconciliation that he could not effect by being able to bring them to the Prayer. When the Prayer was over the entire city had been restored to peace. Always at the end of his sermon he used to turn towards the crucifix. He would speak to it so fervently, sometimes for the space of an hour, with such powerful words that there would not be anyone that didn’t weep copiously, no matter how worldly, cruel and hard he was. He so lifted up people’s hearts that that wherever he preached they became so frightened that they abandoned the shops and their duties. They didn’t attend anything except confession, Holy Communion and going to churches and fraternities. His name was such that it spread throughout all of Italy and he nearly always went preaching, having been sought by the cities or the Protector of the Order or by His Holiness. Through his sermons the Lord God produced the greatest fruit in the restitution of goods, the conversion of prostitutes, many young people who left the world and became Friars, and great reconciliations. On the Island of Sicily especially he preached for about three years in all the principal cities with such acceptance that it seemed as though the time of the Messiah had returned. For because the cities and areas where he preached were a long way from one another, all the Confraternities from all around got moving and one saw, especially on feastdays, four or five thousand people come from all those regions. The people had such devotion and faith in him that all those who had sick and possessed put them on the roads where he had to pass. As he passed nearly all of them were freed with the sign of the cross. Once he had to pass along a road where there was a church with two exits so that it was possible to go via the church or along the road. However when the preacher arrived they brought a possessed woman into the church thinking that he had to pass by the Church. Wonderful God! None of here relatives were aware that the preacher went by outside along the road. However they did know by the power of God because those spirits began to cry out immediately, “Here is our enemy, the one who flails us continuously. We cannot stay here any longer.” Straightaway she was perfectly freed. He did similar such things countless times.

There is no tongue that can describe the great things he did regarding the restitution of goods and the leaving of concubines as well as other great sins. I want to put on paper just one example of this that he told me himself. There was a very rich Abbot who was engulfed in every kind of vice, but what was important was that he kept a concubine publicly and by whom he had children. It was great scandal to everyone. It happened by the providence of God that when the wretch heard about the great fame of this holy man he decided to listen to him, although he never went to sermons and cared little about anything spiritual. In the first sermon he was so struck by God through the words or the preacher that like the sinful woman Magdalen he was completely prepared to leave all his vice. The words of the preacher were all the more effective. For he knew that the preacher could not have know good or bad about him because he had never seen him before and also because he was the one who initiated that he preach in that church. As soon as the Abbot sat down, the preacher – as if he knew him – fixed his eye upon him and told him all his vices one by one without looking at or indicating with his hand anyone else except the Abbot. With frightening words that he would go to hell and other words of terror, he felt as though he were before the tribunal of Christ and that the words came from the severe judge himself and not from the preacher. Because of this he was so terrified that when everyone left the church after the sermon the Abbot remained alone in his seat. He was so dumbstruck and frightened that he forgot about going home, but like a many outside himself he stayed there weeping. With great effort his relatives brought him home. The preacher heard of this and returning to the sermon the following morning to make him ready, in the middle of the sermon he made an important recommendation to all the people. Then turning the Abbot he said, “Although I believe all of you will cooperate in this good work, nonetheless I hope above all in the Lord Abbot. For because he is a good religious and because of the good Christian he is he will not fail his duty.” This act so pleased everyone that when the sermon was over the Abbot sent word to him. “Say to the preacher I not only offer this alms but all my goods with which he may do whatever he wants.” Speaking with him later the preacher had him leave the concubine and made arrangements for the children. He dedicated himself to a holy and religious life. Up until his death he disposed of all his goods to the poor.

I only wanted to give this example so that the countless other (great things) he did might be considered.

Such was the beautiful grace of this holy man in his preaching and his fine intelligence in improvisation, he efficacious pronunciation, his attitude towards things, his strong arguments in persuading and dissuading, his vehemence in reproving, his embellishment against the vices, his ability to strike the breast and hearts of sinners, to hammer their hearts, to plunge them into the depths of fear, to submerse them in hell, to magnify the virtues, to give encouragement to everyone to follow them, to lift up the good to paradise. No pen could write, no tongue could say how many this servant God drew from the depths of hell and directed them on the way of the holy virtues.

More than his other countless abilities he had this one. With his stirring words he could gladden the hearts of people in the depths of grief and on the other hand in the midst of laughter he could have them pour out tears of sorrow. He was so fluent and persuasive in his speech that could offer the hope of salvation to any desperate person no matter how desperate or crude he was. On the other hand, when he was preaching about the justice of God with terrifying words he would expound on it with such terror that there was no man, however holy he was, for whom he did not open the gates of hell and made him afraid of falling in there.

Equally he had a fine presence and physical appearance. He was not very tall and had an imperishable memory and gracious face with a full, long beard. His voice was so resonant that once when he was preaching in the city of Perugia where I was present he turned towards the crucifix and gave a fervent speech for an hour. Just when everyone thought he had run out of breath, he gave forth with such a voice that Brother Bernardine, his companion told me, “For many years I have been his companion at the most frightening sermons. Nonetheless I tell you I have never heard one that has frightened me more than this one. I believe his voice would have lifted the tiles off the roof, so to speak, because I heard that booming come out of the church as if it were artillery.”

The Lord God also often gave him the spirit of prophecy in his reprimands. Once he was preaching in the city of Terni where there was a great moneylender. He had become very wealthy from it. The holy man gave the usual exhortations so that he might come out from the claws of Lucifer. However, when he saw him so hardened, he finally gave him such a veiled rebuke that the usurer understood very well via many familiar discussions about it that they had together that he was referring to him. The holy man came to such a fervour and almost elevated in ecstasy said to him, “O you rich man, you will go to hell. Everything you have is from usury. You have not used your time for the salvation of your soul but to strip the poor of their substance. Hear what I tell you. God has justly deprived you of any time to be able to reconsider because you will die like a dog without having time to say ‘Jesus’. Wonderful God! Shortly afterwards the moneylender was talking in the garden with some of friends. The weather was fine and there was not rain with the exception of a few little clouds visible in the sky. He was struck by lightning in such a way that he could not be recognised by any of his remains. Rather, his body was like a burnt lump of wood. Within a very few days all his goods went to ruin as if the devil had taken them.

Another time he was preaching at Forli where I was present. His fervour grew and turning around he began to speak to a certain wealthy man. He said, “Reconsider yourself, rich man. You will die tonight.” He repeated the same words many times. The rich man happily ate with his family and went of to rest. In the middle of the night a catarrh came over him. His relative ran to get the doctor but before the doctor arrived he dropped dead.

When he was preaching in the city of Perugia, at the end he made a reprimand that went for about an hour. Turning towards the Cardinal Legate at the time he was so terrifying that it seem the whole church shuddered. He became so red in the face that it seemed the brightness of a flaming fire issued from his face. When he came down from the pulpit I accompanied him to the room where he was staying. I was worrying that he may have scandalised the Monsignor and said to him, “Father, you went a little too far this morning. You should have had more respect for the Monsignor.” He answered, “O, what did I do?” I said, “Goodness! You have never done a reprimand as that of this morning.” The servant of God answered, “Nor was I afraid of scandalising his Lordship. Know that I was unaware of it, for during that fervour it was not me speaking. My tongue spoke without me. Overwhelmed by the Spirit I was outside of myself. He used my body.” It was something amazing. Although the Monsignor liked all the sermons very much, both he and the people liked that one more than the others. The Cathedral was so full that one could not have thrown a millet seed to the ground. Because of the size of the crowd no one was able to sit. Instead they all stood up. That morning it was estimated that twenty five thousand people were in Saint Laurence’s.

When the sermons were near their end his companion told me secretly, “I wonder if the Father Preacher may have to undergo some great tribulation.” When I asked him what moved him to say this, he answered, “God has revealed it, though obscurely, in a vision. God showed me the Preacher at the top of a very high tree with an axe in his hand. He was cutting off all he branches of the tree. When he finished he as very happy at the top of the tree. Inwardly I heard, “Know that Soriano has finished pruning the vine.” He didn’t understand these words for since he was being snared by certain rivals he thought it meant that Soriano would be victorious. However the opposite happened because he was deprived of preaching for about fourteen years. The vision was understood later. He had finished his course but the Lord God then wanted to pay him with that coin with which His Majesty usually pays all his servants in this world. This is how he paid the holy Apostles. When they had finished the course of their preaching he allowed that they all be martyred in order to glorify them more and reward them. This is what he did for this faithful servant of his who had served him faithfully for so many years. He wanted to pay him with a very great tribulation.

The same thing happened to him when he was returning from Sicily to go to preach at Naples, which the Father General had enjoined on him. He boarded the boat in excellent weather. When it was almost in the middle of the gulf of Messina called the Faro Gulf the demons he had cast out from human bodies set upon him such a great storm. Given the beautiful weather everyone thought was not natural but truly diabolical. Finding himself therefore in the vessel with many persons, in such danger from the waves of the sea that everyone believed that they were lost the servant of God approached the helmsman. He said to him, “Can you save me?” He answered, “Father, it will be hard enough to save myself.” He had no sooner said these words than a large wave came that more than half filled the vessel with water. When the servant of God saw this he commended himself to the Lord. He said to Him, “My Lord, if I may serve you fro some further length of time, may it please you to free me along with these other poor people here. However, if you want my body to be food for the fish as punishment for my sins and for your greater glory, may your will be done. I only pray you for these other poor people that it may please you to save them and to receive my soul into the arms of your mercy.” What an amazing thing! He had no sooner said these words in his mind than a huge wave swamped the boat again with such great fury and took that servant of God and his companion. For a good length of time he sat upon the water as easily as if he were sitting out in a pleasant field. As he told me himself, when he saw himself borne so easily by the water, he said, “God is good. I am fine.” In a flash he was carried on the waters without getting very wet and to the seashore. Worrying about whether his companion had drowned, he saw him coming wrapped in his mantle floating on the water just like a block of wood. It was a greater miracle that none of the seculars there perished. Rather, all were brought to safety. The boat had gone to the bottom of the sea, and yet a little later fortune righted it and thus brought it to safety. The greatest miracle was this. The books didn’t get wet, but because they were in a bag proofed with wax it floated to shore as if it were a board. Everyone regarded this as a miracle from God, that through the prayers of his servant He rescued so many persons and without loss of anyone’s things.

He then arrived in Naples and preached there a long time with such great approval and a harvest of souls that everyone said, “If an Apostle came, what more could he do than him?”

There was no shortage of plots, for he was often given poison and God saved him miraculously. I saw this myself. He was preaching in a city in the Province of Saint Francis. Because of the great reprimands he had given to certain dishonest persons, a little flask of poisoned wine was given to his companion in my presence. The person said to him, “Give this wine to the Preacher because it is very good. It is an old vernaccia.” His companion replied, “Will it be suitable for Mass?” The malfactor said, “It isn’t good for Mass. Give it to the Preacher.” Being a prudent man, the companion suspected that it had been poisoned. He went to the doctor who tested it and found the worst poison in it.

I could not express with words just how many plots this servant of God suffered. May these that I have put down be enough for one to know how saintly he was in tolerating so many evils patiently for the love of God, and how dear his life was to God who had preseverd him amid so many perils.

I do not intend to say just how zealous he was in the observance of the Rule and how he was one of great prayer. Although he was preaching he ordinarily spent four or five hours a night in mental and vocal prayer.

Finally, when it pleased the Lord God to reward this man who had served him amid so many struggles, after he had preached in Saint Laurence in Damaso, after the sermon he received obedience to go and preach in Naples. Setting our on the journey, since he was old and not very healthy, he fell so gravely ill that it was necessary to return to Rome. The sickness deteriorated. Ready, full of merits and having received all the most holy sacraments, that holy soul passed away to it creator. He was buried in the friary in Rome.

Not long after he appeared to Brother Joseph in the Friary of Saint Agatha in Gallese. He told him that he was blessed and revealed to him many other things.

I am not writing down his other miracles for having spoken of them briefly in the telling of his story.

To the prause and glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ and his most fair Mother and of Father Saint Francis. Amen.