FraiicLs of Borgia, a Jesuit and saint of the Ro- man Catholic Church, was a Spanisli nobleman, born in Valencia in 1510. After a careful education he be- came a courtier of the reign of Charles V, but was turned to a religious life by the solemn circumstances attending the funeral of the empress Isabella, after which he became a disciple of Ignatius Loyola, and was appointed by him to preach the Gospel in Spain and Portugal. On the deatii of Lainez in 1565, he was elected general of the order of .Jesuits. He is the author of many ascetic writings, and contributed much to the perfection of the organization of the Jesuits. He would have been made ])ope on the death of Pius y, had not the state of his heaUli prevented it. Fran- cis of Borgia died at Rome in 1572, and was canonized liy Clement IX in 1671. See Vie de S. Francois de Borijia, by Verjus, afVr Ribadaneira (1672, 4to) ; Cre- tineau-Joly, Histoire de la Comp. de Jesus (vols, i, ii). The writings of Francis were tanslated into Latin liy the Jesuit Deza (Brux. 1675, fol.). — Hoefer, Now. Biog. Gin. xviii, 487.
Francis of Paula, founder of the order of Minims, was born at Paula, in Calabria, in 1416. He was lironght up in a Franciscan convent at St. Mark, where he distinguished himself bv rigid asceticism. In or- der to exceed St. Francis himself in austerity of life, he retired to a cell on the desert part of the coast, where he soon obtained followers, built a monastery in 1436, and thus commenced a new order, called Herrmis of St. Francis. Sixtus IV confirmed the statutes, and
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named Francis superior general, 1474. He enjoined on liis disciples a total abstinence from wine, flesh, and fish; besides which, tiicy were always to s:o barefoot, and never to sleep on a bed. Alexander VI changed the iKunc of the order to Minims, as better expressing the liiiniility professed by the new monks. Francis died at riessis-les-Tours, in France, April 2, 1507, and was canonized by Leo X. Francis was in high favor with J.ouis XI, Charles VIII, and Louis XII of France, and establislied many houses of his order in that kingdom, where thej' are called Bons Ilommes. — Iloefer, jXouv. Biog. Gemrale, xviii, 489 ; Hilarian de Coste, Le Portrait en petit de St. Francois de Paul (I'aris, 105.".).
Francis of Sales (Saint) was born near Annecy, Aug. 21, 1507, and was carefull}' educated at the col- leges of La Roche and Annecy. He want to Paris in 1578, and studied with great success at a Jesuit col- lege ; afterwards he studied law at Padua. But in 1590, much to the regret of his parents, he devoted himself to the Church, and in 1593 was ordained priest. For some years he was employed in " converting" the Protestants in Savoy, and in 1599 he got the duke of Savo}' to expel the Protestant ministers from several districts. He promised Beza a cardinal's hat if he would turn Roman Catholic. In return for this ser- vice he was made coadjutor-bishop of Geneva ; and on the death of the bishop of Geneva Francis succeeded him, and redoubled his zeal for the reform of the dio- cese and the monasteries. He instituted, in connec- tion with ISIadam de Chantal, the Order of the Visita- tion at Annecj- in 1010. He died at Lj'ons, Nov.28, 1G22, and was canonized in 1G65. The Roman writers report the number of converts to Popery through his means as 72,000. His writings are published in a complete edition under the title O'luvres de St. Fran- cois de Sales (Paris, 1823, C vols. 8vo ; another edition, Paris, 1834, 16 vols.). The abbe ]\Iigne has published a new edition, 7 vols, royal 8vo (!8('il sq.). His Traite de V amour de Dieu (On the Love of God), and his Phi- lotliea, or Introduction a la vie devote, are greatly ad- mired, have passed through scores of editions in French, and are translated into most of the European languages. There are man}' lives of him ; the latest are Ilamon, Vie de St. Francois de Sales (Paris, 1854, 2 vols. 8vo), and Perennes, Hist, de St. Francois de *S!ales (Paris, 1864, 2 vols.).
Francis Xavier. See Xavier. • Francis, Converse, D.D., a Unitarian minister, was born in AVet t Cambridge, ISIass., in 1796, and was educated at Harvard, where he passed A.B. in 1815. After completing his theological course at the divinity school in Cambridge, he became (1819) pastor of the Unitarian church in Watertown, Mass., where he re- mained until 1812, when he was made Parkman pro- fessor of ))nl])!t okKpience and pastoral care at Cam- bridge, lie filled this post accoptablv until his death, April 7, 1863. He published T/ie j)fe rf .John Flint, Apostle to the hulirms (18:16), in Sparks's Collection of American Biography ; several memoirs in the Collec- tions of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a number of occasional discourses. He was also a fre- que)it contributor to periodicals. — Appleton, Annual Cychpmlia, 1863, p. 202.
Francis I, king of France, son of Charles of Or- leans, count of An^oulenie, and Louisa of Savo}', was horn at Cognac Sept. 12, 1194, and died at Rambouillet March 31, 1547. He came to tlie throne on the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII, Jan. 1, 1515. He made a concordat with pope Leo X which sacrificed the in- dependence of the Galilean Church, and was resisted by the Parliament of France until its registry was comiielled hy the arbitrary measures of Francis. In 15r.» lie was a candidate fot the imperial throne of Germnny, made vacant by the death of Maximilian II, but was beaten by Charles V, and thereafter gave