Annibale Maria di Francia

Annibale Maria Di Francia was born on 5 July 1851 in Messina, Sicily, then in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, to a family of the local nobility. His father, Francesco Di Francia, of the marquises of Santa Caterina, died while Annibale was still an infant, and he was raised by his mother, Anna Toscano. From childhood he showed a marked religious sensibility, devotion to the Eucharist and to the Virgin Mary, and an early concern for the poor of his city. After studies in Messina he discerned a vocation to the diocesan priesthood and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Messina on 16 March 1878.

Shortly after ordination he encountered a blind beggar, Francesco Zancone, an episode that drew him into the impoverished Avignone quarter of Messina. There he began a lifelong apostolate among orphans, abandoned children, and the destitute, establishing homes that he placed under the protection of Saint Anthony of Padua. In the Gospels he found what he regarded as a divine command, the Rogate of Matthew 9:38 and Luke 10:2, that the Lord of the harvest be asked to send laborers into his harvest. This verse became the spiritual center of his life. He taught that vocations to the priesthood and to consecrated life must be obtained first of all by prayer, and he spent decades promoting that Rogate among clergy, religious, and laity.

To give lasting form to the work he founded two religious congregations. In 1887 he established the Daughters of Divine Zeal, women dedicated to prayer for vocations and to the care of orphans and the needy. In 1897 he founded the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus, a congregation of men with the same charism. Both institutes joined contemplative prayer for vocations to active works of charity, especially the education of abandoned children. Di Francia also built the shrine of Saint Anthony in Messina as a center of the Anthonian and Rogationist apostolate and sought papal encouragement for the spread of prayer for vocations.

The earthquake of 28 December 1908 devastated Messina. Di Francia survived and devoted himself to relief and reconstruction, continuing to shelter orphans amid the ruins. He remained in the city for the rest of his life, governing his congregations and writing on the Rogate. He died in Messina on 1 June 1927. Pope John Paul II beatified him on 7 October 1990 and canonized him on 16 May 2004. The Catholic Church keeps his feast on 1 June. He is remembered as an apostle of prayer for vocations and as a father of orphans in Sicily.