His body was charred on April 14, 193 in the fire of the Church of the Casa Profesa de los Jesuítas in Madrid.
The Archdiocese will declare a Jubilee Year and the Provincial Council a Cultural Year dedicated to the one who was the third superior general of the Society of Jesus.
On April 12, 1671, Pope Clement IV canonized Francisco de Borja y Aragón, IV Duke of Gandía. This Monday marks the 350th anniversary of his elevation to the altars, which has prompted a priest of Gandía, Pedro Miret, parish priest of San Francisco de Borja de Valencia, to be remembered and celebrated his figure and work, important in the history of Valencia. Miret tested the initial idea with the parish, estates and places related to the saint (Valencia, Turís, Llombay, Gandía, Compañía de Jesús, Arzobispado) who saw the initiative as good.
As the personality of Saint Francisco de Borja was not only religious, spiritual or ecclesial and having stood out from the historical, cultural, political and social point of view, contact was made with the Provincial Council of Valencia, which also considered the join the reminder, where appropriate from the cultural perspective and perspective.
In this way, the Church will declare a Jubilee Year of San Francisco de Borja, which will run from next October to October 2022, the Cardinal Archbishop of Valencia, Antonio Cañizares Lloveras, who has seen the proposal with pleasure, will sign a Decree establishing the Borgian jubilee year, as well as establishing the list of pilgrimage temples.
For its part, the Valencia Provincial Council will organize and convene cultural events, as well as prepare publications, where memory is made not only of the saint, but also of the importance of the Borja in La Safor and their time, as well as everything concerning Gandía and its area of influence. The Ducal Palace of the Borja in Gandía will be the focus and center of greatest attention in this cultural year, which will almost coincide with the religious one, since this year the 350th anniversary of his canonization is celebrated, but next year it will be the 450th anniversary of his death. .
San Francisco de Borja was born in Gandía and died in Rome. He was superior general of the Society of Jesus, the third superior general of the Order since its foundation. His biographer Tom Rochford, SJ, relates that Francisco Borja (1510-1572) renounced his immense wealth, his power and the privileges of a Spanish nobleman, to enter the Society of Jesus, where his experience elevated him to authority, until he was the third general of the young Company.
Eldest son of the third Duke of Gandía, Borja had been born in the palace that the family had in Valencia. His great-grandfather on his father’s side was Pope Alexander VI. And his mother’s grandfather was King Ferdinand the Catholic. Like other young men of the nobility, he had been prepared for court life, and in 1522 he had been appointed page of his cousin Catherine, sister of Emperor Charles V, who invited him back to court once he had finished three years of studies in philosophy. In 1529 he married the Portuguese Leonor de Castro, Empress Isabel’s first lady of company. Borja, at the age of 20, received the honor of being appointed by the Emperor Marquis de Llombay, and of being placed in charge of the imperial house. In the 10 years that followed Francisco and Eleanor had eight children and lived in close proximity to Carlos and Isabel, until the empress died unexpectedly on May 1, 1539.
Conversion before the corpse of the Queen
His death was decisive for Borja’s conversion when he accompanied the funeral procession to the place of his burial in the royal chapel of Granada. When the coffin was opened, it was not the beautiful face of the 36-year-old queen that came into view, but an unrecognizable face. No longer wishing to serve any lord who might die, he began to dedicate himself to prayer and penance.
Upon his return from Granada, he received the appointment of viceroy of Catalonia, in June 1539, and became the fourth Duke of Gandía when his father died four years later. He returned to the family palace to administer his estates, but upon the death of his wife Eleanor on March 27, 1546, he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to the service of God. He knew the Jesuits, having founded a college of the Company in Gandía and being a personal friend of Pedro Fabro, whom he asked to inform Ignacio of his decision. Ignacio welcomed him to the Society, but recommended that he not say anything to anyone until he had settled things with his children and had finished studying theology. Meanwhile the founder of the Company recommended to the duke that he continue to live as an aristocrat. Francisco made his vows as a Jesuit on February 1, 1548, and on August 20, 1550, he obtained a doctorate in theology at the university founded by himself.
Taking advantage of the fact that 1550 was the Holy Year, Francis organized a pilgrimage to Rome to meet Ignatius and make plans for his public entry into the Company. He left his house in Gandía to never see her again. And he stayed at the Jesuit residence in Rome, with Ignatius, instead of accepting the offer of Pope Julius III to stay in the “Borgia apartments” of the Vatican. After living as a Jesuit from late October to early February 1551, he returned to Spain where he renounced his title in favor of his son Carlos. As soon as he received the letter from the emperor accepting his resignation, Francisco donned the Jesuit cassock. He was ordained a priest on May 23 and celebrated his first Mass in the chapel of the Loyola manor house.
For some years Borja worked as a simple parish priest. In 1554 he received the appointment of General Commissioner for Spain, with power over the provinces of Spain and Portugal. He founded the first novitiate in Spain in Simancas, and erected more than 20 colleges. He did not attend the first general congregation, convened almost two years after Ignatius’ death, but returned to Rome in 1561 at the request of Pope Pius IV. He was elected vicar general when Diego Laynez, Ignatius’s successor in the generalate, had to attend the last session of the Council of Trent. On Laynez’s return Borja was appointed assistant for Spain and Portugal, and finally chosen to succeed Laynez when he died in 1565.
Borja was a general of the Society for seven years and devoted himself to revising the rules of the Society, to extending the missions of India and the two Americas, and taking care of the growth of the young religious order. His last mission was to accompany Cardinal Michele Bonelli to Spain who was making one last effort to ensure that Spain would help against the Turks. The two ecclesiastics left Rome in June 1571 and arrived in Barcelona towards the end of August. Borja was overwhelmed by the reception that the people gave him, who had known him as a nobleman and celebrated that he had chosen the religious life. Borja left Spain in December to continue his diplomatic mission in France, but fell ill with fever and pleurisy, due to abnormally cold weather. He had to stay in Turin for weeks on his way to Rome, and then he stayed with some relatives in Ferrara for the summer. He finally set out for Rome on September 3, 1572, crawling into bed upon arrival. Father General’s last illness lasted three days, and he died at the age of 61 on the night of September 30.
Enrique García Hernán tells that the corpse of San Francico de Borja was transferred to Spain by order of the Duke of Lerma and was kept in the Casa Profesa in Madrid until it was charred in the assault and fire of the Church of the Jesuits on 14 April 1931, saving only a few relics.
– .
