Prayer to Saint Francis Solanus — apostle of South America

Spanish Franciscan priest, born in Montilla (Córdoba) in 1549. A missionary for about twenty years in South America — in Tucumán, Paraguay and Peru — he devoted himself ardently to the indigenous peoples, learning their dialects. Franciscan tradition relates that he played the fiddle to praise God and draw the natives, and ascribes to him the gift of being understood by tribes of different tongues. In Lima he walked the streets and squares with a crucifix, preaching penance. He died in Lima on 14 July 1610. Canonised by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726, he is called the “wonder-worker of the New World.” Feast: 14 July.

O God, who filled Saint Francis Solanus with apostolic zeal and with joy in your presence, making him proclaim the Gospel to the peoples of America by word, by music and by a holy life: grant us, through his intercession, to proclaim your goodness with joy and simplicity, and to draw to you, more by witness than by words, those who do not yet know you. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be.