BORGIA, FRANCIS (1510-1572), Roman Catholic saint, duke of Gandia, and general of the order of Jesuits, was born at Gandia (Valencia) on Oct. io, 151o, and from boyhood was re markable for his piety. Educated from his i2th year at Saragossa under the charge of his uncle the archbishop, he had begun to show a strong inclination towards the monastic life, when his father sent him in '528 to the court of Charles V. Here he married Eleanor de Castro, a Portuguese lady of high rank, was created marquis of Lombay, and was appointed master of the horse to the empress. He accompanied Charles on his African expedition in 1535, and also into Provence in 1536; and, on the death of the empress in 1539, he was deputed to convoy the body to the burial place in Granada. This sad duty confirmed his determination to leave the court, and also, should he survive his consort, to embrace the monastic life. On his return to Toledo he was made viceroy of Catalonia and commander of the order of St. James. At Bar celona, the seat of his government, he lived a life of great austerity until 1543, when, having succeeded his father in the dukedom, he resigned his viceroyalty. He now powerfully encouraged the recently founded Society of Jesus. At Gandia he built a Jesuit col lege; and on the death of Eleanor in 1546, he resolved to become himself a member of the society. A papal dispensation allowed him, in the interests of his young children, to retain his dignities and worldly possession for four years after taking the vows. In 155o he visited Rome, where he was received with every mark of distinction, and where he furnished the means for building the Collegium Romanum. Returning to Spain in 1551, he assumed the Jesuit habit, was ordained priest, and entered upon a life of penance and prayer. He refused a cardinal's hat, and at the com mand of Ignatius Loyola, he devoted himself to the work of itin erant preaching. In 1554 he was appointed commissary-general of the order in Spain, Portugal and the Indies. On the death of Lainez in '565, Francis Borgia was chosen to succeed him as third general of the Jesuits. So great was the progress of the society under his government that he has sometimes been called "its second founder." Borgia's ideal was a simple monasticism rather than a life of manifold and influential contact with the world. He died at Rome on Sept. 3o 1572. He was beatified by Urban VIII. in 1624, and canonized by Clement X. in 167i, his festival Viii. in 1624, and canonized by Clement X. in 167i, his festival being afterwards (1683) fixed by Innocent XI. for Oct. 1o.
Several works by St. Francis Borgia have been published, the prin cipal of these being a series of Exercises similar to the Exercitia Spirit ualia of Loyola, and a treatise Rhetorica Concionandi. The Opera Omnia were published at Brussels in 1675. His life was written (1592) by his confessor, Pedro de Ribadeneira. See A. M. Clarke, The Life of St. Francis Borgia 0894) P. Suan, St. Francois de Borgia (19o5), Histoire de St. Francois de Borgia (Iwo) ; C. C. Martindale, In God's Army, vol. ii. (1917) .