Francesco Maria di Francia (19 February 1853 - 22 December 1913) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Capuchin Sisters of the Sacred Heart. He formed a close bond with his older brother (canonized in 2004) and the two studied together under a priest uncle. He tried music after experiencing doubts about his vocation but continued his studies leading to his ordination in Messina where he would spend his entire life ministering to people. He aided the ill during a cholera epidemic while in 1908 aiding in rescue and reconstruction efforts following a violent earthquake. Di Francia also taught moral theological studies to seminarians for a time before being given a role in archdiocesan curial affairs some months before his death from a heart attack. The beatification process for the late priest opened in the mid-1980s (he became titled as a Servant of God) after his order lobbied for a cause to be opened in the Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela archdiocese. The cause culminated on 19 March 2019 after Pope Francis acknowledged his life of heroic virtue and so titled him as Venerable. Life Francesco Maria di Francia was born on 19 February 1853 in Messina as the last of four children to the nobleman Francesco di Francia (c. 1818-10.10.1852) and Anna Toscano (c. 1829-1888). His father died just four months before his birth. His parents married around 1846. His older brother Annibale was canonized in 2004. He was baptized on 27 February 1853 in the names of "Maria Francesco di Paola" in honor of Francis of Paola. His siblings (in order) were his brother Giovanni and his sister Maria Caterina and then his brother Annibale. Both he and his older brother Annibale were first entrusted to an old aunt before being sent to the College of the Cistercian Fathers in Messina under the care of their paternal priest uncle Raffaele di Francia. It was he who oversaw his and his older brother Annibale's education due to his mother being unable to provide for all her children on her own. His brother was noted for being more like his father while he was noted for being more like his mother due to his affection and dedication. Their schooling under their uncle both instilled in them a desire to enter the priesthood but their mother opposed her two sons entering the priesthood (despite her own strong religious