Saint Francesco was born in Paola, Calabria, Italy on March 27, 1416. The numerous miracles that he performed during and after his life led him to be canonized in 1519 by Pope Leo X. Of the many towns in Calabria, Altomaone, our home town, was one of the first that believed so deeply in San Francesco that they built a church in his honor.

Because of our prayers, devotion and faith, we have received the miracle of being a cancer survivor. For this we reason wanted to bring the original statue of San Francesco to our own church. We have since replicated the statue so that we can celebrate and share our devotion to him every year with our fellow parishioners, and Christians here in America.