A Florentine merchant with a bright future, Blessed Alexis Falconieri left everything, family and business, to found with his seven friends, united “as one man”, the mendicant order of the servants of Mary. He died the last of them, at the age of 110. The Church celebrates it on February 17.
There are two peoples in Florence in the 13th century: the popolo grasso , the fat people who live up to their name, that of the political, financial and commercial elites who tend to blend together, and the minuto , the common people, all the others. The gulf that separates them is a source of tension because the artisans who wear themselves out on their work and without whom the rich would have nothing to sell are rising up. As if these social divisions were not enough, the Florentines were divided between Guelphs, supporters of the Pope, and Ghibellines, supporters of the Germanic emperor . These factions continue to succeed one another at the head of the city, banishing, sometimes for life, the supporters of the other camp, generating tenacious hatred.
The seven friends
And then, there are the wars with rival cities… The atmosphere is often heavy and life is dangerous. It was in a palace with blind walls to protect against a possible attack, barricaded on its riches, that Alexios (Alessio) Falconieri was born in 1200, son of Bernardo, a great merchant who made his fortune in manufacturing and export. very high-end wool sheets, a local specialty. When Alessio comes into the world, the Guelphs govern Florence and this is better since his father is on their side. Among the Falconieri, we are rich but good Christians; the money is used to help the poor and charities; we remain humble because everything comes from God and all are equal before Him. Piety and prayer life are not feigned.
As a teenager, Alessio joined one of the city’s brotherhoods, the most Marian, that of the laudesi which is dedicated to praising and honoring Our Lady. There he met boys of his age who shared his devotion and commitments, becoming especially close with six of them, Bonfliglio Monaldo, Giovanni Manetti, Benito dell’Antella, Bartolomeo Amidei, Ricovero Ugocionni and Gerardino Sostegni. Their common piety does not prevent them, as they approach adult life, from complying with family expectations. Five, including Alessio, marry and have children; all are Guelphs and assume the civic and professional responsibilities of their environment. Without saying it, they suffer from it. This existence is not the one they want, but what do they want? They ignored it until the spring of 1233, during which the brothers François and Dominique passed through Florence, preaching with inspired accents the stripping of useless goods, the love of Lady Poverty, the beauty of leaving, light as the air, full only of God, preaching the gospel.
The gray habit of the penitent brothers
For the seven friends, their preaching is a revelation. For too long, without saying it, they have abhorred their business, beautiful clothes, worldliness and have only one desire: to abandon them. Easier said than done ! If two of them are single, two are widowed, three are married and fathers of children. Above all, they must ask their wife for permission to leave her for religious life, a choice which implies that she does the same… Pious, these young women accept; As for children, before selling what they own and distributing it to the poor, fathers take the precaution of ensuring them a decent future. Their common director of conscience urges them to put on the gray habit of penitent brothers, which marks their new state of life.
It was about time because a war was brewing and none of them wanted to take part in it. From there to claiming that they are cowardly evading their duty, there is only one step, all the more quickly taken since the Ghibellines have regained power and are keeping an eye on the Guelphs. Is this what pains Notre-Dame? On August 15, 1233, while they were praying together in church, She appeared to them dressed in mourning, looking distressed. They understand that they have made the right choice by freeing themselves “from the servitudes of their business to live in the service of the Church, like Mary, in prayer and the apostolate”. They now know what name they should take: Servites (servants) of Mary.
The rule of Saint Augustine
In truth, they had no thought of founding a new religious order when they took their vows the following September 8, convinced that their experience of common fraternal life was not destined to survive them. They will gradually understand the impossibility of this choice. In the meantime, they pray, treat the sick, beg, like Francis and Dominic, heedless of the insults and sneers of those who knew them rich and powerful, happy with the humiliations received.
The bishop of Florence gave them land, 18 kilometers from the city, at Monte Senarco. There, they built hermitages where they engaged in artisanal work to live and give alms. In Florence, the war between supporters of the emperor and the pope is unleashed, many Florentines, disgusted, flee the city and, for some, will join the Servites in their solitude, soon so numerous that Rome imposes on them to give themselves constitutions conforming to canon law and transforming into a congregation. On April 13, 1240, Good Friday, Mary appeared to them in the guise of Our Lady of Sorrows, surrounded by angels, and invited them to adopt the rule of Saint Augustine . They need to find a prior. It will be Bonfiglio, who became a priest, while Alessio, convinced of his unworthiness, never wanted to receive the priesthood, preferring to remain a lay brother, a lay religious serving the community and continuing to beg according to their charisma.
Canonized “as one man”
But times are changing… Due to excesses and divisions among the Franciscans, because absolute poverty becomes difficult to maintain, Rome begins to look with suspicion at these mendicant orders that are too detached from the goods of this world. In 1274, at the Council of Lyon , it banned them purely and simply, forcing Franciscans and Dominicans to agree to own houses and earn a living. Luckily for the Servites, they had a superior, Philippe Beniti, whose holiness is so dazzling, and his miracle-working gifts too , that he had to hide so as not to be elected pope, and who felt the wind turns. By this date, he had already convinced his brothers to stop begging and to become owners, which saved them from ecclesial sanctions. The Order then had seventeen convents in Italy, France and Germany. Beniti also sought the support of the Grand Inquisitor Peter of Verona who found nothing reprehensible, on the contrary, among the Servites.
Is it this turning point, even if he understands the necessity, which encourages Alessio, very old, to retire to a monastery, then, in his last years, to his former hermitage which became a convent? It’s possible. He died there, the last survivor of the seven founders, on February 17, 1310, at the very old age of 110 years. His final concerns were the spiritual direction of his niece, Julienne Falconieri, whom he had raised after the death of her parents, founder of the Mantellate, the female branch of the Order. Julienne will be brought to the altars in 1797; his uncle waited until 1888 to join him there, at the same time as his six companions, canonized “as one man” in the words of Leo XIII.
