He is known as apostle of prayer for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, father of the orphans and the poor, founder of the Rogationist Fathers and the Daughters of Divine Zeal. He is St. Hannibal Maria Di Francia, canonized by Pope John Paul II May 16 in Rome.

Hannibal Maria Di Francia (1851-1927) originally from Messina, Italy, was ordained a priest on March 16, 1878. But it was while he was still a deacon that he encountered a blind beggar asking for alms, and engaged him in a long conversation which was the turning point in his life. From that day, the beggar and the needy were his close friends. Economically and socially of the upper class, he made his decision to share his life with hundreds of men women and children living in the overcrowded hovels of Messina in spiritual and physical misery.

In a short time the slum became a place of prayer and charity. Everyone was welcomed with love and served with dignity with no need to fill out forms and show identity cards. He wrote: "I will love the poor with a spirit of faith and charity. I see in every one of them my brother and my Lord."

In the new environment he came to fully understand the Gospel where Jesus entrusts to his disciples the mission to proclaim the good news, to expel unclean spirits, to cure sickness and disease of every kind. In a special way he read the words Jesus addressed to his disciples: "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers few; pray the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest" (Mt 9:35; Lk 10:1).

Now he felt clearly his vocation to a mission with a twofold purpose: to work with the poor and to pray for more laborers in God's harvest. So Father Hannibal founded the Anthonian Orphanages for needy boys and girls and, at the same time, founded two religious entities: the Congregations of the Rogationists and the Daughters of Divine Zeal to dedicate their lives for spiritual and material welfare of the poor and to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Like Jesus, he lived with the vision of the immense harvest of souls in need of help and spent long hours of night and day before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration and working among the poor. His devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was unique. He wrote: "I will hold that for the salvation of people no remedy can be more efficacious than prayer: namely to beseech, without ceasing, the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, His most holy Mother Mary... that the Holy Spirit himself raise up zealous priests filled with charity for the salvation of souls."

Blessed Hannibal nourished a unconditional love, obedience, and loyalty to the Holy Father. He wrote: "I declare that I will always have the greatest respect, the most unlimited submission to the Holy Father. To the very last breath of my life, I will look on him and regard him always as the same person of our Lord Jesus Christ.... This is our rule and the dominant spirit of the our Institute."

In our times of secularism and deep crisis of vocations to the priesthood and religious life, the canonization of Blessed Hannibal delivers, in a special way, the message the priests are necessary for the our Eucharistic Church, and that are to be obtained by God in the same way that the calling of the Apostles is the fruit of a night that Jesus had spent in prayer (Luke 12). "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers a few; pray the Lord to send workers into his harvest" (Mt. 9:37).

The Rogationist Fathers currently serve St. Elizabeth Church in Van Nuys.