Paola

Paola lies on the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, between the sea and the mountains rising inland. Above the town is the sanctuary associated with Francis of Paola, born here in 1416. He withdrew to a life of prayer as a young man, and his followers gathered around a small hermitage whose early cells and cave became the heart of the sanctuary.

The community grew into the Order of Minims, whose austere rule called for a life of humility and penance. Francis's reputation spread beyond Calabria; in 1483 he travelled to France at the request of Louis XI and remained there until his death in 1507. His sanctuary at Paola continued to draw pilgrims to the Calabrian place where the order had first begun.