Roman Catholic Bishop. Neapolitan born Monsignor Antonio Franco came from a noble family of French origins, the third child of Orlando Franco and Francesca Pisana di Antonio. Earning a doctorate in both civil and canon laws on September 23, 1602 at the young age of seventeen, having not yet reached the canonical age for priesthood ordination, his father sent him to Rome in order to pursue studies in ecclesiastics. However, less than a year later, on his parents' orders, he moved to Madrid to serve at the Royal Court. Ordained priest in 1610, Franco asked King Philip III to serve as a member of the royal chapel. On January 14, 1611, he was named royal chaplain by the sovereign after the latter studied his background and conduct. Deeply admired by the king for his saintly virtues, he was appointed major chaplain of the Kingdom of Sicily on November 12, 1616, which office also held the title of abbot and prelate of the 'prelatura nullius' of Santa Lucia del Mela. His appointment was confirmed by Pope Paul V, whom Franco would visit in Rome. Taking possession of his prelature on May 18, 1617, he was a saintly man who lived in deep penance and deprivations, eating little and sleeping on bare floor, using a stone instead of a pillow. Fastening on bread and water, he wore two heavy chains wherever he went. Of the two chains, one still exists today, conserved in a reliquary at the cathedral basilica of Santa Lucia del Mela. Passing away on September 2, 1626 at the early age of 41, stricken from the penances and continuous abstinences, his incorrupt remains are found venerated inside the named cathedral basilica of Santa Lucia del Mela. Pope Benedict XVI declared him venerable on January 14, 2011, while Cardinal Angelo Amato SDB., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, beatified him on September 2, 2013 at the co-cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta of Santa Lucia del Mela. For the occasion, his incorrupt remains were recomposed by anthropologist Dario Piombino-Mascali, receiving new vestments and placed in a novel urn.