Francis of Assisi This article is about the friar and patron saint. For other uses, see Francis of Assisi (disambiguation). Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi), born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco (1181/1182 – 3 October 1226),[1][4] was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land.[1] Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.[1] Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. He later became associated with The house where Francis of Assisi lived when young patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of 4 renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had any- October.[5] thing to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the have thought.[4] Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades.[6] While going off to war in 1202, Francis had a vision that By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his an extent that its primitive organizational structure was worldly life.[8] In 1205, Francis left for Apulia to enlist in no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy Francis is also known for his love of the Eucharist.[7] In young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi.[8] In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity 1201, he joined a military expedition against Perugia and scene.[8][9][10] According to Christian tradition, in 1224 was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada, spending a year he received the stigmata during the apparition of Seraphic as a captive.[18] It is possible that his spiritual conversion angels in a religious ecstasy [8] making him the first was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his recorded person in Christian history to bear the wounds return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree of Christ’s Passion.[11] He died during the evening hours life. In 1204, a serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his requested of Psalm 142 (141). ecclesiastical awakening.[4] On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter’s Basilica,[8] an experience that moved him to live in poverty.[8] Fran- cis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and 1 Early life soon gathered followers. His Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order Francis of Assisi was one of seven children born in late of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed religious or- 1181 or early 1182 to Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous der for women, as well as the Order of Brothers and Sis- silk merchant, and his wife Pica de Bourlemont, about ters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order). As whom little is known except that she was a noblewoman a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and originally from Provence.[15] Pietro was in France on was fascinated with all things Transalpine.[4][17] Although business when Francis was born in Assisi, and Pica had many hagiographers remark about his bright clothing, him baptized as Giovanni.[5][16] Upon his return to As- rich friends, and love of pleasures,[15] his displays of dis- sisi, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco (“the French- illusionment toward the world that surrounded him came man”), possibly in honor of his commercial success and fairly early in his life, as is shown in the “story of the beg- enthusiasm for all things French.[17] Since the child was gar”. In this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in 1 2 1 EARLY LIFE The San Damiano crucifix Francis considered his stigmata part of the Imitation of Christ.[12][13] Cigoli, 1699 Francis of Assisi by Cimabue the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms. At the conclusion of his business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran 3 The Pope approving the statutes of the Order of the Franciscans, by Giotto, 1295–1300 Saint Francis Abandons His Father. Francis of Assisi breaking off his relationship with his father and renouncing his patrimony, laying aside publicly even the garments he had received from him. Pope Innocent III has a dream of St. Francis of Assisi supporting the tilting church (attributed to Giotto) after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends quickly chided and mocked him for his act of charity. When he got home, his father scolded him in rage.[19] According to the hagiographic legend, thereafter he be- gan to avoid the sports and the feasts of his former com- St. Francis before the Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt witnessing the panions. In response, they asked him laughingly whether trial by fire (wall fresco, Giotto.) he was thinking of marrying, to which he answered, “Yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen”, meaning his “Lady Poverty”. He spent much time in lonely places, 4 2 FOUNDING OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDERS Oldest known portrait in existence of the saint, dating back to St. Francis’ retreat to Subiaco (1223–1224): depicted without the stigmata.[14] Francis of Assisi’s last resting place at Assisi asking God for spiritual enlightenment. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, the most repulsive victims in the 2 Founding of the Franciscan Or- lazar houses near Assisi. After a pilgrimage to Rome, ders where he joined the poor in begging at the doors of the churches, he said he had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the country chapel of San Damiano, just outside Assisi, 2.1 The Friars minor in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to him, “Fran- cis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can At the end of this period (on February 24, 1209, ac- see, is falling into ruins.” He took this to mean the ruined cording to Jordan of Giano), Francis heard a sermon that church in which he was presently praying, and so he sold changed his life forever. The sermon was about Matthew some cloth from his father’s store to assist the priest there 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers they should go for this purpose.[4][20] forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven was upon His father, Pietro, who was highly indignant, attempted to them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired change his mind, first with threats and then with beatings. [4] In the midst of legal proceedings before the Bishop of to devote himself to a life of poverty. Assisi, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Gospel laying aside even the garments he had received from him precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach in front of the public. For the next couple of months he repentance.[4] He was soon joined by his first follower, a lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi. Returning to the prominent fellow townsman, the jurist Bernardo di Quin- countryside around the town for two years, he embraced tavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work. the life of a penitent, during which he restored several Within a year Francis had eleven followers. Francis ruined chapels in the countryside around Assisi, among chose never to be ordained a priest, and the commu- them the Porziuncola, the little chapel of St. Mary of nity lived as “lesser brothers”, fratres minores in Latin.[4] the Angels just outside the town, which later became his The brothers lived a simple life in the deserted lazar favorite abode.[20] house of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of 2.1 The Friars minor 5 Habit of Francis of Assisi Contemporary Franciscan friar Life of Francis of Assisi by José Benlliure y Gil their time wandering through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet mak- ing a deep impression upon their hearers by their earnest exhortations.[4] Francis’ preaching to ordinary people was unusual since he had no license to do so.[1] In 1209 he composed a sim- ple rule for his followers (“friars”), the Regula primitiva or “Primitive Rule”, which came from verses in the Bible. The rule was “To follow the teachings of our Lord Je- sus Christ and to walk in his footsteps”. In 1209, Francis led his first eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious Order.[21] Upon entry to Rome, the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi, who had in his company Giovanni di San Paolo, the Cardinal Bishop of Sabina.