Everything about St Francis Of Assisi totally explained
» For the opera by Olivier Messiaen see Saint-François d'Assise.
Saint Francis of Assisi (
September 26,
1181 or
1182 –
October 3,
1226) was a
Roman Catholic friar and the founder of the
Order of Friars Minor, more commonly known as the
Franciscans.
He is known as the
patron saint of animals, birds, the environment, and
Italy, and it's customary for Catholic churches to hold ceremonies honoring animals around his
feast day of October 4.
Childhood and early adulthood
Francis was born to Pietro di Bernardone, a rich cloth merchant, and his wife Pica Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was originally from
France.
As a youth, Francesco--or Francis in English--became a
troubador and yearned to become a writer of French poetry.
In 1201, he joined a military expedition against
Perugia, he was taken as a prisoner at
Collestrada, and spent a year as a captive. It is probable that his conversion to more serious thoughts was a gradual process relating to this experience. After his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis recommenced his carefree life. In 1204, however, a serious illness started a spiritual crisis. In 1205 Francis left for
Puglia to enlist in the army of the
Count of Brienne. In
Spoleto, a strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his spiritual crisis.
His father Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to change his mind, first with threats and then with corporal chastisement. After a final interview in the presence of the
bishop, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments he'd received from him. For the next couple of months he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi. Returning to the town for two years this time, he restored several ruined churches, among them the
Porziuncola, little
chapel of
St Mary of the Angels, just outside the town, which later became his favorite abode. Upon entry to Rome, the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi, who had in his company the cardinal bishop of Sabina, Lord John of St Paul. The Cardinal, who was the confessor of Pope Innocent III, was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to the pope. Reluctantly, Pope Innocent agreed to meet with Francis and the brothers the next day. After several days, the pope agreed to informally admit the group, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official admittance. The group was tonsured and Francis was ordained as a deacon, allowing him to read Gospels in the church.
Later life
From then on, his new order grew quickly with new vocations. When hearing Francis preaching in the church of
San Rufino in Assisi in 1209,
Clare of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and she realized her calling. The mountain would become one of his favorite retreats for prayer. In the same year, Francis sailed for
Morocco, but this time an illness forced him to break off his journey in
Spain. Back in Assisi, several noblemen (among them
Tommaso da Celano, who would later write the biography of St. Francis) and some well-educated men joined his order.
In 1215 Francis went again to Rome for the
Fourth Lateran Council. During this time, he probably met
Dominic de Guzman.
In 1216 Francis received from the new pope
Honorius III the confirmation of the indulgence of the Porziuncola, now better known as the
Pardon of Assisi, which the Pope decreed to be a complete remission of their sins for all those who prayed in the Porziuncola.
In 1217 the growing congregation of friars was divided in provinces and groups were sent to
France,
Germany,
Hungary,
Spain and to the
East.
In 1219 Francis left, together with a few companions, on a pilgrimage of non-violence to
Egypt. Crossing the lines between the sultan and the
Crusaders in
Damietta, he was received by the sultan
Melek-el-Kamel. Though Francis didn't succeed in converting the sultan, the last words of the sultan to Francis of Assisi were, according to
Jacques de Vitry,
bishop of Acre, in his book "Historia occidentalis, De Ordine et praedicatione Fratrum Minorum (1221)" : “Pray for me that God may deign to reveal to me that law and faith which is most pleasing to him.”.
At
Acre, the capital of what remained of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, he rejoined the brothers Elia and
Pietro Cattini. Francis then most probably visited the holy places in
Palestine in 1220.
Although nativity drawings and paintings existed earlier, St Francis of Assisi celebrated Christmas by setting up the first known three-dimensional
presepio or
crèche (
Nativity scene) in the town of Greccio near Assisi, around 1220. He used real animals to create a living scene so that the worshipers could contemplate the birth of the child Jesus in a direct way, making use of the senses, especially sight. Cardinal
Ugolino di Conti was then nominated by the Pope as the protector of the order. When problems arose in the order, a detailed rule became necessary. On
29 September 1220 Francis handed over the governance of the order to brother Pietro Cattini at the Porziuncola. However, Brother Cattini died on
10 March 1221. He was buried in the Porziuncola. When numerous miracles were attributed to the late Pietro Cattini, people started to flock to the Porziuncola, disturbing the daily life of the Franciscans. Francis then prayed, asking Pietro to stop the miracles and obey in
death as he'd obeyed during his life. The report of miracles ceased. Brother Pietro was succeeded by brother Elia as vicar of Francis.
During 1221 and 1222 Francis crossed Italy, first as far south as
Catania in Sicily and afterwards as far north as
Bologna.
On
29 November 1223 the final rule of the order (in twelve chapters) was approved by Pope Honorius III.
While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty day fast in preparation for Michaelmas, Francis is said to have had a vision on or about
14 September,
1224, the Feast of the
Exaltation of the Cross, as a result of which he received the
stigmata.
Suffering from these Stigmata and from an eye disease, he received care in several cities (
Siena,
Cortona,
Nocera) to no avail. In the end he was brought back to the Porziuncola. He was brought to the
transito, the hut for infirm friars, next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of
3 October 1226 singing
Psalm 141. His feast day is observed
4 October.
On
16 July,
1228 he was pronounced a saint by the next pope
Gregory IX, the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, friend and protector of St. Francis. The next day, the pope laid the foundation stone for the
Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.
He was buried on 25 May 1230 under the Lower Basilica. His burial place remained inaccessible until it was rediscovered in 1818. Pasquale Belli then constructed for his remains a crypt in neo-classical style under the Lower Basilica. It was refashioned between 1927 and 1930 into its present form by Ugo Tarchi, stripping the wall of its marble decorations. In 1978 the remains of St. Francis were identified by a commission of scholars, appointed by pope
Paul VI and put in a glass urn in the ancient stone tomb.
St. Francis is considered the first Italian poet by literary critics. He believed commoners should be able to pray to God in their own language, and he wrote always in dialect of Umbria instead of Latin. His writings are considered to have great literary value, as well as religious.
Saint Francis, nature, and the environment
Many of the stories that surround the life of St Francis deal with his love for animals. Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the Saint’s humility towards nature is recounted in the 'Fioretti' (The "Little Flowers"), a collection of
legends and folk-lore that sprang up after the Saint’s death. It is said that one day while Francis was traveling with some companions they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to "wait for me while I go to preach to my sisters the birds". Part of his appreciation of the environment is expressed in his
Canticle of the Sun, a poem written in Umbrian Italian in perhaps 1224 which expresses a love and appreciation of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Mother Earth, Brother Fire, etc. and all of God's creations personified in their fundamental forms. In "Canticle of the Creatures," he wrote: "All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures." He believed that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for redemption because of the primordial sin of man. He preached to man and beast the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God (a common theme in the Psalms) and the duty of men to protect and enjoy nature as both the stewards of God's creation and as creatures ourselves.
Legend has it that St. Francis on his deathbed thanked his
donkey for carrying and helping him throughout his life, and his donkey wept.
Main sources for the life of Saint Francis
- Friar Elias, Epistola Encyclica de Transitu Sancti Francisci, 1226.
- Pope Gregory IX, Bulla "Mira circa nos" for the canonization of St. Francis, 19 July 1228.
- Friar Tommaso da Celano: Vita Prima Sancti Francisci, 1228; Vita Secunda Sancti Francisci, 1246 – 1247; Tractatus de Miraculis Sancti Francisci, 1252 – 1253.
- Friar Julian of Speyer, Vita Sancti Francisci, 1232 – 1239.
- St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Legenda Maior Sancti Francisci, 1260 – 1263.
- Ugolino da Montegiorgio, Actus Beati Francisci et sociorum eius, 1327 – 1342.
- Fioretti di San Francesco, the "Little Flowers of St. Francis", end of the 14th century: an anonymous Italian version of the Actus; the most popular of the sources, but very late and therefore not the best authority by any means.
For an exhaustive list of sources, see
(External Link
).
Main writings by St. Francis
Canticum Fratris Solis or Laudes Creaturarum, Canticle of the Sun.
Prayer before the Crucifix, 1205 (extant in the original Umbrian dialect as well as in a contemporary Latin translation).
Regula non bullata, the Earlier Rule, 1221.
Regula bullata, the Later Rule, 1223.
Testament, 1226.
Admonitions.
The Little Flowers of Saint Francis (Translated by Raphael Brown), Doubleday, 1998. ISBN 978-0-385-07544-2
For a complete list, see (External Link).
Further Information
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