Saint Francis of Assissi
1. Birth
Saint Francis was born Giovanni Bernadone in either 1181 or 1182 in the Italian hill
town of Assisi.
His parents, Pietro and Pica, were members of the rather well-to-do merchant class of the
town. Pioetro Bernadone was away in France when his son was born. On his return, he had
the boy's name changed from Giovanni to Franceso ("The Little Frenchman"-perhaps a
tribute to France, a country he loved and from which his wife's family came).
Saint Francis of Assisi, was born in 1182, more probably in the latter year. His
mother's family, which was not without distinction, may originally have hailed from
Provence. His father, Pietro di Bernardone, was a prosperous cloth merchant and one of
the influential business men of Assisi. A merchant in those days was a far different
individual from the modern shop keeper; forced by circumstances to be both daring and
prudent, he constantly embarked upon the most hazardous undertakings and his career was
likely to be a succession of ups and downs. Moreover, business activities, which today
tend more and more to assert their independence of any ethical code, were then strictly
subordinated to accepted moral standards, as is clearly shown in the writings of Leo
Battista Alberti, a century and a half later, or in the Summa Theologiae of Thomas
Aquinas.
Bernardone was not in Assisi when his son was born. At first the child was called
John but upon his father's return he was christened Francis, in memory of France, whence
Pietro di Bernardone had just returned. More than any other character in history, St.
Francis in after life retained the qualities most characteristic of childhood, so that it
is not difficult to imagine him as he must have appeared during his early years, with his
combination of vivacity, petulance and charm.
Childhood
At the proper time young Francesco Benardone was sent to clergy of San Giorgio, his
parish church, to learn his letters and the ciphering necessary for a merchant. He sat
on a bench with the better-class boys, chorusing sacred Latin. He was not a brilliant
student. The three extant scraps of his writing betray a clumsy fist and abound in sad
solecisms. In later years he avoided holding a pen; he preferred to dictate, and to
sign his pronouncements with a cross or tau, a semisacred symbol. However, he learned
enough Latin for his purposes, for school routine and for the comprehension of the
ritual. Francesco also had the education of the home and shop. He could admire his
father, honest and worthy, but an austere man, taking up where he laid not down, reaping
where he had not shown. Drama also rendered his secret dream, the realization of the
chivalrous life. The exploits of Charlemagne's paladins and the Knights of the Round
Table were already familiar throughout Italy, and code of knightly behavior was known and
honored, if little practiced. Francis's imagination disported itself in the enchanted
world of knighthood; and all his life he used the language of chivalry and appealed to
its ideals.
After Francis had attained manhood and developed his native discernment, he devoted
himself to the profession of his father, who was a merchant. Yet this he did in his own
way. Merry and generous by nature, ever ready for jest and song, he roamed the town of
Assisi day and night with his comrades and was most prodigal in his spending-to such and
extent that he used all the money allowed him and all his earnings for banquets and
festivities. For this reason his parents frequently remonstrated with him, pointing out
that he was living in such style with his friends that he no longer seemed to be their
son, but the son a great prince. Yet as his parents were wealthy and loved their son
tenderly, they allowed him to have his own way rather that disturb him.
Educational Backround
The official Life of Saint Francis, written by Saint Bonaventure, the Minister
General of the Franciscan Order, after the chapter of 1266 at which it was decided that
such a life was needed, because of the proliferation of apochryphal and spurious lives,
records that Francis was sent to school to the priests of Saint George's, also in Assisi.
But he seems to have learned little from them except enough Latin to read with
difficulty and write great labour. In later life, the clerky Brother Leo usually acted
as his secretary; although an example of his signature survives, he preferred to make
his mark with a Greek cross, the letter tau, the cross used by the crusaders. However,
somewhere - probably in the first instance from his father and his father's business
acquaintances - he learned enough French to be able to converse in that language, and
earn himself the nickname il Francesco, 'the Frenchman', although whether it was given to
him by his father, as pious legend has always maintained, or by the wits of Assisi, is
uncertain. Whoever gave it to him, it was the obvious name for a boy wearing French
cloth, talking with French visitors, and singing French tunes, the songs of troubadours
and jongleurs. John Bernardone became 'Francis' early in life, and has remained Francis
throughout the years since.
Which dialect of French he spoke is unknown. Because he was called 'the
Frenchman' and called his language 'French', it is usually assumed that his dialect was
that of the north and the Ile de France, not the langue d'oc of county of Toulouse, which
further west towards Navarre shaded into early Spanish. But although he once himself
proposed to go to Paris, most of the traces of 'French' influence in his life seem to
relate to southern France, and there are no proofs that Pietro Bernardone's travels in
search of business took him further north than the great fairs at Toulouse, Lyons, and
Montpellier. The Question remains open. Francis's everyday language must have been the
current Umbrain dialect: not yet Italian, but a mingling of late Latin and dialect words
from which Italian was rapidly emerging. He died just thirty-nine years before the birth
of Dante, the first and greatest of the Italian vernacular poets.
Religious Affliation and Experiences
In the chapel of Our Lady of the Angels, Francis was kneeling at the foot of
the crucifix, he was completely drawn out of himself and lost all consciousness except of
God. From the cross Christ spoke to him. "Francis," the Voice came, "do you not see
that My house is being destroyed? Go therefore and repair it." He took Christ's words
in the most literal sense. He could see that the neglected chapel was badly in need of
restoration, so he accepted the task laid upon him as being simply that of bringing
stones and mortar and setting to work. Not for an instant did he imagine that the
commision could be wider than that. Indeed, though the field of his labor was soon to
widen to enclose the last limits of the earth, he never ceased to believe, as in the case
of the lepers, that the local obligation was also his. He never ceased to be greatly
concerned about the rebuilding and care of dilapidated churches.
Professional life
There is no doubt that Francis and his brothers did preach peace in Assisi in
autumn, but whether in fact he played the leading role ascribed to him reconciling the
factions is undemonstrable. If the claim also sometimes made is true, that it was from
this time that he penitents of Assisi began to call themselves the frates minores, it is
unlikely that Francis arbitrated effectually in the quarrel. At Assisi in 1202, frates
minores would not have been taken to mean 'the lesser', that is, more humble, 'brothers',
but 'brothers of the minores'; it would have bben a political label, as suggestive of
commitment as 'the Workers' party' of 'the workers' brotherhood' might be today. Francis
had fought with the minores in 1202 and he was committed to poverty; but he had not
damned the rich for their wealth, as Joachim of Flora had done, and it is unlikely that
he would have begun his mission to the world by deliberately alienating a significant
faction in his native city.
Major Goals
About the spring of the year 1206, Francis was freed from everything tying him
to what theologians called 'the world', Francis was poised to begin his life's work at
last. There was one difficulty, however. He still did not know what that work was.
Even though he was freed from the world, he was still totally dependant on it for food,
drink and clothing. He took a job as a dishwasher in a monastery - probably a subpriory
of the Benedictines of Mount Subasio - but he felt that he was being badly treated there,
and left, crossing the mountain to the village of Gubbio, where an old friend took pity
on him, giving him food and clothing. While Francis was working on the restoration of
Saint Damian's, Francis also continued his attempts to help the lepers, who at this time
were still outlawed and and counted dead by most of the world. Since the first crusade,
their numbers had vastly increased, though whether their disease was true leprosy or not
is a matter of dispute. To rebuild Saint Domian's, he begged stones - and, of coarse,
food - from his father's friends in Assisi. Their pity must have been hard for Pietro
Bernardone to bear as anything he had yet endured on Francis's account.
Major issues and concerns
During the Middle Ages, a number of movements were based on the ideal of
poverty. What made the movement led by Saint Francis different was his attractive
personality and passionate dedication to the message he preached. One of the most
popular of saints, he combined austerity with poetic gentleness. Francis popularized the
custom of the Christmas crib. Besides the three branches of the order that he
established, many other religious societies bear his name. One of the major issues that
Francis took an interest in the most was, preaching the necessity of the poor, a simple
life-style based on the ideals of the Gospels. Francis overflowed with a spirit of love
not only for men who suffered but also for dumb animals, reptiles, birds, and any other
creature with and without consciousness. Above all, he loved little lambs with a special
affection and love, fot they showed forth the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ, since
the Scriptures used the image of a lamb in describing him.
Major life events
When Blessed Francis, accompanied by Blessed Peter of Cattaneo, who had been a
doctor of law, crossed the sea, he left behind two vicars, Brother Matthew of Nario and
Brother Gregory of Naples. He instituted Matthew as vicar of St. Mary of Portiuncula;
he was to remain there and accept postulants into the Order, while Gregory toured Italy
to console the bretthren. Accourding to the first Rule, the fairs were to fast on the
fourth and sixth day of the week. There might be some plausibility in the suggestion
that the Roman authorities, while lacking idealism thenselves, shrewdly understood how to
utilize the idealism of others, were it not that they would have been imbecile in their
policy had they failed to see that enthusiasm, to be useful at all, must be maintained.
This actually means that it must be constantly renewed. Therefore it is absurd to
suppose that they would have wished to modify the Franciscan idealism in such a way as to
destroy or even diminish it. Theirs was the extremely delicate task of directing it so
as to preserve it from dissipating its energies and to help it to keep the enthusiasm
bright and fresh.
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What was this person most known for?
Saint Francis of Assisi was most known for all of his preaching. Francis
began as a poet and ended as one, though during the years of his active life he appears
to have been too busy living poetry to have felt much inclination to write it. Of
Francis's own style of preaching we can say that it was altogether unstudied. He never
prepared anything but, depending upon the inspiration of the moment, addressed himself
with burning intensity to those before him. His whole body seemed to preach, and his
gestures were vivacious and, perhaps, violent. Had it not been for his crystalline
sincerity he might have struck people as absurd. Probably, too, it was not only in the
famous sermon he was soon to deliver before the Pope and the cardinals this his feet
danced while he spoke. His great dark eyes, full of fire and tenderness, seemed to look
each person present through and through. He had a voice so resonant that it was
startling, coming from so frail a man. It was fortunate that he had that asset of the
orator, for his physical presence was not at all impressive, and what slight advantages
he might have had in this respect were thrown away because of his appearing in a coarse
habit patched with material still coarser, sack-cloth that did not even match in color.
Detail the search for truth
One day Francis, who had begun to walk about the house learning on a stick, thought the
time had come for him to go and breathe the country air; he opened the door and went out
, undoubtedly on to the road from Spello and Foligno, which was nearest to his house and
most convenient for him, being almost level. The road runs along the side of Subasio: on
the left rise the curves of the broad mountain shoulder, here green with woods and there
showing the bare rocks: on the right the ground slopes away gently, clothed in the
uniform soft pallor of the olive. Before him, where the plain stretches away to Foligno,
green and fertile, cypresses and oaks strike a livelier not of colour. Of all the
landscapes round Assisi it is the sweetest and most attractive. Francis, who had not
looked at this view for a long time, sought anxiously for his usual sensations at the
sight of it. But the mountains and the slopes, the plain and cypresses and olives, had
nothing more to say to him; they were strange, inanimate objects.
What resistance was met?
The claims of his commune has already drawn Francis towards the profession of arms, but
it was not enough to satisfy him. The disputes of a handful of paltry merchants and
insignificant nobles over a house of the ownership of a mill, the petty wars of raids and
rapine under the very city walls, made no appeal to him, after his short unlucky
experience. Of the disputes between Church and Empire he understood but little: he had
a respect for ecclesiastical censure, for he had experienced in his own city its
blighting effect on his religious life. He sought for far-away adventure, a mighty war,
without scruples of conscience, with much glory and the crown of nobility at the end of
it.
How did he/she affect the world around them?
All of the places that Francis visited, for example, Italy, according to the historical
records, were many; and as these appear in casual references, they can be only a part of
the total. If we were to include the popular legends, the number would be infinite.
Terni, Perugia, ubbio, Citta` di Castello, Cortona, Arezzo, Siena, Florence, Bologna,
Ancona, Osimo, Ascoli: these are too some of the places that Saint Francis visited. It
is at once observable that they are all in a definite and rather circumscribed district.
The Saint's appearances in the more remote and diverse parts of the country, such as
Rome, Florence, Bologna, and Alexandria, were, in proportion, few and far between; and
one gets the impression ( borne out by the definite or circumstantial evidence of the
records ) that these were but occasional visits. The other places, on the contrary,
appear to represent his usual and appointed circuit. If you take a map of Italy and
draw a circle with Assisi as its center, with a diameter of a little less than two
hundred kilometers, you will include them all, from Borgo San Sepolcro to Ascoli Piceno,
Rieti, and Toscanella, the extremist points being roughly equidistant from Assisi.
Find a quote made by the person that most identifies the individual and his/her work.
Why did you choose this quote?
Saint Francis took a child that had just been born and said, "There have been born today
in this street two children, one of whom will be one of the best men in the world. The
other will be the worst." That "worst" has been taken to apply to the man who succeeded
Francis as the ruler of the Franciscan Order, Brother Elias. Yet, apart from the
question as to whether Elias was as bad as all that, there is a reason to believe that he
was not born in Assisi at all, but nearby; and nobody knows the exact date of his birth.
I chose this particular quote because it talks about the everyday occurrence of children
being born each and every day. Some of those children are among those best men or women
in the world and some are unfortunate to have the opportunity to even be born. Those
children who are born with a disorder, from their mother's wrong doing while carrying her
child.
Your reflection should include:
How did he/she express genuine love and concern for people in the climate of their world?
Francis was one that should have been included among the Fathers, for he puts then into
shame. He came at the end of the long process of discovery. With him, the wheel has
turned full circle: we are back again in the gold-illuminated days of the apostles and
of the early catacombs, the days when to be a Christian was to be carefree, before the
heretics and arisen and the disputatious theologians has assumed the role of lawgivers.
Francis threw learning away and the world sighed with relief, for learning was already
weighing heavily in the cloisters, and the librarians, as usual, were wondering whether
they would be able to keep count of the books. "What have I to do with books?" Francis
said. "O my brethren, all we need to do is pray." As all of the people of the Church
read of the Church Fathers, we are all made aware of immense strains, heroic efforts,
terrible responsibilities. The Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries were shoring up
the ruins of Rome with their naked shoulders. They fought prodigiously, with superlative
cunning, against the barbarians and the Emperors and all the tribes of wanton and evil
people in the world.
How did he/she bring to real life what is right, and what is good?
Saint Francis, the true disciple of Christ, while he was living in this miserable life,
tried to follow in the path of Christ with all his strength, for Christ was the perfect
master. So it often happened that as he healed a body, God also healed the soul, for the
same thing often happened to Christ. So Francis did not only serve the lepers willingly,
but also ordered his brethren as they went about the world to serve the needs of lepers
for the love of Christ, who reputed a poor leper himself. Saint Francis was staying in a
place near to where some of the brothers of the order were serving a leper hospital. One
of the lepers was testy, unruly, and also so obstinate that everyone believed. This
leper had abused and cursed whoever waited on him and, what was worse, he bitterly
blasphemed and cursed Christ and his Holy Mother. No one wanted to take care, or even be
near him. Although the brothers were willing to put up with the leper's many abuses in
order to grow in the virtue of patience, but their consciences would not ever tolerate
his blasphemies about Christ and his Mother. So the brothers were quite prepared to
abandon him, but they thought that before doing this they should consult Saint Francis,
who at the time was staying nearby.
When the brothers told Francis about this perverse leper, Francis went to see him.
Finding the leper, Francis greeted him warmly: "God grant you peace, my dearest
brother." The leper then replied with a grumble, "What peace can I find from God, who
has taken away my peace and every worldly good and left me cancerous and stinking?"
Saint Francis then answered him, "My son, be patient! God often inflicts us with a
weakness of the body for the good of our souls. There is a great merit in bearing
illness with patience." The sick man retorted, "How can I endure the continual pain both
day and night with any sense of peace? Not only am I sick, but the brothers who were
sent to help me will not do it, as the ought." Saint Francis, divinely inspired to
understand that this leper was possessed by an evil spirit, prayed most devoutly for this
man before God. After he had prayed, he returned again to speak to the leper: "My son,
I will take care of you, since the others do not want to." "I'll willingly have you.
What can you do though that the others have not done?" "What do you want me to do?" "I
want you to wash me, for I stink so bad that I cannot stand myself."
Saint Francis immediately went and heated water, which he scented with herbs. Then he
undressed the man and washed him with his own hands, while another brother poured the
water. Through divine power, wherever Saint Francis touched him with his hands, the
leprosy disappeared and the flesh grew immediately healthy. And as his body healed, his
soul also healed along with his body. When the leper saw his body heal, he began to weep
bitterly because of his sorrow for his sins and great compunction that he felt. As his
body was cleansed from the leprosy by the bathing, so his soul was cleansing power of his
tears and his sorrow.
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