St. Francis of Assisi

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St. Francis of Assisi

• I have been all things unholy. If God can work
  through me, he can work through anyone.

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• Founder of the Franciscan Order
• Born at Assisi in Italy (Umbria) circa 1181-1182
• Died there, 3 October, 1226

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• Giotto 1267-1337
• Approval of Rule of Francis
• Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi

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Biography

• Father Pietro Bernardone, wealthy cloth
  merchant.
• Francis was one of several children.
• At Baptism in the Church of San Ruffino (Patron
  Saint of Assisi), he received the name of
  Giovanni, which his father afterwards altered to
  Francesco

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• San Ruffino
• Assisi
• Architectural Style Romanesque

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• Francis showed little liking for a merchant's
  career. He was spoiled by his parents
• No one loved pleasure more than Franciswitty,
  sang merrily, wore fine clothes, and enjoyed
  showy display.
• Very popular among the young nobles
• A party animal, Francis showed a sympathy with
  the poor and gave much to charity

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• At about 20, Francis went to war with the
  Perugians . Assisi was defeated and Francis was
  taken prisoner for more than a year
• A fever which he received turned his thoughts to
  the things divine he saw an emptiness to the
  life he had been leading
• When healthy his eagerness after glory reawakened
  and his fancy wandered in search of victories

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• If you have men who will exclude any of God's
  creatures from the shelter of compassion and
  pity, you will have men who will deal likewise
  with their fellow men.

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• He yearned for the life of the Spirit
• His friends asked him if he would get married and
  he said"Yes, I am about to take a wife of
  surpassing fairness."
• She was no other than Lady Poverty whom even now
  he had begun to love
• After a period of uncertainty he began to seek in
  prayer and solitude the answer to his call

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• One day Francis drew near a leper that filled him
  with disgust
• he dismounted, embraced the leper, and gave him
  all the money he had.
• Made a pilgrimage to Rome and was pained at the
  cheap offerings he saw at the tomb of St Peter
  and emptied his purse
• Exchanged clothes with a beggar stood for the
  rest of the day fasting among the beggars at the
  door of the basilica

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St. Peters Basilica in St. Francis Time
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• Not long after, while Francis was praying before
  an ancient crucifix in the chapel of St. Damian's
• he heard a voice saying Go, Francis, and repair
  my house, which as you see is falling into ruin."
  He took the command literally
• Gave wealth to the priest in charge of the church
• His father, a miserly man was angry at his son's
  conduct, and to avert his fathers wrath, Francis
  hid himself in a cave near St. Damian's for a
  month.
• When he returned to the town, emaciated with
  hunger and squalid with dirt, Francis was
  followed by a hooting rabble, pelted with mud and
  stones, and otherwise mocked as a nut
• he was dragged home by his father, beaten, bound,
  and locked in a dark closet.

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San Damiano, Assisi
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• San Damiano, Assisi
• Replica of Cross
• Cross to which Francis was praying is housed in
  Santa Clara

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San Damiano Cross
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• Freed by his mother, Francis returned to St.
  Damian's, where he found shelter renounced his
  inheritance and family ties
• He stripped himself of the clothes he wore, and
  gave them to his father saying "Hitherto I
  have called you my father on earth henceforth I
  desire to say only Our father who art in heaven
• surrender of all worldly goods and honors
• Francis wandered into the hills improvising
  hymns
• Returning to Assisi, he traversed the city
  begging stones for the restoration of St.
  Damian's.

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• Francis restored two other deserted chapels St.
  Peter's, some distance from the city, and St.
  Mary of the Angels.
• Meantime he redoubled his zeal in works of
  charity more so in nursing lepers

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Portiuncula and St. Marys
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• In 1208, probably 2/24, Francis was hearing Mass
  in the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, near
  which he had then built himself a hut
• The Gospel told how the disciples of Christ were
  to possess neither gold, silver, scrip for their
  journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff,
  and exhort sinners to repentance announce the
  Kingdom of God
• Again he took these words as if spoken directly
  to himself, and threw away the poor fragment left
  him of the worlds goods--shoes, cloak, pilgrim
  staff, and empty wallet.
• At last he had found his vocation

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• Obtaining a coarse woolen tunic of "beast color",
  the dress then worn by the poorest peasants, he
  tied it round him with a knotted rope,
• Francis went forth at once exhorting the people
  of the country-side to penance, brotherly love,
  and peace.
• Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where
  there is hatred, let me sow love.

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• The people had ceased to scoff at Francis they
  now paused in wonderment
• his example even drew others to him. First three
  being Bernard, Peter, Giles
• In a spirit of religious fervor, Francis repaired
  to the church of St. Nicholas and sought to learn
  Gods will by thrice opening at random the book
  of the Gospels.
• Each time it opened at passages where Christ told
  his disciples to leave all things and follow Him.
  "This shall be our rule of life", exclaimed
  Francis
• After this they procured rough habits like that
  of Francis, and built themselves small huts near
  his at the Little Portion (Porziuncola)

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Is religious life habit forming???
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Franciscan Habit

• The Franciscan habit is a simple long gown
  (brown, black, or grey) with a detached capuch
  (hood) and a white, knotted wool cord.
• The cord has three knots symbolizing the three
  religious vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience.

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• When the number of his companions had increased
  to eleven, Francis found it expedient to draw up
  a written rule for them.
• This first rule of the Friars Minor has not come
  down to us in its original form, but it appears
  to have been very short and simple, a mere
  adaptation of the Gospel precepts already
  selected by Francis for the guidance of his first
  companions, and which he desired to practice in
  all their perfection

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If God can work through me, he can work through
anyone
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• Francis and his followers set out for Rome to
  seek the approval of the Holy See (vatican)
• It seems that Guido, Bishop of Assisi, who was in
  Rome, sent Francis to Cardinal John of St. Paul,
  and that at the instance of the latter, the pope
  recalled Francis whose first overtures he had
  rejected.
• It is said innocent was moved by a dream in which
  he beheld the Poor Man of Assisi upholding the
  tottering Lateran basilica and then gave a verbal
  sanction to the rule submitted by Francis and
  granted him and his followers leave to preach
  repentence everywhere.
• Before leaving, they all received the tonsure,
• Francis himself being ordained deacon later

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• Dream of innocent III
• Basilica of St. Francis
• Giotto

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• The followers adopted the Roman Rite as their
  mass which would become the predominant Catholic
  mass
• The Friars Minor -- for thus Francis had named
  his brethren, either after the minores, or lower
  classes, as some think, or as others believe,
  with reference to the Gospel (Matthew 2540-45)
  and as a perpetual reminder of their humility

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Mt.2540-45, the Last Judgement

• And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I
  say to you, whatever you did for one of these
  least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he
  will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me,
  you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for
  the devil and his angels. I was hungry and you
  gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no
  drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
  naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in
  prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they
  will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you
  hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill
  or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He
  will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you
  did not do for one of these least ones, you did
  not do for me.'

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While you are proclaiming peace with your lips,
be careful to have it even more fully in your
heart.
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• During Lent of 1212, Clare came to Francis.
• Clare, a young heiress of Assisi, moved by the
  saints preaching, sought him out, and begged to
  be allowed to embrace the new manner of life he
  had founded.
• By his advice, Clare, who was then 18, left her
  home on the night following Palm Sunday, and with
  two companions went to the Porziuncola, where the
  friars met her in procession, carrying lighted
  torches.
• Then Francis, having cut off her hair, clothed
  her in the Minorite habit and thus received her
  to a life of poverty, penance, and seclusion.
• until Francis could provide a suitable retreat
  for her, and for St. Agnes, her sister, and the
  other pious women who had joined her, he
  eventually established them at St. Damian's
• Francis eventually established the sisters at St.
  Damian's, and which thus became the first
  monastery of the Second Franciscan Order of Poor
  Ladies, now known as Poor Clares

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St. Clares, Assisi
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• About 1213 Francis received from Count Orlando of
  Chiusi the mountain of La Verna, rising some 4000
  feet above the valley of the Casentino, as a
  retreat,
• "especially favourable for contemplation", to
  which he might retire from time to time for
  prayer and rest.
• For Francis never altogether separated the
  contemplative from the active life

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• 1217-18 he visited Rome and was apparently the
  occasion of Francis's meeting with St. Dominic
• The year 1218 Francis devoted to missionary tours
  in Italy
• He usually preached out of doors, in the
  market-places, from church steps, from the walls
  of castle court-yards.
• Allured by the spell of his presence, crowds,
  unused to preaching in the vernacular, followed
  Francis from place to place church bells rang at
  his approach processions of clergy and people
  went to meet him with music and singing they
  brought the sick to him to bless and heal, and
  kissed the very ground on which he trod, and even
  sought to cut away pieces of his tunic

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• While preaching at Camara, a small village near
  Assisi, the congregation was so moved by his
  "words of spirit and life" that they presented
  themselves to him in a body and begged to be
  admitted into his order.
• To say yes to such requests, Francis devised his
  Third Order of the Brothers and Sisters of
  Penance, which he intended as a sort of middle
  state between the world and the cloister
• Francis prescribed particular duties for these
  tertiaries not to carry arms, or take oaths, or
  engage in lawsuits, etc.
• It is also said that he drew up a formal rule for
  them, it is customary to assign 1221 as the year
  of the foundation of this third order

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• During Christmas (1223) Francis conceived the
  idea of celebrating the Nativity "in a new
  manner",
• he has thus come to be regarded as having
  inaugurated the devotion of the Crèche
• Christmas appears indeed to have been the
  favorite feast of Francis, and he wished to
  persuade the emperor to make a special law that
  people should provide well for the birds and
  beasts, as well as for the poor, so that all
  might have occasion to rejoice in the Lord

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• Where there is charity and wisdom, there is
  neither fear nor ignorance

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• In August, 1224, Francis retired with three
  companions to La Verna to keep a forty days fast
• During this retreat the sufferings of Christ
  became more than ever the burden of his
  meditations
• In effect, he received the stigmata

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• It was on or about the feast of the Exaltation of
  the Cross (14 September) while praying on the
  mountainside, that he beheld the marvellous
  vision of the seraph, as a sequel of which there
  appeared on his body the stigmata, the five
  wounds of Christ.
• After the reception of the stigmata, Francis
  suffered increasing pains throughout his frail
  body, already broken by continual mortification.

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• Sept 1225
• Francis paid a last visit to St. Clare and it was
  in a little hut of reeds, made for him in the
  garden there, that the saint composed that
  "Canticle of the Sun", in which his poetic genius
  expands itself so gloriously.

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Canticle of the Sun

• Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,All
  praise is Yours, all glory, honor and
  blessings.To you alone, Most High, do they
  belong no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce
  Your Name.
•  We praise You, Lord, for all Your
  creatures,especially for Brother Sun,who is the
  day through whom You give us light.And he is
  beautiful and radiant with great splendor,of You
  Most High, he bears your likeness.
• We praise You, Lord, for Sister Moon and the
  stars,in the heavens you have made them bright,
  precious and fair.
• We praise You, Lord, for Brothers Wind and
  Air, fair and stormy, all weather's moods,by
  which You cherish all that You have made.

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• We praise You, Lord, for Sister Water,so useful,
  humble, precious and pure.
• We praise You, Lord, for Brother Fire,through
  whom You light the night. He is beautiful,
  playful, robust, and strong.
• We praise You, Lord, for Sister Earth, who
  sustains uswith her fruits, colored flowers, and
  herbs.
• We praise You, Lord, for those who pardon,for
  love of You bear sickness and trial.Blessed are
  those who endure in peace,by You Most High, they
  will be crowned.

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• We praise You, Lord, for Sister Death,from whom
  no-one living can escape.Woe to those who die in
  their sins!Blessed are those that She finds
  doing Your Will.No second death can do them
  harm.  
• We praise and bless You, Lord, and give You
  thanks,and serve You in all humility.

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1226 AD

• Ina dying condition, Francis returned to Assisi
• In the early autumn Francis, feeling the hand of
  death upon him, was carried to his beloved Little
  Portion (Porziuncola) that he might breathe his
  last sigh where his vocation had been revealed to
  him
• His last days were passed at the Porziuncola in a
  tiny hut, near the chapel, that served as an
  infirmary.

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• "I have done my part, may Christ teach you to do
  yours."

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• On the eve of his death, Francis, in imitation of
  Christ, had bread brought to him and broken.
• This he distributed among those present, blessing
  Bernard, his first companion, Elias, and all the
  others in order.
• "I have done my part," he said next, "may Christ
  teach you to do yours."

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• Wishing to give a last token of detachment and to
  show he no longer had anything in common with the
  world, Francis removed his habit and lay down on
  the bare ground, covered with a borrowed cloth,
  rejoicing that he was able to keep faith with his
  Lady Poverty to the end.
• After a while he asked to have read to him the
  Passion from the Gospel of John, and then in
  faltering tones he himself intoned Psalm 141.
• At the concluding verse, "Bring my soul out of
  prison", he was led away from earth by "Sister
  Death
• It was Saturday evening, 3 October, 1226, Francis
  being then in the forty-fifth year of his age,
  and the twentieth from his perfect conversion to
  Christ

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• Francis had, in his humilty, it is said,
  expressed a wish to be buried on the Colle
  d'Inferno, a hill where criminals were executed
  and lepers buried.
• His body was, on October 4th, born in triumphant
  procession to the city, a halt being made at St.
  Damian's, that St. Clare and her companions might
  venerate the stigmata, now visible to all.

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• Francis was canonized at St. George's by Gregory
  IX on July 16, 1228.
• The next day, the pope laid the first stone of
  the great double church of St. Francis, erected
  in honor of St. Francis.

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Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary
use words