St. Francis of Assisi was born in 1181/1182 in the Umbrian town of Assisi. At the time of his birth, his Italian father, Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant, was in France on business. His mother, Pica di Bourlemonta, a French noblewoman from Provence, had Francis baptized using the name Giovanni, but when his father returned from France, he had his son’s name changed to Francis, perhaps due to his commercial accomplishments, especially in France.
Francis, in his youth, loved living the life of a typical wealthy young man. He was handsome, humorous, valiant, lighthearted, generous with money, and loved troubadors, partying, fine clothes, and carousing with friends. Yet, there was a part of Francis’ young life that remained disillusioned with the world, as is evident in his interaction once with a beggar. At the time, Francis was selling cloths for his father, when a beggar came in and asked Francis, while he was completing a business deal, for alms. Francis did not respond. But when the business deal was completed, Francis quickly ran out of his father’s store, and ran after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets, which resulted in Francis being taunted by friends for his charity, and furiously berated by his father!
In approximately the year 1202, Francis, who always dreamed of becoming a knight, joined a military expedition against Perugia, and was held prisoner for a year at Collestrada. It was during this time of confinement that an illness caused him to begin to re-evaluate his life. Nevertheless, upon returning to Assisi a year later, Francis resumed his carefree life, but, in 1205, still dreaming of being a knight, left for Apulia to enlist in the papal army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. A mysterious vision, however, which Francis experienced enroute to the battle, in which God instructs Francis to return to Assisi where it will be revealed to him what he is to do, caused Francis to abruptly withdraw from the war, return to Assisi, and lose interest in the worldly life. Francis, then branded a deserter, began to spend his days/nights roaming the countryside alone, feeling lost and abandoned, and often visiting neglected churches.
One day, while praying before the crucifix of the broken-down little chapel of San Damiano outside of Assisi, Francis received his call from God! From the crucifix came the voice once again, “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” Francis then began to beg stones and repaired, with his own hands, the run-down chapel of San Damiano, which was the “house” Francis believed his vision referred to. It meant this house, this little church, but it meant much more! It meant the larger house, the Church of Christ itself, that he was to repair. And so, separating himself from his family, especially his outraged father who expected Francis to follow in his business footsteps, and his earlier life of frivolity, Francis began his life-long journey of “rebuilding Christ’s church!
Shortly thereafter, when Francis spotted a leper on the road, he soon discovered the larger implication of “rebuild My church”, when, impulsively, he jumped off his horse, gave coins to the leper, and hugged him. Unbelievably, he was not repulsed (as he had always been) by this leper, but filled with joy, for he knew he had embraced his Lord! And Francis responded by going to live among the lepers and ministered to and learned from them. Here, he realized, were the living stones; and together, he and the lepers were building the kingdom of God on earth. For God was there in the rejected, the despised, and the poor!
Hence, it began, the Franciscan rebuilding of the Church. And, as others started to join Francis, a brotherhood was born, with approval from the Church to live among the poor as poor men who observed the Holy Gospel. Francis and the brothers preached and worked with their hands for their daily sustenance; and begged for food when they received nothing for their labor. They remained with the lepers, extended mercy to them, and made peace with them, and all people and all creation. And, to do this, they had to find peace themselves with their aversion to the lepers, and embrace, and not run, from them!
Eventually, women joined them; the first was Clare, the daughter of the knight, Favarone di Offreduccio. And, in time, the Bishop of Assisi gave Clare and her companions, as their cloister, the once abandoned church of San Damiano, the church Francis himself restored with his own hands at Christ’s command. There they lived in extreme Gospel poverty in contemplation of the Poor Crucified Christ, working with their hands and depending on the begging of the brothers for their sustenance. They prayed for and ministered to the sick who were brought to their door.
Francis, as time passed by, expanded the brothers’ ministry outside Assisi to all of Italy and beyond, and often travelled with one or two brothers on missionary trips to preach conversion and forgiveness towards maintaining peace. His travels included travelling to Spain, France, Switzerland, Dalmatia, Syria, the Holy Land, and Egypt during the Fifth Crusade. He even attempted to be a peacemaker between Christians and Muslims, and went to the camp of the sultan, always preaching conversion of heart and forgiveness. The sultan listened and gave Francis’ safety through his kingdom.
Of major significance is a time when Francis, while in deep prayer on the mountain of La Verna in Tuscany, received the sacred stigmata, the five wounds of Christ, and became himself a visible image of his crucified Lord, which until his death, he kept secret from all but a few of his brothers. Following that miracle, he returned to the church of San Damiano in Assisi where Clare and her sisters had a small lean-to built for him next to the church where Christ spoke to him from the crucifix. Two months later, being frail, and in a state of failing health, including almost total loss of eyesight, Francis sang his “Canticle of the Creatures,” a witness to his life and the peace, joy, and integration a life of love and forgiveness brings. He sang of all creatures as being his brothers and sisters, and bids them forgive one another if they want to be crowned by God. He then greeted death as his sister (Sister Death) and embraced her, just as he embraced Lady Poverty, every day of his life after his conversion when he hugged his first leper! St. Francis of Assisi was forty-four years old when he died in the year 1226. The man who longed to be a knight, a man of war, died a man of peace and at peace with God, with himself, and with all of creation. God had changed his heart, and his changed heart changed the world!
Nature and the Environment
St. Francis believed that nature itself was the mirror of God. He called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters”, and even preached to the birds and supposedly persuaded a wolf in Gubbio to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf. His deep sense of brotherhood under God embraced others, and he declared that “he considered himself no friend of Christ if he did not cherish those for whom Christ died”.
Orders
St. Francis founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare (Poor Clares), the Third Order of St. Francis (Secular Franciscans) and the Custody of the Holy Land. Once his community was authorized by Pope Innocent III, he slowly removed himself from external affairs.
On July 16, 1228, Francis was declared a saint by Pope Gregory IX (the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, a friend of Francis and Cardinal Protector of the Order). The following day, the foundation stone was laid by the Pope for the Basilica of St. Francis- in Assisi.
Francis was buried on May 25, 1230, under the Lower Basilica, but his tomb was soon hidden on orders of his beloved Brother Elias for protection from Saracen invaders. His burial place remained unknown until it was rediscovered in 1818. A crypt for the remains was then constructed in the Lower Basilica and refashioned between 1927 and 1930 into its present form. In 1978, the remains of Francis were analyzed and verified by a commission of scholars appointed by Pope Paul VI, and placed into a glass urn in the ancient stone tomb.
On November 29, 1979, Pope John Paul II declared Francis the patron saint of ecology. On March 28, 1982, John Paul II said that Francis’ love and care for creation was a challenge for contemporary Catholics and a reminder “not to behave like dissident predators where nature is concerned, but to assume responsibility for it, taking all care so that everything stays healthy and integrated, so as to offer a welcoming and friendly environment even to those who succeed us.” The same Pope wrote on the occasion of the World Day of Peace, January 1, 1990, that Francis “invited all of creation – animals, plants, natural forces, even Brother Sun and Sister Moon – to give honour and praise to the Lord. The poor man of Assisi gives us striking witness that when we are at peace with God we are better able to devote ourselves to building up that peace with all creation which is inseparable from peace among all peoples.”
In 2015, Pope Francis published his encyclical letter Laudato Si’ re the ecological crisis and “care for our common home?, which takes its name from the Canticle of the Sun, which Francis of Assisi composed. It presents Francis as “the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically”. This inspired the birth of the Laudato Si’ Movement, a global network of nearly 1000 organizations promoting the Laudato Si’ message and the Franciscan approach to ecology.
It is a popular practice on his feast day, October 4, for people to bring their pets and other animals to church for a blessing.
The following are patronages of St. Francis
Patron saint of Italy (shared with Catherine of Siena), Animals, and Ecology
Laudato Si’ Movement Against Dying Alone, Against Fire
The Franciscan Order and Catholic Action Families
Peace and Needleworkers
Various religious congregations
Many churches and various areas around the world