Francis of Assisi (other)
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Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet, and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
life of poverty, he became a beggar and itinerant preacher. One of the most venerated figures in Christianity, Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228. He is commonly portrayed wearing a brown habit with a rope tied around his waist, featuring three knots symbolizing the three Franciscan vows of
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
, chastity, and obedience. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the sultan al-Kamil and put an end to the conflict of the Fifth Crusade. In 1223, he arranged for the first live nativity scene as part of the annual Christmas celebration in
Greccio Greccio is an old hilltown and ''comune'' of the province of Rieti in the Italian region of Lazio, overhanging the Rieti valley on a spur of the Monti Sabini, a sub-range of the Apennines, about by road northwest of Rieti, the nearest large to ...
. According to Christian tradition, in 1224 Francis received the stigmata during the apparition of a Seraphic angel in a religious ecstasy. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women's
Order of St. Clare The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...
, the
Third Order of St. Francis The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi. The preaching of Francis and his disciples caused many ma ...
and the Custody of the Holy Land. Once his community was authorized by Pope Innocent III, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is associated with patronage of animals and the
environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
. It became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
of the fourth of October, which became
World Animal Day World Animal Day is an international day of action for animal rights and welfare celebrated annually on October 4, the feast day of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. The World Animal Day movement is supported and endorsed by a nu ...
. He was noted for his devotion to the
Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
. Along with Catherine of Siena, he was designated patron saint of Italy. He is also the namesake of the city of San Francisco.


Names

Francis ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; la, Franciscus Assisiensis) was baptized Giovanni by his mother. His surname, di Pietro di Bernardone, comes from his father, Pietro di Bernardone. The latter was in France on business when Francis was born in
Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...
, a small town in Italy. Upon his return, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco ("Free man" or "Frenchman"), possibly in honour of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French.


Biography


Early life

Francis of Assisi was born , one of the children of an Italian father, Pietro di Bernardone dei Moriconi, a prosperous silk merchant, and a French mother, Pica di Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was a noblewoman originally from Provence. Indulged by his parents, Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man. As a youth, Francis became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things
Transalpine Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the ...
. He was handsome, witty, gallant, and delighted in fine clothes. He spent money lavishly. Although many hagiographers remark about his bright clothing, rich friends, and love of pleasures, his displays of disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him came fairly early in his life, as is shown in the "story of the beggar". In this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for
alms Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...
. At the conclusion of his business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran after the beggar. When he found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his purse. His friends mocked him for his charity; his father scolded him in rage.Chesterton (1924), pp. 40–41 Around 1202, he joined a military expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada. He spent a year as a captive, during which an illness caused him to re-evaluate his life. However, upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life. In 1205, Francis left for
Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...
to enlist in the army of
Walter III, Count of Brienne Walter III of Brienne (french: Gautier, it, Gualtiero; died June 1205) was a nobleman from northern France. Becoming Count of Brienne in 1191, Walter married the Sicilian princess Elvira and took an army to southern Italy to claim her inheritanc ...
. A strange vision made him return to Assisi and lose interest in worldly life. According to hagiographic accounts, thereafter he began to avoid the sports and feasts of his former companions. A friend asked him whether he was thinking of marrying, to which he answered: "Yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen", meaning his "Lady Poverty". On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's Basilica. He spent some time in lonely places, asking God for
divine illumination According to divine illumination, the process of human thought needs to be aided by divine grace. It is the oldest and most influential alternative to naturalism in the theory of mind and epistemology. It was an important feature of ancient Gre ...
. He said he had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ in the forsaken country chapel of San Damiano, just outside Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified said to him, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My church which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." He took this to mean the ruined church in which he was presently praying, and so he sold some cloth from his father's store to assist the priest there.Chesterton (1924), pp. 54–56 When the priest refused to accept the ill-gotten gains, an indignant Francis threw the coins on the floor. In order to avoid his father's wrath, Francis hid in a cave near San Damiano for about a month. When he returned to town, hungry and dirty, he was dragged home by his father, beaten, bound, and locked in a small storeroom. Freed by his mother during Bernardone's absence, Francis returned at once to San Damiano, where he found shelter with the officiating priest, but he was soon cited before the city consuls by his father. The latter, not content with having recovered the scattered gold from San Damiano, sought also to force his son to forego his inheritance by way of restitution. In the midst of legal proceedings before the Bishop of Assisi, Francis renounced his father and his
patrimony Patrimony may refer to: Law * Patrimony, or property, the total of all personal and real entitlements, including movable and immovable property, belonging to a real person or a juristic person * Patrimony, or inheritance, a right or estate inh ...
. Some accounts report that he stripped himself naked in token of this renunciation, and the bishop covered him with his own cloak. For the next couple of months, Francis wandered as a beggar in the hills behind Assisi. He spent some time at a neighbouring monastery working as a
scullion Scullion may refer to: * The Irish surname derived from 'Ó Scolláin' meaning 'descendant of the/a scholar' * a servant from the lower classes. Music * Scullion (group), an Irish folk rock band * ''Scullion'' (album) People with the surname ...
. He then went to Gubbio, where a friend gave him, as an alms, the cloak, girdle, and staff of a pilgrim. Returning to Assisi, he traversed the city, begging stones for the restoration of St. Damiano. These he carried to the old chapel, set in place himself, and so at length rebuilt it. Over the course of two years, he embraced the life of a
penitent Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part i ...
, during which he restored several ruined chapels in the countryside around Assisi, among them San Pietro in Spina (in the area of San Petrignano in the valley about a kilometre from Rivotorto, today on private property and once again in ruin); and the Porziuncola, the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels in the plain just below the town. This later became his favorite abode. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, in the
leper colonies A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...
near Assisi. File:Casa-de-sao-francisco.jpg, The Piccolino Chapel, Francis’ legendary birthplace File:Sassetta 001.jpg, ''Saint Francis renounces his earthly father''.


Founding of the Franciscan Orders


Friars Minor

One morning in February 1208, Francis was taking part in a Mass in the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, near which he had by then built himself a hut. The Gospel of the day was the "Commissioning of the Twelve" from the Book of Matthew. The disciples were to go and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of poverty. Having obtained a coarse woollen tunic, the dress then worn by the poorest Umbrian peasants, he tied it around himself with a knotted rope and went about exhorting the people of the countryside to penance, brotherly love, and peace. Francis's preaching to ordinary people was unusual as he had no license to do so. His example attracted others. Within a year Francis had eleven followers. The brothers lived a simple life in the deserted leper colony of Rivo Torto near Assisi. They spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous districts of Umbria, making a deep impression upon their hearers by their earnest exhortations. In 1209 he composed a simple 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 Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps." He then led eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order.Chesterton (1924), pp. 107–108 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 Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
. The Cardinal, who was the confessor of Pope Innocent III, was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to the pope. After several days, the pope agreed to admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official audience. The group was tonsured.Galli (2002), pp. 74–80 This was important in part because it recognized Church authority and prevented his following from accusations of heresy, as had happened to the Waldensians decades earlier. Though a number of the pope's counsellors considered the mode of life proposed by Francis to be unsafe and impractical, following a dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Lateran Basilica, he decided to endorse Francis's order. This occurred, according to tradition, on 16 April 1210, and constituted the official founding of the
Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
. The group, then the "Lesser Brothers" (''Order of Friars Minor'' also known as the ''Franciscan Order'' or the ''Seraphic Order''), were centred in the Porziuncola and preached first in Umbria, before expanding throughout Italy. Francis was later ordained a deacon, but not a priest.


Poor Clares and Third Order

From then on, the new order grew quickly. Hearing Francis preaching in the church of
San Rufino Assisi Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale di Assisi or ''Cattedrale di San Rufino di Assisi''), dedicated to San Rufino (Rufinus of Assisi) is a major church in Assisi, Italy. This stately church in Umbrian Romanesque style was the third church built o ...
in Assisi in 1211, the young noblewoman
Clare of Assisi Clare of Assisi (born Chiara Offreduccio and sometimes spelled Clara, Clair, Claire, Sinclair; 16 July 1194 – 11 August 1253) was an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladie ...
sought to live like them. Her cousin Rufino also sought to join. On the night of Palm Sunday, 28 March 1212, Clare clandestinely left her family's palace. Francis received her at the Porziuncola and thereby established the Order of Poor Clares.Chesterton (1924), pp. 110–111 He gave Clare a
religious habit A religious habit is a distinctive set of religious clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anchoritic life, ...
, a garment similar to his own, before lodging her, her younger sister Caterina, and other young women in a nearby monastery of Benedictine nuns until he could provide a suitable monastery. Later he transferred them to San Damiano, to a few small huts or cells. This became the first monastery of the Second Franciscan Order, now known as Poor Clares. For those who could not leave their affairs, Francis later formed the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance, a fraternity composed of either
laity In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...
or clergy whose members neither withdrew from the world nor took
religious vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhism tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, many different kinds of re ...
. Instead, they observed the principles of Franciscan life in their daily lives. Before long, the Third Order – now titled the Secular Franciscan Order – grew beyond Italy.


Travels

Determined to bring the Gospel to all peoples and let God convert them, Francis sought on several occasions to take his message out of Italy. In approximately 1211, a
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of the Medrano family held the lordship of the castle and town of Agoncillo, situated near the city of Logroño, in the region of La Rioja, Spain. Medrano's son was suffering from a mysterious and untreatable ailment. In 1211, Saint Francis of Assisi roamed those very paths of Agoncillo. In a saintly manner, he visited Medrano's Agoncillo castle, placed his mystical hands upon the ailing Medrano boy, and miraculously healed him, securing the Medrano lineage in Agoncillo. As a result, the Medrano family are distinguished by their devotion to Saint Francis of Assisi. The Medrano family generously donated some land, including a tower, situated close to the Ebro River within the city of Logroño as a gift to Saint Francis, where he established the first Spanish convent of his Order there. Unfortunately, despite its centuries-long legacy of glory and sanctity, the convent met its demise in the 19th century. Today, the remnants of its walls still remain. In the late spring of 1212, he set out for Jerusalem, but was shipwrecked by a storm on the
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
n coast, forcing him to return to Italy. On 8 May 1213, he was given the use of the mountain of La Verna (Alverna) as a gift from Count Orlando di Chiusi, who described it as "eminently suitable for whoever wishes to do penance in a place remote from mankind". The mountain would become one of his favourite retreats for prayer.Chesterton (1924), p. 130 In the same year, Francis sailed for Morocco, but an illness forced him to break off his journey while in Spain. During the Fifth Crusade in 1219 Francis went to Egypt where a Crusader army had been encamped for over a year besieging the walled city of Damietta. He was accompanied by Friar
Illuminatus of Arce Illuminatus of Arce ( it, Illuminato dell'Arce) or Illuminatus of Rieti (''Illuminato da Rieti'') was an earlier follower of Francis of Assisi. Illuminatus was born around 1190, probably in Rocca Antica or Rocca Sinibalda, villages southwest of Ri ...
and hoped to convert the
Sultan of Egypt Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally i ...
or be martyred in the attempt. The Sultan, al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin, had succeeded his father as Sultan of Egypt in 1218 and was encamped upstream of Damietta. A bloody and futile attack on the city was launched by the Christians on 29 August 1219, following which both sides agreed to a ceasefire that lasted four weeks. Probably during this interlude Francis and his companion crossed the Muslims' lines and were brought before the Sultan, remaining in his camp for a few days. Reports give no information about what transpired during the encounter beyond noting that the Sultan received Francis graciously and that Francis preached to the Muslims. He returned unharmed. No known Arab sources mention the visit. Such an incident is alluded to in a scene in the late 13th-century fresco cycle, attributed to Giotto, in the upper basilica at Assisi. According to some late sources, the Sultan gave Francis permission to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land and even to preach there. All that can safely be asserted is that Francis and his companion left the Crusader camp for
Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...
, from where they embarked for Italy in the latter half of 1220. Drawing on a 1267 sermon by Bonaventure, later sources report that the Sultan secretly converted or accepted a death-bed baptism as a result of meeting Francis. Whatever transpired as a result of Francis’ and al-Kamil’s meeting the Franciscans have maintained a presence in the
Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
almost uninterruptedly since 1217 and remain there today (see Custody of the Holy Land). They received concessions from the Mameluke Sultan in 1333 with regard to certain Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and (so far as concerns the Catholic Church) jurisdictional privileges from Pope Clement VI in 1342.


Reorganization of the Franciscan Order

The growing order of friars was divided into provinces; groups were sent to France, Germany, Hungary, and Spain and to the East. Upon receiving a report of the martyrdom of five brothers in Morocco, Francis returned to Italy via
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
.Bonaventure (1867), p. 162 Cardinal Ugolino di Conti was then nominated by the pope as the protector of the order. Another reason for Francis' return to Italy was that the Franciscan Order had grown at an unprecedented rate compared to previous religious orders, but its organizational sophistication had not kept up with this growth and had little more to govern it than Francis' example and simple rule. To address this problem, Francis prepared a new and more detailed Rule, the "First Rule" or "Rule Without a Papal Bull" (''Regula prima'', ''Regula non bullata''), which again asserted devotion to poverty and the apostolic life. However, it also introduced a greater institutional structure, though this was never officially endorsed by the pope. On 29 September 1220, Francis handed over the governance of the order to Brother Peter Catani at the Porziuncola, but Peter died only five months later. Brother Peter was succeeded by
Brother Elias Elias of Cortona was born, it is said, at Bevilia near Assisi, ca. 1180; he died at Cortona, 22 April 1253. He was among the first to join St. Francis of Assisi in his newly founded Order of Friars Minor. In 1221, Francis appointed Elias Vicar G ...
as Vicar of Francis. Two years later, Francis modified the "First Rule", creating the "Second Rule" or "Rule With a Bull", which was approved by Pope Honorius III on 29 November 1223. As the order's official rule, it called on the friars "to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience without anything of our own and in chastity". In addition, it set regulations for discipline, preaching, and entering the order. Once the rule was endorsed by the pope, Francis withdrew increasingly from external affairs. During 1221 and 1222, he crossed Italy, first as far south as
Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
in Sicily and afterwards as far north as Bologna.


Stigmata, final days, and sainthood

While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas (29 September), Francis is said to have had a vision on or about 13 September 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata. Brother Leo, who had been with Francis at the time, left a clear and simple account of the event, the first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata. "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ."Chesterton (1924), p. 131 Suffering from these stigmata and from trachoma, Francis received care in several cities ( Siena,
Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓 ...
, Nocera) to no avail. He began to go blind and the bishop of Ostia ordered that his eyes be operated on which meant cauterizing the eyes with hot irons. Francis claims to have felt nothing at all when this was done. In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here he spent his last days dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of Saturday, 3 October 1226, singing Psalm 141, ''"Voce mea ad Dominum"''. On 16 July 1228, he 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 next day, the pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. Francis was buried on 25 May 1230, under the Lower Basilica, but his tomb was soon hidden on orders of Brother Elias, in order to protect it from Saracen invaders. His burial place remained unknown until it was rediscovered in 1818. Pasquale Belli then constructed a crypt for the remains in the Lower Basilica. It was refashioned between 1927 and 1930 into its present form by Ugo Tarchi. In 1978, the remains of Francis were examined and confirmed by a commission of scholars appointed by Pope Paul VI, and put into a glass urn in the ancient stone tomb. In 1935, Dr. Edward Frederick Hartung concluded that Francis contracted trachoma while in Egypt and died of quartan malaria. This data was published in the '' Annals of Medical History''.


Character and legacy

Francis set out to replicate Christ and literally carry out his work. This is important in understanding Francis' character, his affinity for the Eucharist and his respect for the priests who carried out the sacrament. He preached: "Your God is of your flesh, He lives in your nearest neighbour, in every man." He and his followers celebrated and even venerated poverty, which was so central to his character that in his last written work, the Testament, he said that absolute personal and
corporate poverty Corporate poverty is the practice of refusing to own property, either individually or corporately. This practice of Middle Ages religious communities developed based on Christian views on poverty and wealth There have been a variety of Christia ...
was the essential lifestyle for the members of his order. He 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". Francis's visit to Egypt and attempted rapprochement with the Muslim world had far-reaching consequences, long past his own death, since after the fall of the
Crusader Kingdom The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...
, it would be the Franciscans, of all Catholics, who would be allowed to stay on in the Holy Land and be recognized as "
Custodians of the Holy Land Hand of the Cause was a title given to prominent early members of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life by the religion's founders. Of the fifty individuals given the title, the last living was ʻAlí-Muhammad Varqá who died in 2007. Hands of ...
" on behalf of the Catholic Church. At Greccio near Assisi, around 1220, Francis celebrated Christmas by setting up the first known ''presepio'' or ''crèche'' ( Nativity scene).Bonaventure (1867), p. 178 His nativity imagery reflected the scene in traditional paintings. 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. Both Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure, biographers of Francis, tell how he used only a straw-filled manger (feeding trough) set between a real ox and
donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
. According to Thomas, it was beautiful in its simplicity, with the manger acting as the altar for the Christmas Mass. Some modern commentators and animal rights advocates have mistakenly portrayed Francis as a vegetarian. However, historical records indicate that he did consume meat, and his earliest biographers make no mention of him adhering to a meatless diet. Francis's favourite dish was shrimp pie.


Nature and the environment

Francis preached the Christian doctrine that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for redemption because of human sin. As someone who saw God reflected in nature, "St. Francis was a great lover of God's creation ..." In the Canticle of the Sun he gives God thanks for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth, all of which he sees as rendering praise to God. Many of the stories that surround the life of Francis say that he had a great love for animals and the environment.Bonaventure (1867), pp. 78–85 The ''
Fioretti The ''Little Flowers of St. Francis'' ( it, Fioretti di San Francesco) is a florilegium (excerpts of his body of work), divided into 53 short chapters, on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi that was composed at the end of the 14th century. The a ...
'' ("Little Flowers") is a collection of legends and folklore that sprang up after his death. One account describes how one day, while Francis was travelling 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." The birds surrounded him, intrigued by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. He is often portrayed with a bird, typically in his hand. Another legend from the ''Fioretti'' tells that in the city of Gubbio, where Francis lived for some time, was a wolf "terrifying and ferocious, who devoured men as well as animals". Francis went up into the hills and when he found the wolf, he made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf to come to him and hurt no one. Then Francis led the wolf into the town, and surrounded by startled citizens made a pact between them and the wolf. Because the wolf had "done evil out of hunger", the townsfolk were to feed the wolf regularly. In return, the wolf would no longer prey upon them or their flocks. In this manner Gubbio was freed from the menace of the predator. On 29 November 1979, Pope John Paul II declared Francis the patron saint of ecology. On 28 March 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, 1 January 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' about 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 ''Laudato Si' Movement'' (LSM) is a global network of over 900 Catholic organizations and over 10,000 trained grassroots leaders known as Laudato Si' Animators. Inspired by the Laudato Si' encyclical of Pope Francis, LSM's stated mission is to "in ...
, 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, 4 October, for people to bring their pets and other animals to church for a blessing.


Feast day

Francis'
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
is observed on 4 October. A secondary feast in honour of the stigmata received by Francis, celebrated on 17 September, was inserted in the General Roman Calendar in 1585 (later than the Tridentine calendar) and suppressed in 1604, but was restored in 1615. In the New Roman Missal of 1969, it was removed again from the General Calendar, as something of a duplication of the main feast on 4 October, and left to the calendars of certain localities and of the Franciscan Order. Wherever the Tridentine Missal is used, however, the feast of the Stigmata remains in the General Calendar. Francis is honoured with a
Lesser Festival Lesser Festivals are a type of observance in the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast, Principal Holy Day, or Festival, but more significant than a Commemoration. Whereas Princ ...
in the Church of England, the
Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...
, the
Episcopal Church USA The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine Ecclesiastical provinces and dioces ...
, the Old Catholic Churches, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...
, and other churches and religious communities on
4 October Events Pre-1600 *AD 23 – Rebels sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. * 1209 – Otto IV is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III. *1302 – The Byzantine–Venetian War comes to ...
.


Papal name

On 13 March 2013, upon his election as Pope, Archbishop and
Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Francis of Assisi, becoming Pope Francis. At his first audience on 16 March 2013, Pope Francis told journalists that he had chosen the name in honor of Francis of Assisi, and had done so because he was especially concerned for the well-being of the poor. The pontiff recounted that Cardinal
Cláudio Hummes Cláudio Hummes, OFM (; born Auri Alfonso Hummes; 8 August 1934 – 4 July 2022) was a Brazilian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 2006 to 2010, having served as Archbishop of Fortaleza fr ...
had told him, "Don't forget the poor", right after the election; that made Bergoglio think of Francis. It is the first time a pope has taken the name.


Patronage

On 18 June 1939,
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
named Francis a joint patron saint of Italy along with Catherine of Siena with the apostolic letter "Licet Commissa". Pope Pius also mentioned the two saints in the laudative discourse he pronounced on 5 May 1949, in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Francis is the patron of animals and ecology. As such, he is the patron saint of the
Laudato Si' Movement ''Laudato Si' Movement'' (LSM) is a global network of over 900 Catholic organizations and over 10,000 trained grassroots leaders known as Laudato Si' Animators. Inspired by the Laudato Si' encyclical of Pope Francis, LSM's stated mission is to "in ...
, a network that promotes the Franciscan ecological paradigm as outlined in the encyclical Laudato Si'. He is also considered the patron against dying alone; against fire; patron of the
Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
and Catholic Action;"Feast of St. Francis of Assisi", Catholic News Service, October 4, 2018
/ref> of families, peace, and needleworkers."Saint Francis of Assisi", Newman Connection
/ref> and a number of religious congregations. He is the patron of many churches and other locations around the world, including: Italy;
San Pawl il-Baħar St. Paul's Bay ( mt, San Pawl il-Baħar) is a town in the Northern Region of Malta, sixteen kilometres () northwest of the capital Valletta. Saint Paul's Bay is the largest town in the Northern Region and the seat of the Northern Regional Comm ...
, Malta; Freising, Germany; Lancaster, England; Kottapuram, India; General Trias, Philippines; San Francisco;
Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...
; Colorado; Salina, Kansas; Metuchen, New Jersey; and
Quibdó Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in Western Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of 3,337.5 km² and a population of 129,237, predominantly Afro Colombian, including Zambo C ...
, Colombia.


Outside Catholicism


Anglicanism

One of the results of the
Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
in the Anglican Church during the 19th century was the re-establishment of religious orders, including some of Franciscan inspiration. The principal Anglican communities in the Franciscan tradition are the
Community of St. Francis The Community of St. Francis (CSF) is a Franciscan Anglican religious order of sisters founded in 1905, and is the oldest surviving Anglican Franciscan religious community. As First Order sisters, the CSF is an autonomous part of the Society of ...
(women, founded 1905), the Poor Clares of Reparation (P.C.R.), the
Society of St. Francis The Society of Saint Francis (SSF) is an international Franciscan religious order within the Anglican Communion. It is the main recognised Anglican Franciscan order, but there are also other Franciscan orders in the Anglican Communion. Backgroun ...
(men, founded 1934), and the
Community of St. Clare The Community of St. Clare (OSC) is a Franciscan Anglican religious order of nuns, and part of the wider Franciscan movement within the Anglican Communion. The community, founded in 1950 and based at Freeland near Witney, Oxfordshire, England, is ...
(women, enclosed). A U.S.-founded order within the Anglican world communion is the Seattle-founded order of Clares in Seattle (Diocese of Olympia), The Little Sisters of St. Clare. The Anglican church retained the Catholic tradition of blessing animals on or near Francis' feast day of 4 October, and more recently Lutheran and other Protestant churches have adopted the practice.


Protestantism

Several Protestant groups have emerged since the 19th century that strive to adhere to the teachings of St. Francis. There are also some small Franciscan communities within European Protestantism and the Old Catholic Church. There are some Franciscan orders in Lutheran Churches, including the Order of Lutheran Franciscans, the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, and the Evangelische Kanaan Franziskus-Bruderschaft (Kanaan Franciscan Brothers).


Orthodox churches

Francis is not officially recognized as a saint by any Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church has not pronounced any official view on the stigmata. Orthodox Saint, bishop, and theologian Ignatius Brianchaninov referred to a particular hagiographer of Francis of Assisi as being in delusion: "'When Francis was caught up to heaven,' says a writer of his life, 'God the Father, on seeing him, was for a moment in doubt to as icto whom to give the preference, to His Son by nature, or to His son by grace-Francis.' What can be more frightful or madder than this blasphemy, what can be sadder than this delusion?". However, this specific vision is not mentioned in the official biography of Francis, the Omnibus of Sources, and appears to be apocryphal. Francis of Assisi received limited veneration by Orthodox Christians in the Middle Ages, and there are Orthodox icons of him at the Church of Panagia Kera at Kritsa, in Crete. Today, Francis' feast is celebrated at
New Skete New Skete may refer to: * New Skete (Mount Athos), Greece *New Skete (New York) New Skete is the collective term for two Orthodox Christian monastic communities in Cambridge, New York (geographically in the Town of White Creek): *The Monks of ...
, an Eastern Orthodox monastic community in
Cambridge, New York Cambridge is a town in Washington County, New York, United States. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 2,152 at the 2000 census. The town of Cambridge contains part of a village, also called Camb ...
founded by Catholic Franciscans in the 20th century. St.
Joseph the Hesychast Saint Joseph the Hesychast ( el, Άγιος Ιωσήφ ο Ησυχαστής; born Francis Kottis, el, Φραγκίσκος Κόττης; Lefkes, Paros, February 12, 1897 – Mount Athos, August 15, 1959) was a Greek Orthodox monk and elder who ...
had Francis as his baptismal name, and the Greek tradition always requires Saint's names to be taken at baptism.


Other religions

Outside of Christianity, other individuals and movements are influenced by the example and teachings of Francis. These include the popular philosopher Eckhart Tolle, who has made videos on the spirituality of Francis. The interreligious spiritual community of Skanda Vale in Wales also takes inspiration from the example of Francis, and models itself as an interfaith Franciscan order.


Main writings

* ''Canticum Fratris Solis'' or ''Laudes Creaturarum''; Canticle of the Sun, 1224 * ''Oratio ante Crucifixum'', 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'', 1205 to 1209 For a complete list, see ''The Franciscan Experience''. Francis is considered the first Italian poet by some literary critics. He believed commoners should be able to pray to God in their own language, and he wrote often in the dialect of Umbria instead of Latin. The anonymous 20th-century prayer " Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace" is widely attributed to Francis, but there is no evidence for it.


In art

The Franciscan Order promoted devotion to the life of Francis from his canonization onwards, and Francis appeared in European art soon after his death. The order commissioned many works for Franciscan churches, either showing him with sacred figures or episodes from his life. There are large early
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
cycles in the
Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; la, Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in ce ...
, parts of which are shown above. There are countless seventeenth- and eighteenth-century depictions of Saint Francis of Assisi and a musical angel in churches and museums throughout western Europe. The titles of these depictions vary widely, at times describing Francis as "consoled", "comforted", in "ecstasy" or in "rapture"; the presence of the musical angel may or may not be mentioned. File:Master of the bardi saint francis . St. Francis and scenes from his life 13 cent Santa croce.jpg, ''St. Francis and scenes from his life'', 13th century, in Santa Croce, Florence. File:Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata.jpg, ''
Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata may refer to: * Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (Gentile da Fabriano), ''Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata'' (Gentile da Fabriano), c. 1420 * Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (Giotto), ''Saint Franci ...
'',
Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...
, c. 1430–1432, Turin version File:Domenico Veneziano - The Stigmatization of St Francis (predella 1) - WGA06432.jpg, ''The Stigmatization of St Francis'',
Domenico Veneziano Domenico Veneziano (c. 1410 – May 15, 1461) was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany. Little is known of his birth, though he is thought to have been born in Venice, hence his last name. He then moved ...
, 1445 File:Giovanni Bellini - Saint Francis in the Desert - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Saint Francis in the Desert''
Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...
, c. 1480 File:Carlo Crivelli - Saint Francis Collecting the Blood of Christ - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Saint Francis with the Blood of Christ'', Carlo Crivelli, c. 1500 File:El Greco - Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata'', Studio of
El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
, 1585–1590 File:Ribalta-san francisco-prado.jpg, ''Francis of Assisi with angel music'',
Francisco Ribalta Francesc Ribalta (2 June 1565 – 12 January 1628), also known as ''Francisco Ribaltá'' or ''de Ribalta'', was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, mostly of religious subjects. Biography He was born in Solsona, Lleida. Although his fi ...
, c. 1620 File:Francisco de Zurbarán 053.jpg, ''Saint Francis in Meditation'', Francisco de Zurbarán, 1639 File:Saint Francis of Assisi by Jusepe de Ribera.jpg, ''Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy'', Jusepe de Ribera, 1639 File:Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy-Caravaggio (c.1595).jpg, '' Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy'',
Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
, c. 1595 File:Josep Benlliure Gil19.jpg, ''Francis of Assisi visiting his convent while far away, in a chariot of fire'',
José Benlliure y Gil José Benlliure y Gil (30 September 1858, Valencia – 5 April 1937, Valencia) was a Spanish painter. Life He was born at Cañamelar, Valencia, studied painting under Francisco Domingo Marqués, and showed from the first such marked talent that ...
(1855–1937) File:The Ecstasy of st Francis--Sassetta--Bernson collecton--Settignano.jpg, ''The Ecstasy of St. Francis'', Stefano di Giovanni, 1444 File:Nazario Gerardi as St. Francis in Francesco, giullare di Dio 2.jpg, Nazario Gerardi as Francis in ''
The Flowers of St. Francis ''The Flowers of St. Francis'' (in Italian, ''Francesco, giullare di Dio'', or "Francis, God's Jester") is a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Federico Fellini. The film is based on two books, the 14th-century novel ''Fi ...
'', 1950 File:Statue in Cloisters said to have the cure for toothache. You can see teeth as votive offerings at the foot of the statue!.jpg, Statue in
Askeaton Abbey Askeaton (, Waterfall of Géitine, also historically spelt Askettin), is a town in County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town on the N69 road (Ireland), N69, the road between Limerick and Tralee, is built on the banks of the River ...
, Ireland, claimed to cure toothache, 14th–15th century File:Late 15th - Early 16th century depiction of Saint Francis of Assisi, by Tiberio of Assisi.jpg, ''St Francis,'' Tiberio d'Assisi, 1470 - 1524


Media


Films

* ''
The Flowers of St. Francis ''The Flowers of St. Francis'' (in Italian, ''Francesco, giullare di Dio'', or "Francis, God's Jester") is a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Federico Fellini. The film is based on two books, the 14th-century novel ''Fi ...
'', a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by
Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...
. Francis was played by Nazario Gerardi, a Franciscan friar from the monastery
Nocera Inferiore Nocera Inferiore ( nap, Nucèrä Inferiórë or simply , , locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in Campania in southern Italy. It lies west of Nocera Superiore, at the foot of Monte Albino, some 20 km east-sou ...
. * ''
Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
'', a 1961 film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the novel ''The Joyful Beggar'' by
Louis de Wohl Louis de Wohl (earlier Ludwig von Wohl, born Lajos Theodor Gaspar Adolf Wohl) was a German-born Catholicism, Catholic author, and had served as an astrology, astrologer notable for his work with MI5 from England during World War II. Sixteen of h ...
, starring Bradford Dillman as Francis. Dolores Hart, who plays
Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...
, later became a Benedictine nun. * '' Francesco di Assisi'', a 1966 made-for-television film directed by Liliana Cavani, starring Lou Castel as Francis. * '' The Hawks and the Sparrows'', a 1966 film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini * '' Brother Sun, Sister Moon'', a 1972 film by Franco Zeffirelli, starring
Graham Faulkner Graham Faulkner (born 26 September 1947 in London, UK) is a former British actor. His first and best known role was as Francis of Assisi in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Brother Sun, Sister Moon'' (1972). After that, he virtually retired from actin ...
as Francis. * ''
Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...
'', a 1989 film by Liliana Cavani, contemplatively paced, follows Francis of Assisi's evolution from a rich man's son to a religious humanitarian, and eventually to a full-fledged self-tortured saint. Francis is played by Mickey Rourke. * ''St. Francis'', a 2002 film directed by Michele Soavi, starring Raoul Bova as Francis. * ''Clare and Francis'', a 2007 film directed by Fabrizio Costa, starring Mary Petruolo and Ettore Bassi * ''
Pranchiyettan and the Saint ''Pranchiyettan & the Saint'' is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language satirical comedy film written, directed, and produced by Ranjith. The film centres on the fictitious conversation between the Thrissur based businessman C. E. Francis a.k.a. Pra ...
'', a 2010 satirical Indian
Malayalam film Malayalam cinema is an Indian cinema, Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ...
* ''Finding St. Francis'', a 2014 film directed by Paul Alexander * ''L'ami – François d'Assise et ses frères'' (The friend – Francis of Assisi and his brothers), a 2016 film directed by Renaud Fely and Arnaud Louvet starring
Elio Germano Elio Germano (born 25 September 1980) is an Italian actor. He is the recipient of many accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and a Silver Bear for Best Actor. Life and career Born in Rome to a Molisan family from Duro ...
* ''The Sultan and the Saint'', a 2016 film directed by
Alexander Kronemer Alexander Kronemer (born 19 June 1960, Pennsylvania, United States) is a writer, lecturer, and documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on religious diversity, Islam, and cross-cultural understanding. He is the co-founder and executive producer o ...
, starring Alexander McPherson * ''Sign of Contradiction'', a 2018 documentary film featuring commentary by Fr. Dave Pivonka, Cardinal
Raniero Cantalamessa Raniero Cantalamessa (born 22 July 1934) is an Italian Catholic cardinal and priest in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and a theologian. He has served as the Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980, under Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict ...
, and others, focusing on a revealing of the true St. Francis to modern audiences. *''In Search of St. Francis of Assisi'', documentary featuring Franciscan friars and others * '' The Letter: A Message for our Earth'', a 2022 film on YouTube Originals by Nicolas Brown, telling the story of Saint Francis and the encyclical 'Laudato Si'.


Music

*
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
: ** ''Cantico del sol di Francesco d'Assisi'', S.4 (sacred choral work, 1862, 1880–81; versions of the Prelude for piano, S. 498c, 499, 499a; version of the Prelude for organ, S. 665, 760; version of the Hosannah for organ and bass trombone, S.677) ** ''St. François d'Assise: La Prédication aux oiseaux'', No. 1 of ''Deux Légendes'', S.175 (piano, 1862–63) * Gabriel Pierné: ''Saint François d'Assise'' (oratorio, 1912) * William Henry Draper: '' All Creatures of Our God and King'' (hymn paraphrase of '' Canticle of the Sun'', published 1919) * Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: ''Fioretti'' (voice and orchestra, 1920) * Gian Francesco Malipiero: ''San Francesco d'Assisi'' (soloists, chorus and orchestra, 1920–21) *
Hermann Suter Hermann Suter (28 April 1870 – 22 June 1926) was a Swiss composer and conductor. Biography Born in Kaiserstuhl, Aargau, Suter studied in the conservatories at Basel, Stuttgart and Leipzig, under Hans Huber and Carl Reinecke. He was an o ...
: ''Le Laudi'' (The Praises) or ''Le Laudi di San Francesco d'Assisi'', based on the ''Canticle of the Sun'', ( oratorio, 1923) * Amy Beach: '' Canticle of the Sun'' (soloists, chorus and orchestra, 1928) * Paul Hindemith: ''
Nobilissima Visione ''Nobilissima visione'' (''The Noblest Vision'') is a 50-minute ballet (or, more precisely, a "dance legend") in six scenes by Paul Hindemith, originally choreographed by Léonide Massine for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The libretto by Hind ...
'' (ballet 1938) *
Leo Sowerby Leo Salkeld Sowerby (1 May 1895 – 7 July 1968) was an American composer and church musician. He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946 and was often called the “Dean of American church music” in the early to mid 20th century. Biography L ...
: '' Canticle of the Sun'' (cantata for mixed voices with accompaniment for piano or orchestra, 1944) *
Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...
: '' Quatre petites prières de saint François d'Assise'' (men's chorus, 1948) *
Seth Bingham Seth Daniels Bingham (April 16, 1882 – June 21, 1972) was an American organist and prolific composer. Biography Bingham was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, the youngest of four siblings in a farming family that soon relocated to Naugatuck, Con ...
: ''The Canticle of the Sun'' (cantata for chorus of mixed voices with soli ad lib. and accompaniment for organ or orchestra, 1949) * William Walton: ''Cantico del sol'' (chorus, 1973–74) *
Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...
: '' St. François d'Assise'' (opera, 1975–83) * : ''Święty Franciszek z Asyżu'' (oratorio for soprano, tenor, baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra, 1976) * Peter Janssens: ''Franz von Assisi'', ''Musikspiel'' (Musical play, text: Wilhelm Wilms, 1978) * Michele Paulicelli: ' (musical theater, 1981) *
John Michael Talbot John Michael Talbot (born May 8, 1954) is an American Christian musician, author, television presenter and founder of a monastic community known as the Brothers and Sisters of Charity. Life and career Talbot was born into a Methodist family wi ...
: ''Troubador of the Great King'' (1981), double-LP composed in honor of the 800th birthday of St. Francis of Assisi. * Karlheinz Stockhausen: '' Luzifers Abschied'' (1982), scene 4 of the opera ''
Samstag aus Licht (Saturday from Light) is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting and four scenes, and was the second of seven to be composed for the opera cycle '' Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche'' (Light: The Seven Days of the Week). It was written betw ...
'' * Libby Larsen: ''I Will Sing and Raise a Psalm'' (SATB chorus and organ, 1995) *
Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...
: ''Sonnengesang'' (solo cello, chamber choir and percussion, 1997) * : ''Balada de Francisco'' (voices accompanied by guitar, 1999) *
Angelo Branduardi Angelo Branduardi (born 12 February 1950) is an Italian folk/folk rock singer-songwriter and composer who scored relative success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Greece. Biography Branduardi wa ...
: ''L'infinitamente piccolo'' (album, 2000) *
Lewis Nielson Lewis Nielson (born 1950) is an American composer. Until 2012, he served as chair of the composition department at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Early life and education Nielson spent his childhood in Washington, D.C., but moved with his famil ...
: ''St. Francis Preaches to the Birds'' (chamber concerto for violin, 2005) * Peter Reulein (composer) / Helmut Schlegel (libretto): '' Laudato si''' ( oratorio, 2016) * Daniel Dorff: ''Flowers of St. Francis'' (solo for Bass Clarinet, 2013) * Mel Hornyak & Elliot Valentine Lee: ''Litany of the Martyrs'', appears in ''Adamandi'' (musical number, 2022)


Selected biographical books

Hundreds of books have been written about him. The following suggestions are from Franciscan friar Conrad Harkins (1935–2020), director of the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University. * Paul Sabatier, ''Life of St. Francis of Assisi'' (Scribner's, 1905). * Johannes Jurgensen, ''St. Francis of Assisi: A Biography'' (translated by T. O’Conor Sloane; Longmans, 1912). * Arnaldo Fortini, ''Francis of Assisi'' (translated by Helen Moak, Crossroad, 1981). * Nikos Kazantzakis, ''Saint Francis'' (Ο Φτωχούλης του Θεού, in Greek; 1954) * John Moorman, ''St. Francis of Assisi'' (SPCK, 1963) * John Moorman, "The Spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi" (''Our Sunday Visitor'', 1977). * Erik Doyle, ''St. Francis and the Song of Brotherhood'' (Seabury, 1981). *
Raoul Manselli Raoul Manselli (1917–1984) was an Italian historian. 1917 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Italian historians Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America {{Italy-historian-stub ...
, ''St. Francis of Assisi'' (translated by Paul Duggan; Franciscan, 1988).


Other

* In Rubén Darío's poem "''Los Motivos del Lobo'' ("The Reasons of the Wolf") St. Francis tames a terrible wolf only to discover that the human heart harbours darker desires than those of the beast. * In
Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
's '' The Brothers Karamazov'', Ivan Karamazov invokes the name of "Pater Seraphicus", an epithet applied to St. Francis, to describe Alyosha's spiritual guide Zosima. The reference is found in Goethe's ''Faust'', Part 2, Act 5, lines 11,918–25. * In ''
Mont Saint Michel and Chartres ''Mont Saint Michel and Chartres'' is a book written by the American historian and scholar Henry Adams (1838–1918). Adams wrote it well after his historical masterpiece, '' The History of the United States of America (1801–1817)''. Whereas the ...
'',
Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fra ...
' chapter on the "Mystics" discusses Francis extensively. * ''Francesco's Friendly World'' was a 1996–97 direct-to-video Christian animated series produced by Lyrick Studios that was about Francesco and his talking animal friends as they rebuild the Church of San Damiano. * Rich Mullins co-wrote ''Canticle of the Plains'', a musical, with Mitch McVicker. Released in 1997, it was based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, but told as a Western story. *
Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...
's novel '' The Assistant'' (1957) features a protagonist, Frank Alpine, who exemplifies the life of St. Francis in mid-20th-century Brooklyn, New York City. *
G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...
's book ''St. Francis of Assisi'', a biographical and philosophical explanation of St. Francis


See also

* Feast of Saint Francis * '' St. François d'Assise'', an opera by
Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...
*
Blessing of animals Blessing of animals can be either of the animal or of the human-animal relationship, and can apply to pets and other companion animals, or to agricultural animals and working and other animals which humans depend on or interact with. Blessing o ...
*
Fraticelli The Fraticelli (Italian for "Little Brethren") or Spiritual Franciscans opposed changes to the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous, and that of individual church ...
* List of places named after St. Francis *
Pardon of Assisi Portiuncula, also spelled Porziuncola or Porzioncula, is a small Catholic church located within the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi in the ''frazione'' of Santa Maria degli Angeli, situated about from Assisi, Umbria (centr ...
* St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint archive *
Society of St. Francis The Society of Saint Francis (SSF) is an international Franciscan religious order within the Anglican Communion. It is the main recognised Anglican Franciscan order, but there are also other Franciscan orders in the Anglican Communion. Backgroun ...
* St. Benedict's Cave, which contains a portrait of Francis made during his lifetime * St. Juniper, one of Francis' original followers *
Wolf of Gubbio The Wolf of Gubbio was a wolf who, according to the '' Fioretti di San Francesco'', terrorized the Umbrian city of Gubbio until he was tamed by St. Francis of Assisi acting on behalf of God. The story is one of many in Christian narrative that de ...


Prayers

* Canticle of the Sun, a prayer by Francis *
Little Office of the Passion The Little Office of the Passion refers to a devotional office created by Francis of Assisi as a complement to the Liturgy of the Hours, Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church.Hugo, William R. ''Studying the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi: A Be ...
, composed by Francis *
Prayer of St. Francis The anonymous text that is usually called the Prayer of Saint Francis (or Peace Prayer, or Simple Prayer for Peace, or Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace) is a widely known Christian prayer for peace. Often associated with the Italian Saint Fr ...
, a prayer often misattributed to Francis


Notes


References


General references

* * *. * Scripta Leonis, Rufini et Angeli Sociorum S. Francisci: The Writings of Leo, Rufino and Angelo Companions of St. Francis, original manuscript, 1246, compiled by Brother Leo and other companions (1970, 1990, reprinted with corrections), Oxford: Oxford University Press, edited by Rosalind B. Brooke, in Latin and English, , containing testimony recorded by intimate, longtime companions of St. Francis. * Francis of Assisi, ''The Little Flowers (Fioretti)'', London, 2012. limovia.net . * Bonaventure; Cardinal Manning (1867). The Life of St. Francis of Assisi (from the Legenda Sancti Francisci) (1988 ed.). Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books & Publishers . * Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (1924). St. Francis of Assisi (14th ed.). Garden City, New York: Image Books. * Englebert, Omer (1951). The Lives of the Saints. New York: Barnes & Noble. * Karrer, Otto, ed., St. Francis, The Little Flowers, Legends, and Lauds, trans. N. Wydenbruck (London: Sheed and Ward, 1979). *


Further reading

* . * * * ''The Little Flowers iorettiof Saint Francis'' (Translated by Raphael Brown), Doubleday, 1998. . *
Valerie Martin Valerie Martin (née Metcalf; born March 14, 1948) is an American novelist and short story writer. Her novel ''Property'' (2003) won the Orange Prize for Fiction. In 2012, ''The Observer'' named ''Property'' as one of "The 10 best historical no ...
, ''Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis'', New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. . * Giovanni Morello and Laurence B. Kanter, eds., ''The Treasury of Saint Francis of Assisi'', Electa, Milan, 1999. Catalog of exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 16 – June 27, 1999. * * Paul Moses, ''The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace'', New York: Doubleday, 2009. * Donald Spoto, ''Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi'', New York: Viking Compass, 2002. . * Augustine Thompson, O.P., ''Francis of Assisi: A New Biography'', Cornell University Press, 2012.. * André Vauchez, ''Francis of Assisi: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint'', Yale University Press, 2012. .


External links


"St. Francis of Assisi"
'' Encyclopædia Britannica'' online
"St. Francis of Assisium, Confessor"
''Butler's Lives of the Saints''
The Franciscan Archive

St. Francis of Assisi – Catholic Saints & Angels


from Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend



* * *
Saint Francis of Assisi
Exhibition at the National Gallery, London, May 6 – July 30, 2023. Review
Julian Bell, "Opulence and Humility"
'' The New York Review of Books'', August 17, 2023. Review: Mary Wellesleybr>"St Francis of Assisi"
''London Review of Books'', 27 July 2023. {{DEFAULTSORT:Francis of Assisi 1180s births 1226 deaths 12th-century Christian mystics 12th-century Christian saints 13th-century Christian mystics 13th-century Christian saints Angelic visionaries Anglican saints Animals in Christianity Christian ascetics Beggars Catholic pacifists Christians of the Fifth Crusade Founders of Catholic religious communities Franciscan mystics Franciscan saints Franciscan spirituality Italian Christian pacifists Italian Friars Minor Italian people of French descent Italian Roman Catholic hymnwriters Italian Roman Catholic saints Medieval Italian saints People from Assisi Pre-Reformation Anglican saints Roman Catholic deacons Simple living advocates Stigmatics