One of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church, St. Francis is known as the founder of the mendicant order of the Franciscans, and as an inspiration of charity, repentance, and love of poverty. St. Francis was born in Assisi, Umbria, around 1181 or 1182. He was one of many children born to Pietro Bernardone, who was a successful cloth merchant, and his French wife Pica. The name 'Francis', or 'Francesco' in Italian, was not his real name, but a nickname given to him by his father, who was at that time trading in France and enamoured with French culture. The saint was in fact baptized as an infant with the name Giovanni, for St. John the Baptist, as his mother hoped her son would become a great religious leader.
The child Francesco was beloved of his parents, who were indulgent toward their son. He was not a promising student, prefering to spend his time around the troubadours (medieval traveling performers who were very popular in the High Middle Ages). Furthermore, he did not take to his father's trade, and developed a vibrant and pleasure-filled lifestyle as a young man, surrounding himself with revelry and rich friends. But the life of merriment did not wholly satisfy Francis, and he was inwardly plagued with disillusionment. Being also a very generous person, however, Francis gave much of his wealth to the poor.
The first spiritually formative event in St. Francis' life occurred when he was twenty. He went out in a skirmish against Perugia (Italian cities were wont to fight each other in rivalry), was taken captive, and held for a year. During this time, Francis suffered from a long illness that led him to contemplate the emptiness of earthly life, especially the sort of life he had been living. His recovery and release, however, did not display too much of a change in his disposition toward pleasure and personal glory. In fact, he was very eager for military victory, and pursued a career in the army. Yet he felt an unmistakeable pull toward Assisi, and soon returned to his hometown. At this time, the change in Francis' heart became evident to him. In the midst of his friends' continuing antics, he found that he longed for a spiritually-focused life, and furthermore a life of poverty. Thus began Francis' rejection of his own wealth, which he dispersed to the impoverished of Assisi, and his ministry to lepers.
Francis, formerly dressed in bright clothing, could now be found in a coarse, dull peasant tunic, and the young man who sung for the entertainment of all was now praying both in and out of churches for Christ's direction. Ultimately he legally gave up his inheritance and renounced his family ties, choosing to live as a beggar and working to restore churches around the countryside, a mission he was given by God. Around 1209, Francis was deeply convicted by the Gospel passage in which Christ admonishes the disciples to take no provisions, whether money, extra clothing, or even a staff, when preaching the Kingdom of God. Francis took this into his heart, and went about Assisi proclaiming the need for repentance, with no shoes or staff, having fully embraced poverty. His simplicity and faith attracted followers, including cardinals, prominent individuals of Assisi, and others who were convinced of such a lifestyle of poverty and charity. They formed a brotherhood of twelve, gave all their possessions to the poor, drew up a rule as the 'Penitents of Assisi', and went to Rome for the Pope's approval. After some misgivings, Pope Innocent III gave his sanction, and the men were tonsured as monks.
Back in Assisi, they established the center of the Franciscan order out of the little chapel (the Porziuncola) of St. Mary of the Angels, around which the constructed a small convent. From this base they went about Assisi, working here and begging there for their income, all the time preaching charity and repentance. Soon Francis had a following of women, beginning with the pious Clare, an heiress who was convicted by his teaching. These women were the 'Poor Clares', or the Order of Poor Ladies. The orders of both monks and nuns grew, and soon groups of friars were sent out to minister in France, Germany, Spain, Hungary, and even Eastern countries. Francis himself had a great desire to convert the Muslims, and after a few failed attempts in arriving Muslim countries, he finally made a pilgrimage to Egypt, where he was received by the sultan. Seeing the godliness of Francis, the sultan permitted him to preach to his people. Francis also spent a year back in Italy, crossing the whole country and preaching the Gospel.
In 1224, Francis is said to have received the stigmata from a seraph, the gift of the wounds and suffering of Christ given to the holy. He reposed in his little home next to the beloved Porziuncola on October 3, 1226. He was declared a saint two years later, and is celebrated on October 4. He is reveared not only for his good works and love for people, but also for his reverence for nature as God's creation, and his literary works in vernacular Italian (among them the Canticle of the Sun, which inspired the popular hymn, All Creatures of Our God and King). The Franciscan Order remains a major monastic order in the Catholic Church to the present day.
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