Francis of Assisi

Saint Francis of Assisi (born in Assisi, Italy, 1181; died there on October 3, 1226) founded the Franciscan Order or "Friars Minor". He is the patron saint of animals, merchants, Catholic action and the environment.

The beginning of the Brotherhood

At the end of this period (according to Jordanus, in 1209), a sermon which he heard on the Gospel of Matthew 10:9, where Christ tells his followers that they should go forth and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is upon them, and that they should take no money with them, that they should take no walking stick for the road, and that they should wear no shoes -- made such an impression on him that he decided to devote himself wholly to a life of apostolic poverty.

Related Topics:
Jordanus - 1209 - Sermon - Gospel of Matthew

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Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance. He was soon joined by a prominent fellow townsman, Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work, and by other companions, who are said to have reached the number of eleven within a year, whom he called the "fratres minores", in Latin, "the lesser brothers". The Franciscans are sometimes called Friars, and this is a term derived from "fratres", or "brothers" in Latin.

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The brothers lived in the deserted lazar house of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time traveling through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression on their hearers by their earnest exhortations.

Related Topics:
Rivo Torto - Umbria

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Their life was extremely ascetic, though such practices were apparently not prescribed by the first rule which Francis gave them (probably as early as 1209), which seems to have been nothing more than a collection of Scriptural passages emphasizing the duty of poverty.

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In 1209 Francis led his followers to Rome and asked the Pope's permission to found a new religious order and succeeded in gaining the approval of Pope Innocent III. Many legends have clustered around the decisive audience of Francis with the Pope. The most common consists of an initial rejection of Francis' request, followed that night by a dream in which the church was crumbling apart and Francis appeared to hold it together, which caused the Pope to change his verdict the following day. The account in Matthew of Paris, according to which the Pope originally sent the shabby saint off to keep swine, and only recognized his real worth by his ready obedience, has, in spite of its improbability, a certain historical interest, since it shows the natural antipathy of the older Benedictine monasticism to the plebeian mendicant orders.

Related Topics:
Pope Innocent III - Pope - Matthew of Paris - Benedictine - Monasticism

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