1/8/2024 0 Comments Father and son mover![]() The sultan was unconvinced by the message but so impressed by the messenger that he afforded him safe passage back. (The Third Order of Franciscans, which Francis founded in 1221, is for those who lead their secular lives while trying to live by a modified Franciscan rule.)įrancis wandered all over Italy and at one point crossed the Mediterranean, visited a Crusader expedition in Egypt, crossed enemy lines, and attempted to convert the Muslim sultan. Women also were fascinated by Francis's message, and when Francis received a rich young women of Assisi named Clare, the Second Order of Franciscans was founded, also known as Poor Clares. This became the First Order of Franciscans, and Francis was elected superior. He wrote a Rule and set off to Rome to gain the church's approval for his work. "Not only did he wish that he should not laugh, but that he should not even afford to others the slightest occasion for laughing." Timelineīy 1209 he had gathered a small band of "brothers" (12 men who wished to share in his life and ministry). Though known for his infectious joy, Francis abhorred laughing or idle words. To avoid lust, he fixed his gaze on the sky or ground whenever he spoke with a woman. In winter, he sometimes hurled himself in a ditch full of ice and stayed there until every vestige of sinful temptation departed. "He denounced evil whenever he found it," wrote one early biographer, "and made no effort to palliate it from him a life of sin met with outspoken rebuke, not support."įrancis was more rigorous than popular imagination allows. One day in church he heard from the Gospel of Matthew, "Take no gold or silver or copper in your wallet, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics or sandals or a staff." He took it literally and began an itinerant life: he intended to live in utter simplicity and to preach a gospel that usually entailed strong injunctions to repent. "Up to today I called you 'father,'" he said to him, "but now I can say in all honesty, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'" He walked out of the cathedral to become a hermit-to "be alone in solitude and silence," a biographer noted, "to hear the secrets which God could reveal to him." In the course of the interview, Francis took off his clothes and laid them neatly in a pile before his father. He dragged Francis before the local bishop to force his son into changing his unseemly behavior and to pay him back. When his father caught wind of this, he was furious. One day as he prayed in a dilapidated church in San Damiano, at the edge of Assisi, he heard Christ say three times from the crucifix: "Francis, go repair my house, which, as you can see, is falling completely to ruin." Francis understood that he was to repair the church he prayed in (though his followers later would see this as his call to reform the church), so he proceeded to sell off family goods to raise money for repairs. That was followed by a year's convalescence in Assisi, a year in which Francis, now in his early twenties, was slowly transformed.During his illness, he experienced dreams and visions. But he was taken prisoner during the battle, and a year passed before his father could arrange ransom. Indeed, he outshone all his friends in trivialities." In 1202 he marched off to battle against the city of Perugia, full of a young man's dreams of military glory. An early biographer said, "He squandered his time terribly. ![]() As a young man, Francis led a worldly, carefree life. He was born in Assisi, Italy, as Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, son of a wealthy merchant. If that's even close to the truth, it's a bit easier to see why he left such an impression on his age and every age since. In fact, Francis was a complex figure, a man who contemporaries claimed lived out the Sermon on the Mount better than anyone else, except of course, the man who first preached it. But it's also difficult to imagine how such a benign figure could turn thirteenth-century Europe upside down. The first thing that comes to mind is the gentle saint who preached to birds, tamed wolves, and padded about in flower-filled fields basking in the love of God. It is difficult to think clearly about Francis of Assisi. "Praised be You, my Lord, with all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day and through whom You give us light."
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