Who Is Francis of Assisi?
Giovanni Bernardone was born in either 1181 or 1182. He was born into a rich mercantile family in Assisi in present day Italy. His father, Pietro Bernardone, was a cloth merchant while his mother came from a noble family. Pietro was business man who had to travel to get product to trade. He is said to been a Francophile (lover of France) and actually was in France on business at the time of his son’s birth. When the father returned, he nicknamed his son Francis after the country.
Francis had a fairly normal childhood and lived what might be called a pampered life. He was wealthy, well liked, and enjoyed partying with friends. He was a natural leader and good athlete.
When Francis was about 20, war broke out between Assisi and the neighboring town: of Pagonia??? Francis joined those from his hometown and went off to battle. The war did not go well for Assisi or for Francis. Francis was taken prisoner and held as a prisoner of war for approximately one year. During his year of captivity Francis got sick.
He was never the same. Upon his return, Francis suffered through what today would be called an identity crisis. This led to a few “lost years” where he seemed aimless and essentially “bummed around” Assisi living off his family’s wealth.
A few years later (1205) yet another war broke out and again Francis signed up to fight. However, on his way to battle he got sick once again. After his recovery he had a dream that led him to (desert???) turn and go back home. This embarrassed his family.
Once back in Assisi Francis had many “life changing” moments. For example, he met a leper, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome where he gave all of his money and switched clothes with a beggar. These events led to turmoil in his family as his family, and particularly his father, began losing patience with him.
Francis went on to sell some of his father’s cloth in order to raise money to rebuild a local church San Damiano (st. Damien’s). This further upset his family. To escape their wrath, Francis hid and lived in the local woods up to a month at a time. When he returned to Assisi the townspeople and his family had essentially concluded he was a madman.
Francis father reportedly locked Francis in a closet and may have beaten him. Not to be outdone, Francis escaped (with eh help of his mother) and returned to the woods around St. Damiens. The father had had enough this time however and had authorities arrest Francis on theft charges.
In front of the Bishop (quite the coup for Francis as he had finagled his way out of having a civil judge), Francis disavowed his father’s possessions and said that hid only father was “the Father” in heaven. (Reword?) In doing so Francis stripped naked (for the clothes were from his earthly father) and was freed from the bounds of his father.
Francis now had nothing and was forced to resort to begging. With the limited money he received and stones he dug up, Francis went on to rebuild St. Damiens.
Remarkably quickly for someone with no assets and relatively little education, Francis began to get followers and by1209??went to meet Pope Innocent III???? who granted Francis and his followers (now called friars minor) recognition outside of the traditional church. They could act as monks?????
The order grew quickly For more on this see here..
Francis, who never became a priest, traveled around Assisi preaching to whomever would listen. His audience supposedly included animals, birds, as well as people from miles away.
He believed that all creatures (human and not) were all brothers and should be treated with love and respect. This spirit of inclusiveness (and possibly a desire to be martyred) led Francis to travel to the Middle East and to attempt to convert the Sultan of ?????.
Francis continued to suffer from poor health and grew blind after remarkably primitive eye surgery (his eyes were cauterized with hit iron) failed. (shock!)
He died on October 4, 1226. He was 45 years old. Had accomplished
a great deal in such a short life.
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