Saint Francis of Assisi
St. Francis of Assisi, born in 1181 as Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as
Francesco, was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon and preacher. He founded the men's Order
of Friars Minor, the women's Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the
Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in
Christianity.
Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he
was designated Patron saint of Italy. He later became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for churches to hold ceremonies
blessing animals on or near his feast day of 4 October. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an
attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades. By this point, the
Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was
no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was
authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is also known
for his love of the Eucharist. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity
scene. According to Christian tradition, in 1224 he received the stigmata during the
apparition of Seraphic angels in a religious ecstasy, which would make him the second
person in Christian tradition after St. Paul (Galatians 6:17) to bear the wounds of Christ's
Passion. He died during the evening hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he
had requested of Psalm 142.
Saint Francis of Assisi’s Story
The patron saint of Italy, Francis of Assisi, was a poor little man who astounded and inspired
the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by
actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit, and without a sense of
self-importance.
Serious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of his frolicking life as leader
of Assisi’s youth. Prayer—lengthy and difficult—led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ,
climaxed by embracing a leper he met on the road. It symbolized his complete obedience to
what he had heard in prayer: “Francis! Everything you have loved and desired in the flesh it
is your duty to despise and hate, if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this,
all that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter, but all that
you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy.”
From the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano, Christ told him, “Francis, go out
and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down.” Francis became the totally poor and
humble workman.
He must have suspected a deeper meaning to “build up my house.” But he would have been
content to be for the rest of his life the poor “nothing” man actually putting brick on brick in
abandoned chapels. He gave up all his possessions, piling even his clothes before his earthly
father—who was demanding restitution for Francis’ “gifts” to the poor—so that he would be
totally free to say, “Our Father in heaven.” He was, for a time, considered to be a religious
fanatic, begging from door to door when he could not get money for his work, evoking
sadness or disgust to the hearts of his former friends, ridicule from the unthinking.
But genuineness will tell. A few people began to realize that this man was actually trying to
be Christian. He really believed what Jesus said: “Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or
silver or copper in your purses, no traveling bag, no sandals, no staff” (Luke 9:1-3).
Francis’ first rule for his followers was a collection of texts from the Gospels. He had no
intention of founding an order, but once it began, he protected it and accepted all the legal
structures needed to support it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were absolute and highly exemplary at a time when various movements of reform tended to break the Church’s
unity.
Francis was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life of active preaching of
the Good News. He decided in favor of the latter, but always returned to solitude when he
could. He wanted to be a missionary in Syria or in Africa, but was prevented by shipwreck
and illness in both cases. He did try to convert the sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade.
During the last years of his relatively short life, he died at 44, Francis was half blind and
seriously ill. Two years before his death he received the stigmata, the real and painful
wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side.
On his deathbed, Francis said over and over again the last addition to his Canticle of the Sun,
“Be praised, O Lord, for our Sister Death.” He sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his
superior’s permission to have his clothes removed when the last hour came in order that he
could expire lying naked on the earth, in imitation of his Lord.
Reflection
Francis of Assisi was poor only that he might be Christ-like. He recognized creation as
another manifestation of the beauty of God. In 1979, he was named patron of ecology. He
did great penance—apologizing to “Brother Body” later in life—that he might be totally
disciplined for the will of God. Francis’ poverty had a sister, Humility, by which he meant
total dependence on the good God. But all this was, as it were, preliminary to the heart of
his spirituality: living the gospel life, summed up in the charity of Jesus and perfectly
expressed in the Eucharist.
Saint Francis of Assisi is the Patron Saint of:
Animals, archaeologists, ecology, Italy, merchants, messengers and metal workers
St Francis of Assisi Prayers
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master, grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born to Eternal Life
Amen
Salutation of the Blessed Virgin
Hail, holy Lady, most holy Queen,
Mary, Mother of God, ever Virgin;
chosen by the most holy Father in heaven,
consecrated by him, with his most holy beloved Son
and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter:
on you descended and in you still remains
all the fullness of grace and every good.
Hail, his Palace; hail, his Tabernacle;
hail, his Robe, hail, his Handmaid;
hail, his Mother;
and hail, all holy Virtues, who,
by the grace and inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
are poured into the hearts of the faithful.
So that, faithless no longer,
they may be made faithful servants of God
through you.
A Song of Brother Sun (also known as the Canticle of the Creatures)
Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
yours are the praises, the glory, the honour
and all blessing. To you alone, Most High, do they belong
and no human is worthy to mention your name.
Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who is the day and through whom you give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour;
and bears a likeness of you, Most High One.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars:
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind;
and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather,
through which you give sustenance to your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water,
who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night:
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains and governs us
and who produces various fruit
with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praised be you, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for your love
and bear infirmity and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace:
for by you, Most High, shall they be crowned.
Praised be you, my Lord, for our Sister, Bodily Death,
from whom no one living can escape:
woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will find
in your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord and give him thanks
and serve him with great humility. Amen.
