In his youth, Francis had plenty of money and spent it lavishly. He was
never interested in his father's business and formal learning. He was bent
on enjoying himself, but he would never refuse to give alms to the poor who
asked it for the love of God.
At around 21 years old, Francis was struck down by a long and dangerous
sickness. He suffered in patient such that his spirit was strengthen.
After his recovery, Francis was going to join Walter de Brienni, who was
fighting in southern Italy, Francis dreamt of a magnificent place filled
with rich arms, which belonged to him and his army. Francis was taken ill
again and he was told by a heavenly voice to return home.
Back at home, Francis gave himself much to prayer and to have a desire
to sell his goods and buy the precious jewel of the gospel. Francis
visited the hospitals and the sick. One day, in prayer at the Church of
St. Damian, he heard a voice to go and repair his house. As he was
disinheritance, Francis became a beggar. He helped rebuild the Church of
St. Damian and another dedicated to St. Peter.
Francis drew a following and he drew up short, informal rules and sent
it to Rome for the pope's approbation. Pope Innocent III, after seeing in
a dream Francis prop up a church which seemed ready to fall, approved the
rules, but only by word of mouth and giving them a general commission to
preach repentance.
Francis and his companions lived in a little cottage at Rivo Torto,
outside the gates of Assisi. At the beginning of his conversion, Francis
found himself assailed with violent temptations against purity that he
sometimes threw himself, naked, into ditches full of snow or rolled around
in a brier patch. His love for and power over the animal were often
referred to those who knew him.
At Santa Maria degli Angeli, was a time of training, poverty and
brotherly love. They worked trades and in the fields of farmers for their
daily bread. If there was not enough work, they would beg, but not for
money. They were at the service of their neighbors, particularly lepers
and others similar sufferers. St Clare left her home in 1212 to join
Francis after hearing him preach. Francis established her with other
maidens at San Damiano. The women became a tower of strength and sense, an
enclave garden of supportive prayer. In 1213, the lord of Chiusi put at
the disposial of the Franciscans Mount Alvernia as a place of retreat.
Francis named his order the Friars Minor, that his brethren should be
below their fellows and seek the last and lowest places. Francis appealed
his order to manual labor and receive things necessary for life, not money.
If there were not any work, the order would beg for alms. Also, they were
not to preach without the bishop's license. Many cities were anxious to
have the brothers and small communities began in cities in Italy.
The members were so numerous that the order was divided into provinces.
Missions extended beyond the Alps to Spain, Germany, and Hungary. In 1219,
some Friars travel to Tunis and Morocco. Francis went to Egypt and Syria
with the crusade. After a failed attempt to convert the Saracens, Francis
returned to Italy because of an urgent message.
Two vicars had introduced certain innovations to bring the Franciscans
into line with other religious orders. Francis arrived in Bologna to see
that his brethren housed in a fine convent. Francis saw these events as a
betrayal. He went to see Pope Honorius III and received the appointment of
Cardinal Ugolino as protector and advisor to the Franciscans. He summoned
a general chapter, which met at Portiunciela in 1221. Francis stressed the
revised rule, which kept the importance of poverty, humblemess and
evangelical freedom of the life his set before them.
Francis spent time at Grechio, in 1223, in prayer and quietness. The
graces, which he received from God in contemplation, were careful to hide.
Brother Leo said that he had seen Francis in prayer, sometimes raised so
high above the ground that he could only touch Francis' feet, if that at
all. The next year, at or around Holy Cross day, Francis received the
miracle of the stigmata. In order to conceal the stigmata, Francis hid his
hands and wore stockings and shoes. In was in contemplation of Christ
naked and crucified again in the presence of the poor that he came to love
poverty. The rule of poverty was extended to what is interior and
spiritual. If people spent more time in prayer, then they learn to preach
to themselves.
In the last two years of his life were years of suffering and happiness
in God. His health was worse, the stigmata was a source of physical pain
and weakness and his sight was failing. He made his last visit to St.
Clair at San Damiano, where he composed the "Canticle of Brother
Sun."
He returned to Assisi and died at Portuncula on October 3, 1226 at the
age of 44 or 45. He was buried first at the criminal's cemetery, but was
moved to the Church of St. George of Assisi. Francis was canonized in
1228.
There are three branches of Friars: Friars Minor, Friars Minor Capuclin
and Friars Minor Correntual. Together, the Order of St. Francis is one of
the most numerous religious institutes in the Church today. In the opinion
of Professor David Knowles that by the foundation of the brotherhood, St.
Francis "did more than any other man to save medieval Church from decay and
revolution."
