Founder of the Franciscan Order
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06217a.htm>
, born at Assisi <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> in Umbria,
in 1181 or 1182 -- the exact year is uncertain; died there, 3 October,
1226.
His father <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11478c.htm> , Pietro
Bernardone, was a wealthy <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15571a.htm>
Assisian
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> cloth merchant. Of his
mother, Pica, little is known
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08673a.htm> , but she
is said to have belonged to a noble family
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05782a.htm> of Provence. Francis was one
of several children. The legend
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09128a.htm>
that he was born in a stable dates from the fifteenth century only, and
appears to have originated in the desire of certain writers to make his
life
resemble that of Christ <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08374c.htm> . At
baptism <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm> the saint
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04171a.htm> received the name
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10673c.htm> of Giovanni, which his
father
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11478c.htm> afterwards altered to
Francesco, through fondness it would seem for France
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06166a.htm> , whither business had led
him
at the time <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14726a.htm> of his son's
birth. In any case, since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can
hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06190a.htm> , as some have thought.
Francis received some elementary instruction
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05295b.htm> from the priests
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12406a.htm> of St. George's at Assisi
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> , though he learned more
perhaps in the school <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13554b.htm> of the
Troubadours, who were just then making for refinement in Italy
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08208a.htm> . However this may be, he was
not very studious, and his literary education
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05295b.htm> remained incomplete.
Although
associated with his father <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11478c.htm>
in
trade, he showed little liking for a merchant's career, and his parents
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11478c.htm> seemed to have indulged his
every whim. Thomas <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14694a.htm> of
Celano,
his first biographer, speaks in very severe terms of Francis's youth.
Certain <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03539b.htm> it is that the
saint's
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04171a.htm> early life gave no presage
of
the golden years that were to come. No one loved pleasure more than
Francis;
he had a ready wit, sang merrily, delighted in fine
<http://www.newadvent.org/> clothes and showy display. Handsome, gay,
gallant, and courteous, he soon became the prime favourite among the young
nobles of Assisi <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> , the
foremost
in every feat of arms, the leader of the civil revels, the very king of
frolic. But even at this time <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14726a.htm>
Francis showed an instinctive sympathy with the poor
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12327a.htm> , and though he spent money
lavishly <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15571a.htm> , it still flowed in
such channels as to attest a princely magnanimity of spirit
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14220b.htm> .
When about twenty, Francis went out with the townsmen to fight
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15546c.htm> the Perugians
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11736a.htm> in one of the petty
skirmishes
so frequent at that time <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14726a.htm>
between the rival cities. The Assisians
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> were defeated on this
occasion, and Francis, being among those taken prisoners
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12430a.htm> , was held captive for more
than a year in Perugia <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11736a.htm> . A
low
fever which he there contracted appears to have turned his thoughts to the
things of eternity <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05551b.htm> ; at least
the emptiness of the life he had been leading came to him during that long
illness. With returning health, however, Francis's eagerness after glory
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06585a.htm> reawakened and his fancy
wandered in search of victories; at length he resolved to embrace a
military
career, and circumstances seemed to favour his aspirations. A knight
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03691a.htm> of Assisi
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> was about to join "the
gentle
count", Walter of Brienne, who was then in arms in the Neapolitan States
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10683a.htm> against the emperor
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06255a.htm> , and Francis arranged to
accompany him. His biographers tell us that the night before Francis set
forth he had a strange dream <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05154a.htm>
,
in which he saw a vast hall hung with armour all marked with the Cross
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14517a.htm> . "These", said a voice, "are
for you and your soldiers." "I know
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08673a.htm> I shall be a great prince",
exclaimed Francis exultingly, as he started for Apulia. But a second
illness
arrested his course at Spoleto
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14232b.htm>
. There, we are told, Francis had another dream
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05154a.htm> in which the same voice bade
him turn back to Assisi <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> . He
did so at once. This was in 1205.
Although Francis still joined at times in the noisy revels of his former
comrades, his changed demeanour plainly showed that his heart was no
longer
with them; a yearning for the life of the spirit
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14220b.htm> had already possessed it.
His
companions twitted Francis on his absent-mindedness and asked if he were
minded to be married <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09707a.htm> . "Yes",
he replied, "I am about to take a wife of surpassing fairness." She was no
other than Lady Poverty <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12324a.htm> whom
Dante <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04628a.htm> and Giotto
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06565a.htm> have wedded to his name, and
whom even now he had begun to love
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09397a.htm> . After a short period of
uncertainty he began to seek in prayer
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12345b.htm> and solitude
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13790a.htm> the answer to his call; he
had
already given up his gay attire and wasteful ways. One day, while crossing
the Umbrian plain on horseback, Francis unexpectedly drew near a poor
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12327a.htm> leper
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09182a.htm> . The sudden appearance of
this
repulsive object filled him with disgust and he instinctively retreated,
but
presently controlling his natural aversion he dismounted, embraced the
unfortunate man <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09580c.htm> , and gave
him
all the money <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15571a.htm> he had. About
the same time <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14726a.htm> Francis made a
pilgrimage <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12085a.htm> to Rome
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13164a.htm> . Pained at the miserly
offerings <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11215d.htm> he saw at the tomb
of St. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13374a.htm> Peter, he emptied his
purse thereon. Then, as if to put his fastidious nature
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10715a.htm> to the test, he exchanged
<http://www.newadvent.org/> clothes with a tattered mendicant and stood
for
the rest of the day fasting <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05789c.htm>
among the horde of beggars at the door of the basilica
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13369b.htm> .
Not long after his return to Assisi
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01801a.htm> , whilst Francis was praying
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12345b.htm> before an ancient crucifix
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04517a.htm> in the forsaken wayside
chapel
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03574b.htm> of St. Damian's below the
town, he heard a voice <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15477a.htm>
saying:
"Go, Francis, and repair my house
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03744a.htm> , which as you see
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05001a.htm> is falling into ruin."
Taking
this behest literally, as referring to the ruinous church
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03041a.htm> wherein he knelt
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06423a.htm> , Francis went to his
father's
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11478c.htm> shop, impulsively bundled
together a load of coloured drapery, and mounting his horse hastened to
Foligno <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06124b.htm> , then a mart of some
importance, and there sold both horse and stuff to procure the money
needful
for the restoration of St. Damian's. When, however, the poor
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12327a.htm> priest
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12406a.htm> who officiated there refused
to receive the <http://www.newadvent.org/> gold thus gotten, Francis
flung
it from him disdainfully. The elder Bernardone, a most niggardly man
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09580c.htm> , was incensed
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01489a.htm> beyond measure at his son's
conduct, and Francis, to avert his father's
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11478c.htm> wrath
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01489a.htm> , hid himself in a cave near
St. Damian's for a whole month. When he emerged from this place of
concealment and returned to the town, emaciated with hunger and squalid
with
dirt, Francis was followed by a hooting rabble, pelted with mud and
<http://www.newadvent.org/> stones, and otherwise mocked as a madman
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08041a.htm> . Finally, he was dragged
home
by his father <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11478c.htm> , beaten,
bound,
and locked in a dark closet.
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