Francis of Assisi

Life and work

Francis was born to a prosperous cloth merchant in Assisi and lived a carefree youth before a period of illness, imprisonment following a local war, and a series of religious experiences — including a vision at the ruined chapel of San Damiano in which he heard Christ tell him to "rebuild my church" — led to a dramatic break with his old life around 1206, when he publicly renounced his father's wealth.

Francis embraced a life of radical poverty, preaching repentance and rebuilding chapels with his own hands. A small band of followers gathered around him, and in 1209 Pope Innocent III verbally approved a simple rule of life for what became the Order of Friars Minor, or Franciscans — mendicant friars who owned no property and lived by begging and manual labor while preaching in towns and cities, a departure from the fixed monastic life of earlier orders.

Francis traveled to Egypt during the Fifth Crusade in 1219 in an unsuccessful but respectful attempt to convert the Sultan al-Kamil, an episode notable for the peaceful, dialogical approach it represented amid a crusading age.

In his final years Francis withdrew increasingly from formal leadership of the rapidly growing order, and in 1224, while praying on Mount La Verna, he reportedly received the stigmata — wounds corresponding to Christ's crucifixion — the first such report in Christian history. He died in 1226 and was canonized just two years later.

Francis's Canticle of the Sun, praising God through "Brother Sun," "Sister Moon," and other elements of creation, remains one of the most cherished texts of Christian spirituality and a foundational text for later Christian environmental theology.

In their own words

"Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Sun, who is the day and through whom You give us light."Canticle of the Sun

"Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words." (authenticity of this exact phrasing is disputed by scholars)attributed

Further reading

• Encyclopedia Britannica: Saint Francis of Assisi