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Ever since he was a child, Francis had dreamed of being a knight in armor. The son of a rich, surly cloth merchant, he soon learned to read and write, how to keep accounts and how to ride. He had a fine suit of armor made for himself. While still a young man, he went to war on the side of the city of Assisi against Perugia (Nov. 1202). Assisi was defeated and Francis was taken prisoner. Seriously ill, he was released in 1203. Despite everything, his passion to be a knight never wavered.
Francis sets out for Puglia to join the army of Count Gentile of Brienne. Outside the city of Spoleto, on his way south, something stops him; either an encounter with a leper or a dream. He returns to Assisi, makes merry with his companions, and then his life changes. One day in the ruined chapel of S. Damiano, Jesus addresses Francis from a crucifix painted on the wall, telling him: “Rebuild my church,” Francis obeys the Lord’s command. Ignoring his father’s angry disapproval, he embraces poverty and dedicates himself to helping the needy and lepers (1204. 1205. 1206)
From the first moment of his “conversion”, Francis was convinced he would have to withdraw from the world and adopt a life of silence, prayer and penance helping the poor and the outcast. But on February 24, 1208, the feast of St. Matthias, in the chapel of the Porziuncola, while listening to a reading from the gospel, he is struck by the words Jesus uses when he sends the Apostles out to announce the Kingdom of Heaven. Francis realizes that he is being summoned to face the world, that the Lord wants him to go forth and preach the Gospel to sinners and rekindle faith in His Church. His attitude to life changes once again and to underline this transformation he casts off his hermit’s clothing and adopts, together with his followers, a tunic tied at the waist with a girdle… and he goes barefoot.
Francis’ choice scandalizes the people of Assisi. Scornfully, they reject him, often driving him away, but there are those who relate to his choice and follow him: Bernard of Quintavalle, Peter, Egidius, Sabbatino, Moricus, John of the Chapel, Philip Long, John of St. Constance, Barbaro, Bernard of Vigilanzio, Angelo Tancredi and Silvester… his first friars, eleven in all, with him they numbered twelve, like the Apostles (f1,2). After renovating the chapel of S. Damiano, he turns his attention to the rundown chapel of the Porziuncola where there was a sacred painting of S. Mary of the Angels.
A farmer called Silvestro donates to Francis all the stone required for the renovation work, but when he finds out that one of the friars is the wealthy Bernard of Quintavalle, he has second thoughts and demands payment. Then, he repents, ashamed of his greed.(f2)
As soon as news of the founding of the small religious community spreads, people from surrounding towns start coming to Assisi in ever increasing numbers to meet Francis and to ask of they can share in his choice by joining the ranks of his friars, his brothers in Christ.
An ingenuous monk called Masseus asked Francis: “Why does everyone want to follow you, you’re not even handsome?” (f10)
Francis sends his friars out into the countryside and to neighboring cities in pairs to preach love and the forgiveness of Jesus. “How will we know how to preach about Our Lord, we’re rough and uneducated,” one of the friars objects. Francis answers him by ordering all the brothers to gather around him and talk about God one by one.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the brothers pass the test with flying colors (f14). They had no idea they were so good at preaching!
Now Francis has over a thousand friars and it becomes necessary to have rules that regulate community life. In 1209 or 1210, Francis writes down his first “rule of life” for his burgeoning religious family centered around the practice of poverty. Then, with 11 brothers (12 including himself, like the Apostles) he goes to Rome.
He is received in audience by Pope Innocent III who gives his oral approval to the “rule of life” and orders the Franciscan friars to preach repentance. Satisfied, Francis sets out on the road home.
But he has other problems that have remained unresolved for too long:
where to house and feed the now numerous Franciscan family that lives with him in Assisi. Francis visits the Abbot of the St. Benedict Monastery on Mount Subasio to ask for the use of the Porziuncola Chapel and its dependent buildings as the first headquarters of his movement. On the way home, during a violent thunderstorm, an Angel helps him and his friars to cross a river that had broken its banks (f4).
The chapel becomes the home of the family of Franciscan friars. The handful of sheds huddled up against the chapel is turned into a kind of well-built shantytown monastery that gave hundreds of friars a religious home.
Day to day community life… minor arguments… and much wisdom on the part of the founding Saint who helps everyone to live a better life and teaches them about the world into which they will bring the message of Jesus.
“Go forth and preach the Gospel!” A group of friars lead by Francis walks out of Perugia. Along the road, farmers and merchants greet them politely. The group arrives at a crossroads where the friars bid farewell to each other and head in different directions, according to the mission assigned to them.
Bernard goes to Bologna to meet a learned doctor of law (f5). Others set off for Spain and Morocco.
Francis heads for Puglia where he boards a boat for Syria and Palestine.
But the boat is blown off course in a storm and runs aground off the island of Dalmatia. Lucky to survive the shipwreck, Francis is obliged to return to Italy (Summer 1211).
On the road back to Assisi, Brother Leo asks Francis to explain the secret of true happiness (f8). The answer is so masterful that it is as valid today as it ever was.
Francis’ faith knows no bounds and is equaled only by his skill as an orator and teacher. If people are not interested in the Word of God, he will announce it to the birds. Addressing them in the chapel in Cannario, he tells them how much they are loved by the Creator (f16). The people of Cannario are merely curious about the strange sermon. Only one youth, a tumbler, listens to the Word of God and asks Francis to make him a friar.
Many girls want to become Franciscans. Clare is the first and many others are swept away by her enthusiasm. On Palm Sunday in the year 1212, Clare runs away from home and takes her vows.
Clare is a very holy person and shows great compassion for her sister converts, but her great sense of humility prevents her from becoming their mother superior. In the end, Francis speaks to her and she is obliged to accept her responsibilities
“Clare, unworthy servant of Christ and minion of the most holy father Francis, swears obedience and reverence to Pope Innocent and to his successors,” she notes in the rule book of the order that will take her name.
Francis is on his way to Morocco, traveling through Spain with Bernard and other friars, but he falls sick and has to turn back. As he walks up the hill to the Shrine of St. James of Compostela (1215) he leaves Bernard behind to heal a leper on the side of the road (f4)
In the road back to Assisi they preach the virtues of poverty. For some time now, Francis and his friars have become bolder and bolder in their reproof of the wealthy and those who squander money on luxury, revelry and wars. Naturally this does not please the lords of the land, the nobility and a certain section of the clergy. In the end, Francis and his followers are accused of heresy. The matter is strongly disputed. Theologians are in disagreement. But Pope Honorious III puts an end to the argument in the Papal bull “Cum Delitti”, reminding everybody which side Christians must take. (June 11, 1218)
Francis and Brother Masseus return from the woods. When they reach the monastery they find the friar cook accepting offers from the faithful of Gubbio, who are grateful to Francis for ridding their countryside of a terrible wolf. They have brought two large baskets full of chickens, eggs, bread, a leather bottle of olive oil, fruit and even a pig. Francis stares in dismay at all the food and listens uncomfortably to the friar cook who cannot hide his satisfaction. Such offers are pouring in and now it’s their turn to offer glory to God: the cook promises Francis that by evening he will have used the two baskets of gifts to make the tastiest supper they’ve had in a long time. Naturally, Francis is alarmed and he orders the cook to take the two baskets to the poor sisters of Clare. Reluctantly, the cook obeys.
Francis fears that his friars prefer the easy life and he threatens to throw them out of the monastery, urging them to go forth to help the needy and preach penitence. That day, every friar in the monastery receives a mission. Five brothers are told to go to Morocco… others are sent elsewhere. Francis and Brother Masseus set out for France.
Francis and Masseus reach a crossroads and Masseus asks Francis which way they must go. Francis tells him to turn around and around until he falls over. The direction in which Masseus’ head points after he falls will be the right direction. Francis and Masseus end up going to Siena (f11) and arrive in the city in time to quell an armed brawl. Then, they continue their journey to France intending to pass through Florence and Pisa on the way…
In Florence they pay a visit to Cardinal Ugolino, who uses all his authority to dissuade them from continuing their journey: “You must not leave Assisi, Francis”. He insists that Francis return to his monastery to watch over his friars.
Regretfully, Francis takes the Cardinal’s advice.
The 23rd “Little Flower” tells how Francis freed one of his friars from the devil.
But this victory is insignificant compared to others that Francis achieved over the enemy of Mankind.
Francis is an excellent fighter, so sure of his faith that he confronts some of the things that happen with a sense of humor, like when he drives away the devils attacking Arezzo. On another occasion, he challenges the army of devils that is threatening the Order of Franciscan monks. A thousand temptations of the devil and only one solution: faith in the Lord and Savior.
Preaching love and the forgiveness of Jesus in the land of Islam costs the lives of the five brothers sent to Morocco by Francis. The friars are cruelly executed (January 1, 1220) when the dared to preach the Gospel. The arrival of their tortured bodies in Coimbra provokes a wave of horror. A young, learned Portuguese priest of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine is particularly impressed. He resolves to follow in their footsteps and become a martyr himself. He will become Brother Anthony.
The Canon decides to become a Franciscan friar, taking the name Anthony (1220). When he presents himself at the Monastery of the Lesser Brothers of Alanquer, from where the five Franciscan martyrs set out, he receives all he asks for, including a promise that he will be sent to Morocco to continue the work of the five friars and receive the crown of martyrdom, but he is obliged to wait….
In order to prepare himself spiritually for the approaching feast of Easter, Francis is ferried by a young boatman to a small island on Lake Trasimeno, not far from Perugia. He takes only two loaves of bread with him. There is nobody else on the island, but he finds company in several animals with whom he talks (f7). His solitude is broken by the arrival of fisherman who work the lake waters. He tells them about “the ‘facts’ of the life of Jesus”. Later, a robber lands on the island to hide his booty and escape the police who are on his trail. In the end, the young boatman who has remained in awe of Francis decides to join him at the monastery as a novice.
Accompanied by several fellow brothers, Antonio crosses the Straits of Messina and sets out for Assisi on foot to accept Francis’ invitation to the General Chapter, held every two years and open to all his friars. Francis uses this important event to train the friars, assigning their missions, helping them to reform their lives that must be more and more concentrated on carrying out to the letter the duties imposed by the Rule of Life for the salvation of their own souls. Antonio has never met Francis personally and hopes ardently that he will now have an opportunity to do so.
The program of the Chapter is full of appointments. The atmosphere generated by the congregation of 5000 lesser friars is joyful and brotherly. Antonio yearns to meet with Francis, but he is resigned to just being able to see him from a distance.
Unexpectedly, he is summoned by “The Master of the Province of Romagna, brother Graziano, to be the chaplain of the hermitage of Montepaolo. When the Chapter is over, Anthony obeys the summons(1221).
The nuns of the order of Clare are extremely poor, but they have all kinds of cunning ways to help those who live in misery, lepers and abandoned waifs. Clare is always present, encouraged by Francis who, one day, invites her to eat with him and his friars.
Francis and Clare have such great love for God that the meal together becomes a moment of spiritual ecstasy. While the assembled friars watch, they are wreathed in tongues of fire. From afar, the people of Assisi see flames rising above the church of St. Mary of the Angels (f15).
Events recorded in the “Flowers” linked together in a single story line:
The people of Gubbio make peace with the fierce wolf (f12); the healing of a leper (f25); the conversation with three robbers (f26)
Brother Anthony’s fame as a healer of the sick has spread throughout the countryside around Montepaolo. He insists that he is only a “poor unworthy priest” who, as an act of contrition, has joined the Franciscan friars in order to prepare himself for martyrdom at the hand of heretics. He goes willingly to Forli to attend the ordination of a group of seminarists. Reluctantly, he obeys the order of his superior to instruct the new priests and does so with great scholarship and fervor, to the surprise of all those who, until then, had known him as a humble, uneducated, silent servant of God.
Brother Graziano, Anthony’s superior, reports the matter to Francis, who sends the learned and saintly Anthony to teach at the new Franciscan Theology College in Bologna (f39,f40).
Three descriptive “Flowers” are brought together in one story: “The great temptation of Brother Rufus” (f29), “Francis and Rufus preach almost naked, to the astonishment of a whole city” (f30) “Francis sings Rufus’ praises to the other friars” (f31).
Francis is stunned by the multitude of confirmed believers who come to see him, touch him and ask him for help. They come not only from Italy, but also from Britain, Germany, France, the Orient, and the lands of Islam. Francis receives them all with great hospitality… stories of his actions become more and more commonplace. But Francis feels the time has come for him to withdraw from active life and cherish, in silence, the joys of contemplation. In this context he consults his friars, a saintly hermit and Clare. They all reprove him for even considering the idea and implore him to remain with them. In the end, Francis is happy to take their advice.
On several occasions, Francis had planned to go on a mission to Palestine and, at last, he sets out. He arrives in the Holy Land and prays in the places that mark the life of Jesus. He preaches to the Crusaders and even to the Sultan. In spite of the grim previsions of the pontifical legate, he returns to Italy safe and sound, bringing with him a cage with two doves given to him by the Sultan.
After his journey to the Holy Land, Francis returns to the mountains of Umbria. The memories of Palestine where he had celebrated Christmas are still fresh in his mind. He spends the following Christmas in Greccio with a group of shepherds, laying the foundations for the traditional “Living Crib” that is still celebrated today. But Francis’ health is failing.
Now almost blind, Francis visits S. Damiano. Clare and her nuns take loving care of him, almost obliging him to look after himself and not to exhaust himself administering to the crowds that flock to see him, from near and far, to receive his blessing, forgiveness and peace. In the convent of the poor sisters of Clare, Francis writes “The Canticle of the Creatures” (1225)
Francis arrives in the woods on the back of a donkey after a long journey. On the road, day by day, he has continued to exhort the faithful to convert their hearts, to meditate on the Passion of Jesus and to ask the Virgin Mary to obtain from her beloved son eternal redemption of all sins.
Francis is, by now, visibly frail. His sight is failing, an operation on his eyes was unsuccessful, he hobbles, his body bent over, racked by pain.
The Monastery in La Verna welcomes him with love. Here, he can rest at last. When somebody tells him he might even be able to recover his health. Francis replies that the Lord is waiting for him: he knows because he has had a vision.
In the woods, Francis meets his friends the animals again. He talks about them to the woodsmen and seems to know every creature personally.
While he is praying in the Monastery of La Verna (September 14,15, 1225)
he receives the gift of the stigmata.
The ardor of his love for Christ has never waned and it is this very love that consumes him.
Francis wants to die stretched out on the bare ground. But before he passes away he corrects an “omission” in the last verse of the “Canticle of Canticles” that refers to “sister death”. A papal legate comes to see him, bring the Pope’s blessing.
Francis has become an invaluable asset for the universal Church, a living example of saintly suffering.
In great pain, Francis asked to be taken from Siena to Assisi and then to the Porziuncola, in the heart of his beloved woods, the haven in which he wants to die.
With great serenity and infinite faith, he takes his leave of the community… before going to meet his Lord.
Thousands of people flock to the woods and the clearing around the chapel of the Porziuncola wanting to be near Francis as he passes on. His friends the creatures of the woods are there too.
Francis dies on October 3, 1226, stretched out on the bare ground, as he desired, after a life of poverty, serving the poor in a complete imitation of Christ.