St. Francis of Assisi

The merchant's son who embraced radical poverty, founded the Franciscan order, and is remembered as a herald of peace and love of creation.

St. Francis of Assisi is among the most widely loved of all the saints: a figure of radical poverty, joy, and reverence for creation who reshaped the spiritual life of the medieval Church.

Life

Born into a prosperous cloth-merchant's family around 1181, Francis lived a carefree youth before a series of experiences — illness, captivity in war, and prayer — turned him toward Christ. He heard the crucifix at San Damiano tell him to "rebuild my Church," and renounced his inheritance so completely that he stripped off his fine clothes in the public square and handed them back to his father. He gathered companions who shared his life of poverty, preaching, and service to the poor and the sick, and with St. Clare he inspired a parallel order for women. Near the end of his life, on Mount La Verna, he is said to have received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, in his own flesh. He died in 1226 and was canonized just two years later.

What he taught

Francis preached not chiefly with arguments but with his life. His great theme was poverty: not misery for its own sake but freedom, the stripping away of everything that stands between the soul and God so that Christ alone remains. He called himself and his brothers Friars Minor, the lesser ones, and insisted they own nothing so that they might be brothers to everyone. From the same love flowed his reverence for creation: in the Canticle of the Creatures he praises God through "Brother Sun" and "Sister Moon," seeing every creature as kin because all come from the one Father. His was a Gospel taken literally and joyfully, lived in the open air.

Why he matters today

Francis still disarms people who think holiness is grim. He is remembered for joy, for gentleness toward animals and the poor, and for a peace that drew even a sultan into conversation during the Crusades. In an age anxious about wealth and the wounded earth, his witness lands with fresh force: a man who gave everything away and was the freest person of his time. The patron of ecology and of the poor, he remains a living rebuke to the idea that more possessions make for a fuller life.

A prayer

Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart, and give me true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out your holy and true command. Amen.

— Francis of Assisi, Prayer before the Crucifix