St. Francis
of Assisi was born into a wealthy family in Umbria, Italy, in 1182.
His father was a prosperous merchant, and Francis planned to follow him
in his trade, although he also dreamt of becoming a troubadour or a knight.
In 1201 he took part in an attack on Perugia, was taken hostage, and remained
a captive there for a year. As a result of his captivity and a severe illness
his mind began to turn to religion, but around 1205 he enlisted in another
military expedition, to Apulia. However, he had a dream in which God called
him to His service, and he returned to Assisi and began to care for the
sick. In 1206, he had a vision in which Christ called him to repair His
Church. Francis resolved to become a hermit, and devoted himself to repairing
the church. His father, angry and embarrassed by Francis' behavior, imprisoned
him and brought him before the bishop as disobedient. Francis abandoned
all his rights and possessions, including his clothes.
Two years later he started
to preach, and was soon joined by several disciples. When they numbered
eleven he gave them a short Rule and received approval from pope Innocent
III for the brotherhood, which Francis called the Friars Minor. The friars
travelled throughout central Italy and beyond, preaching for people to
turn to Christ. In his life and preaching, Francis emphasized simplicity
and poverty, relying on God's providence rather than worldly goods. The
brothers worked or begged for what they needed to live, and any surplus
was given to the poor. His poetical gift Francis turned to the writing
of prayers and hymns. In 1212, Chiara (Clare) di Offreduccio, a girl from
a noble family of Assisi, became his spiritual student. Francis founded
the Second Order for her, a sisterhood at San Damiano, the Poor Ladies,
later the Poor Clares. In 1219, Francis joined the crusaders and preached
to the Sultan of Egypt.
In time the brotherhood
became very large, as more and more people, attracted by the preaching
and example of Francis, joined him. The small brotherhood grew into a large
order. Eventually Francis wrote a more detailed Rule of the Franciscans.
He gave up leadership of the Order and went to the mountains to live in
secluded prayer. There, on Mount La Verna, in 1224, during one of his prayers
he got the impression of the stigmata, marks similar to those of the five
wounds of Christ Crucified. He returned to visit the Franciscans, and Clara
and her sisters, and a few of his followers remained with him. He died
at the Porziuncula on October 3, 1226.
St. Francis was canonized
in 1228 and soon became the most honored saint in Christendom. The order
founded by him is the largest of all the religious orders to our days.
In fine art he is always
depicted wearing a homespun robe, tied round his waist with a thrice-knotted
cord, which evoke the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He
bears the stigmata on his hands and feet, his chest wound is often depicted
visible though a gash in his habit.
Franciscans, a Roman Catholic order of mendicant friars founded by St. Francis of Assisi, received papal approval in 1223. Committed to charitable and missionary work, they stressed the reverence of the Holy Virgin. Franciscans became some of the most important patrons of art in the early Renaissance.
See: Albrecht Altdorfer The
Stigmatization of St. Francis.
Fra Bartolommeo The
Annunciation, with Saints Margaret, Mary Magdalene, Paul, John the Baptist,
Jerome and Francis.
Giovanni Bellini. St.
Francis in the Wilderness.
Alessandro Botticelli Madonna
and Child with Six Saints.
Caravaggio Nativity
with Saints Francis and Lawrence, St.
Francis in Ecstasy.
Cimabue Madonna
and Child Enthroned with Two Angels and St. Francis and St. Dominic,
Madonna
with Angels and St. Francis.
El Greco St.
Francis Receiving the Stigmata.
Domenico Ghirlandaio The
Confirmation of the Rule of the Order of St. Francis by Pope Honorius III.
Domenico Veneziano. St.
John the Baptist and St. Francis. St.
Francis Receiving the Stigmata. The
Madonna and Child Enthroned with SS. Francis, John the Baptist, Zenobius
and Lucy.
Giotto St.
Francis Giving His Cloak to a Poor Man, Death
of St. Francis, St. Francis Receiving
the Stigmata. St. Francis before
Sultan. Preaching
before Pope Honorius III. The
Apparition at Arles. Receiving
the Stigmata. The
Death of St. Francis. Stigmatization.
St.
Francis in Glory.
El Greco St.
John the Evangelist and St. Francis.
Georges de La Tour. St.
Francis in Extasy.
Bartolomé Esteban MurilloThe
Vision to St. Francis at Porziuncola, Vision
to St. Francis.
Raphael Madonna
with the Christ Child Blessing and St. Jerome and St. Francis (Von der
Ropp Madonna).
Jusepe de Ribera. St.
Francis.
Jan van Scorel. The
Stigmata of St. Francis.
Francisco de Zurbarán The
Ecstasy of St. Francis, St.
Francis Kneeling.
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