Our Holy Father
St Francis of Assisi
The Transitus of St Francis
God's Troubadour
St Francis was born in the Italian town of Assisi in 1181 or 1182. He grew up in a wealthy merchant family and in his early days lived a life of comfort and luxury. In his twenties he was captured in battle and fell ill for some time. It was then that he began to realise the emptiness of his earthly riches; and so his conversion began. After spending much time in solitude and prayer, he abandoned his life of wealth and sought to live a life patterned after the Holy Gospel. At first he was ridiculed by those who knew him, and even disowned by his father, but before too long other men began to follow him in his way of life.
In 1209 he sought the Pope’s approval for the way of life of him and his companions—who numbered only twelve at the time—and they became known as the Friars Minor, meaning Lesser Brothers. Many more continued to join him, so that by the time of his death in 1226 there were over five thousand brothers, across all of Europe and beyond. Francis lived a life characterised by its simplicity, and close conformity to Christ. He had a profound love for the poorest and the least and lived a life of poverty and service to them. In all things he called those whom he met, and indeed all creation itself, to praise, glorify, and bless the Most High God.
“Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor, and all blessings. To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy to mention Your name. Praised be You, my Lord, with all your creatures.”
— St Francis of Assisi, The Canticle of the Sun.
His Life
"A sun was born into the world". With these words, in the Divine Comedy (Paradiso, Canto XI), the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri alludes to Francis' birth, which took place in Assisi either at the end of 1181 or the beginning of 1182. As part of a rich family–his father was a cloth merchant–Francis lived a carefree adolescence and youth, cultivating the chivalrous ideals of the time. At age 20, he took part in a military campaign with the aim of becoming a knight. He was defeated and taken prisoner, and after a year he was freed. On his return to Assisi a slow process of spiritual conversion began within him, which brought him to gradually abandon the worldly lifestyle that he had adopted thus far.
The San Damiano Cross
Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart, and give me, Lord, correct faith, certain hope, perfect charity, sense and knowledge, so that I may carry out your true and holy will.
– St Francis of Assisi –
It was now that he began to spend much time in solitude and prayer, often retreating to the caves near Assisi to pray. And it was at this time that the famous episode of the message from the Crucifix took place: While praying, as he often did, in the small Church of St Damian, Francis, three times Christ on the Cross came to life, and told him: "Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins". This simple occurrence of the word of God contains a profound symbolism. At that moment St Francis was called to repair the small church; but the ruinous state of the building was a symbol of the dramatic and disquieting situation of the Church herself. At that time the Church had a superficial faith which did not shape or transform life, a scarcely zealous clergy, and a chilling of love. Yet there at the centre of the Church in ruins was the Crucified Lord, and he spoke: he called for renewal, he called Francis to the manual labour of repairing the small Church of St Damian, the symbol of a much deeper call to renew Christ's own Church, with her radicality of faith and her loving enthusiasm for Christ.
Francis at once took up this call and began to beg for stones to rebuild the church. When his father reproached him, Francis, standing before the Bishop of Assisi, in a symbolic gesture, stripped off his clothes, thus showing he renounced his paternal inheritance. He then lived as a hermit, until, in 1208, while listening to a passage from the Gospel of Matthew–Jesus' discourse to the apostles whom he sent out on mission (Mt 10:7–13)–Francis felt called to live in poverty and dedicate himself to preaching. Other companions joined him, and in 1209 he travelled to Rome, to propose to Pope Innocent III the plan for a new form of Christian life, that was then approved by the Pope.
The Portiuncula which Francis rebuilt
In 1224, only two years before his death, at the hermitage in La Verna Francis had a vision of the Crucified Lord in the form of a seraph and from that encounter received the stigmata from the Crucified Seraph, thus becoming one with the Crucified Christ. Francis was the first person to receive the stigmata, a great gift that expressed his intimate identification with the Lord.
The death of Francis, his transitus, occurred on the evening of 3 October 1226, in the Portiuncula. After having blessed his spiritual children, and left them his Testament, he died lying on the bare earthen floor. Only two years later Pope Gregory IX entered him in the roll of saints.
St Francis receives the Stigmata
His Legacy
The Alter Christus
It has been said that Francis represents an alter Christus, that he was truly a living icon of Christ. Indeed, this was his ideal: to be like Jesus, to contemplate Christ in the Gospel, to love him intensely and to imitate his virtues. In particular, he wished to ascribe interior and exterior poverty with a fundamental value, which he also taught to his spiritual sons. The first Beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5: 3) found a luminous fulfilment in the life and words of St Francis.
Francis embraces the crucified Christ
The Blessed Sacrament
Francis' love for Christ expressed itself in a special way in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. He always knew that the centre of the Church is the Eucharist, where the Body of Christ and his Blood are made present through the priesthood, the Eucharist and the communion of the Church. Wherever the priesthood and the Eucharist and the Church come together, it is there alone that the word of God also dwells. In writings of St Francis one reads such moving expressions as: "Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world tremble, and let the heavens exult, when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest. Oh stupendous dignity! O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles himself that for our salvation he hides himself under an ordinary piece of bread.
Francis also offered his counsel to priests, saying: "When you wish to celebrate Mass, in a pure way, reverently make the true sacrifice of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ". Francis always showed great deference towards priests, and asserted that they should always be treated with respect, even in cases where they might be somewhat unworthy personally. The reason he gave for this profound respect was that they receive the gift of consecrating the Eucharist. For he understood that the holiness of the Eucharist appeals to us to be pure, to live in a way that is consistent with the Mystery we celebrate.
Creation
From love for Christ stems love for others and also for all God's creatures. This is yet another characteristic trait of Francis' spirituality: the sense of universal brotherhood and love for Creation, which inspired the famous Canticle of Creatures. Francis reminds us that the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator is expressed through Creation. He understood nature as a language in which God speaks to us, in which reality becomes clear, and we can speak of God and with God.
Simplicity and Joy
Francis was a great Saint and a joyful man. His simplicity, his humility, his faith, his love for Christ, his goodness towards every man and every woman, brought him gladness in every circumstance. Indeed, there subsists an intimate and indissoluble relationship between holiness and joy. Looking at the testimony of St Francis, we understand that this is the secret of true happiness: to become saints, close to God!
May the Virgin, so tenderly loved by Francis, obtain this gift for us. Let us entrust ourselves to her with the words of the Poverello of Assisi himself: "Blessed Virgin Mary, no one like you among women has ever been born in the world, daughter and handmaid of the Most High King and heavenly Father, Mother of our Most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, spouse of the Holy Spirit. Pray for us... to your most blessed and beloved Son, Lord and Master".
Adapted from: General Audience on Saint Francis of Assisi — Benedict XVI, 27 January 2010.
In focus