3 October 1226 A.D. Francis of Assisi—Friar, Preacher & Reformer
3 October
1226 A.D. Francis of Assisi passes—Friar, Preacher & Reformer
Reorganization of the
Franciscan Order and death
Nature and the environment
Pope Francis
Main
writings
St Francis by Nathaniel
Hitch
Films
Music
Books
Other
See
also
References
Bibliography
Further
reading
External
links
"Saint
Francis of Assisi", Encyclopædia Britannica online
Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: San
Francesco d'Assisi; born Giovanni di Pietro di
Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco ("the Frenchman") by
his father; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)[1][3] was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded
the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order
of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the
lives of itinerant preachers, followed by the early members of the Order of
Friars Minor or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares.[1] Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.[1]
Francis' father was Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous
silk merchant. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young
man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi.[4] While going off to war in
1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his
taste for his worldly life.[4] On a pilgrimage to Rome, he
joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's Basilica.[4] The experience moved him to
live in poverty.[4] Francis returned home,
began preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a following. His Order was
authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed
religious order for women, as well as the Order of
Brothers and Sisters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order).
In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the
Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades.[5] By this point, the
Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational
structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order.
Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from
external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas nativity scene.[4] In 1224, he received the stigmata,[4] making him the first
recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's
Passion.[6] He died during the evening
hours of October 3, 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 140.
On July 16, 1228, he was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint of animals, the environment, and is one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies
blessing animals on his feast day of
October 4.[7] He is also known for his
love of the Eucharist,[8] his sorrow during the Stations of the Cross, and for the creation of the Christmas creche or Nativity Scene.[9]
Contents
·
7 In art
Early life
Francis of Assisi was one of seven children born to
Pietro and his wife Pica de Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that
she was a noblewoman originally from Provence, France.[10] Pietro was in France on
business when Francis was born in Assisi, and Pica had him baptized as Giovanni.[7][11] When his father returned to
Assisi, he took to calling him
Francesco ("the Frenchman"), possibly in honour of his commercial
success and enthusiasm for all things French.[12] Since the child was renamed
in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for
learning French, as some have thought.[3] As a youth, Francesco
became a devotee of troubadours and
was fascinated with all things Transalpine.[3][12] Although many hagiographers remark about his
bright clothing, rich friends, and love of pleasures,[10] his displays of
disillusionment toward the world that surrounded him came fairly early in his
life, as is shown in the "story of the beggar." In this account, he
was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a
beggar came to him and asked for alms. At the conclusion of his
business deal, Francis abandoned his wares and ran after the beggar. When he
found him, Francis gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends
quickly chided and mocked him for his act of charity. When he got home, his
father scolded him in rage.[13]
In 1201, he joined a military expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner
at Collestrada, spending a year as a captive.[14] It is possible that his
spiritual conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his
return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life. In 1204, a
serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. In 1205, Francis left for Puglia to enlist in the army of
the Count of Brienne. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical
awakening.[3]
According to the hagiographic legend, thereafter he began
to avoid the sports and the feasts of his former companions. In response, they
asked him laughingly whether he was thinking of marrying, to which he answered,
"yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen," meaning his
"Lady Poverty". He spent much time in lonely places, asking God for
enlightenment. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, the most repulsive victims
in the lazar houses
near Assisi. After a pilgrimage to Rome, where he joined
the poor in begging at the doors of the churches, he said he had a mystical vision of
Jesus Christ in the country chapel of San Damiano, just outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified
said to him, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can
see, is falling into ruins." He took this to mean the ruined church in
which he was presently praying, and so he sold some cloth from his father's
store to assist the priest there for this purpose.[3][15]
His father, Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to change
his mind, first with threats and then with beatings. In the midst of legal
proceedings before the Bishop of Assisi,
Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments
he had received from him in front of the public. For the next couple of months
he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi. Returning to the countryside
around the town for two years, he embraced the life of a penitent, during which he restored
several ruined chapels in the countryside around Assisi, among them the Porziuncola, the little chapel
of St.
Mary of the Angels just outside the town, which later
became his favorite abode.[15]
Founding of the Franciscan Order
At the end of this period (on February 24, 1209,
according to Jordan of Giano), Francis heard a sermon that changed his life
forever. The sermon was about Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells
his followers they should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven was
upon them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick
or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of
poverty.[3]
Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Gospel
precept, without staff or scrip, he
began to preach repentance.[3] He was soon joined by his
first follower, a prominent fellow townsman, the jurist Bernardo di
Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work. Within a
year Francis had eleven followers. Francis chose never to be ordained a priest
and the community lived as "lesser brothers," fratres minores
in Latin.[3] The brothers lived a simple life in the deserted lazar house of Rivo Torto near
Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous
districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full
of songs, yet making a deep impression upon their hearers by their earnest
exhortations.[3]
Francis' preaching to ordinary people was unusual since
he had no license to do so.[1] In 1209 he composed a
simple rule for his followers ("friars"), (the Regula primitiva
or “Primitive Rule”) which came from verses in the Bible.
The rule was “To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus
Christ and to walk in his footsteps.” In 1209, Francis led his first eleven
followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to
found a new religious Order.[18] Upon entry to Rome, the
brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi, who had in his company Giovanni di San Paolo, the Cardinal
Bishop of Sabina. The Cardinal, who was the confessor of
Pope Innocent III, was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to
represent Francis to the pope. Reluctantly, Pope Innocent agreed to meet with
Francis and the brothers the next day. After several days, the pope agreed to
admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace
and number, they could return for an official admittance. The group was tonsured.[19] This was important in part
because it recognized Church authority and prevented his following from
possible accusations of heresy, as had happened to the Waldensians decades earlier.
Though Pope Innocent initially had his doubts, following a dream in which he
saw Francis holding up the Basilica of
St. John Lateran (the cathedral of Rome, thus the 'home
church' of all Christendom), he decided to endorse Francis' Order. This
occurred, according to tradition, on April 16, 1210, and constituted the
official founding of the Franciscan Order.[1] The group, then the
"Lesser Brothers" (Order of Friars Minor also known as the Franciscan
Order), preached on the streets and had no possessions. They were centered
in Porziuncola, and preached first in Umbria, before expanding throughout
Italy.[1]
Missions work
From then on, his new Order grew quickly with new
vocations.[20] When hearing Francis
preaching in the church of San Rufino in Assisi in 1209, Clare of Assisi became deeply
touched by his message and she realized her calling.[20] Her cousin Rufino, the only
male member of the family in their generation, also joined the new Order. On
the night of Palm Sunday,
March 28, 1211, Clare sneaked out of her family's palace. Francis received
Clare at the Porziuncola and hereby established the Order of Poor Ladies, later
called Poor Clares.[20] This was an Order for
women, and he gave a religious habit, or dress, similar to his own to the
noblewoman later known as St. Clare of Assisi, before he then lodged her and a
few companions in a nearby monastery of Benedictine nuns. Later he transferred them to San Damiano.[1] There they were joined by
many other women of Assisi. For those who could not leave their homes, he later
formed the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance. This was a
fraternity composed of either laity or clergy whose members
neither withdrew from the world nor took religious vows. Instead, they
carried out the principles of Franciscan life in their daily lives.[1] Before long this Order grew
beyond Italy.
Determined to bring the Gospel to all God's creatures,
Francis sought on several occasions to take his message out of Italy. In the
late spring of 1212, he set out for Jerusalem, but he was shipwrecked by a
storm on the Dalmatian
coast, forcing him to return to Italy. On May 8, 1213, he was given the use of
the mountain of La Verna
(Alverna) as a gift from Count
Orlando di Chiusi, who described it as “eminently suitable for whoever wishes
to do penance in a place remote from mankind.”[21][22] The mountain would become
one of his favourite retreats for prayer.[22]
Francis of Assisi renouncing
to his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments he had received
from him in front of the public.
In the same year, Francis sailed for Morocco, but this
time an illness forced him to break off his journey in Spain. Back in Assisi,
several noblemen (among them Tommaso da Celano,
who would later write the biography of St. Francis) and some well-educated men
joined his Order. In 1215, Francis went again to Rome for the Fourth
Lateran Council. During this time, he probably met a canon, Dominic de Guzman[2] (later to be Saint Dominic,
the founder of the Friars Preachers, another Catholic
religious order). In 1217, he offered to go to France.
Cardinal Ugolino of Segni (the future Pope Gregory IX), an early and important
supporter of Francis, advised him against this and said that he was still
needed in Italy.
In 1219, accompanied by another friar and hoping to
convert the Sultan of Egypt or win martyrdom in the attempt, Francis went to
Egypt where a Crusader
army had been encamped for over a year besieging the walled city of Damietta two miles (3.2 km)
upstream from the mouth of one of the main channels of the Nile. The Sultan, al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin, had succeeded his father
as Sultan of Egypt in 1218 and was encamped upstream of Damietta, unable to
relieve it. A bloody and futile attack on the city was launched by the
Christians on August 29, 1219, following which both sides agreed to a ceasefire
which lasted four weeks.[23] It was most probably during
this interlude that Francis and his companion crossed the Saracen lines and
were brought before the Sultan, remaining in his camp for a few days.[24] The visit is reported in
contemporary Crusader sources and in the earliest biographies of Francis, but
they give no information about what transpired during the encounter beyond
noting that the Sultan received Francis graciously and that Francis preached to
the Saracens without effect, returning unharmed to the Crusader camp.[25] No contemporary Arab source
mentions the visit.[26] One detail, added by
Bonaventure in the official life of Francis (written forty years after the
event), concerns an alleged challenge by Francis offering trial-by-fire in
order to prove the veracity of the Christian Gospel.[27]
Although Bonaventure does not suggest as much, subsequent
biographies went further, claiming that a fire was kindled which Francis
unhesitatingly entered without suffering burns. Such an incident is depicted in
the late 13th-century fresco cycle, attributed to Giotto, in the upper basilica
at Assisi (see accompanying illustration).[28] According to some late
sources, the Sultan gave Francis permission to visit the sacred places in the
Holy Land and even to preach there. All that can safely be asserted is that
Francis and his companion left the Crusader camp for Acre, from where they embarked
for Italy in the latter half of 1220. Drawing on a 1267 sermon by Bonaventure,
later sources report that the Sultan secretly converted or accepted a death-bed
baptism as a result of the encounter with Francis.[29] The Franciscan Order has
been present in the Holy Land
almost uninterruptedly since 1217 when Brother Elias arrived at Acre. It
received concessions from the Mameluke Sultan in 1333 with regard
to certain Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem,
and (so far as concerns the Catholic Church) jurisdictional privileges from Pope Clement VI in 1342.[30]
At Greccio near Assisi, around 1220, Francis celebrated
Christmas by setting up the first known presepio or crèche (Nativity scene).[31] His nativity imagery
reflected the scene in traditional paintings. He used real animals to create a
living scene so that the worshipers could contemplate the birth of the child
Jesus in a direct way, making use of the senses, especially sight.[31] Thomas of Celano, a biographer
of Francis and Saint Bonaventure both, tell how he used only a straw-filled manger (feeding trough) set
between a real ox and donkey.[31] According to Thomas, it was
beautiful in its simplicity, with the manger acting as the altar for the
Christmas Mass.
Reorganization of the
Franciscan Order and death
By this time, the growing Order of friars was divided into
provinces and groups were sent to France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and to the East.
When receiving a report of the martyrdom of five brothers in Morocco, Francis returned to Italy
via Venice.[32] Cardinal Ugolino di Conti was
then nominated by the Pope as the protector of the Order. The friars in Italy
at this time were causing problems, and as such, Francis had to return in order
to correct these problems. The Franciscan Order had grown at an unprecedented
rate, when compared to prior religious orders, but its organizational
sophistication had not kept up with this growth and had little more to govern
it than Francis' example and simple rule.[1] To address this problem,
Francis prepared a new and more detailed Rule, the "First Rule" or
"Rule Without a Papal Bull"
(Regula prima Regula non bullata) which again asserted devotion
to poverty and the apostolic life. However, it introduced greater institutional
structure, although this was never officially endorsed by the pope.[1]
On September 29, 1220, Francis handed over the governance
of the Order to Brother Peter Catani at the Porziuncola. However, Brother Peter
died only five months later, on March 10, 1221, and was buried in the
Porziuncola. When numerous miracles were attributed to the deceased brother,
people started to flock to the Porziuncola, disturbing the daily life of the
Franciscans. Francis then prayed, asking Peter to stop the miracles and to obey
in death as he had obeyed during his life. The reports of miracles ceased.
Brother Peter was succeeded by Brother Elias as Vicar of Francis. Two years later,
Francis modified the "First Rule" (creating the "Second
Rule" or "Rule With a Bull"), and Pope Honorius III approved it
on November 29, 1223.[1] As the official Rule of the
order, it called on the friars "to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ, living in obedience without anything of our own and in
chastity." In addition, it set regulations for discipline, preaching, and
entry into the order.[1] Once the Rule was endorsed
by the Pope, Francis withdrew increasingly from external affairs.[1] During 1221 and 1222,
Francis crossed Italy, first as far south as Catania in Sicily and afterwards as
far north as Bologna.
While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a
forty-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas (September 29), Francis is
said to have had a vision on or about September 14, 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation
of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata.[33] Brother Leo, who had been
with Francis at the time, left a clear and simple account of the event, the
first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata.[3][33] "Suddenly he saw a
vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift
of the five wounds of Christ."[33] Suffering from these
stigmata and from trachoma,
Francis received care in several cities (Siena, Cortona, Nocera) to no avail. In the end,
he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where
it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life
dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of October 3, 1226,
singing Psalm 142(141) – "Voce
mea ad Dominum".
On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX (the former cardinal
Ugolino di Conti, friend of St Francis and Cardinal Protector of the Order).
The next day, the Pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of
Saint Francis in Assisi. He was buried on May 25, 1230, under the
Lower Basilica, but his tomb was soon hidden on orders of Brother Elias to
protect it from Saracen invaders. His burial place remained unknown until it
was discovered in 1818. Pasquale Belli then constructed for his remains a crypt
in neo-classical style in the Lower Basilica. It was refashioned between 1927
and 1930 into its present form by Ugo Tarchi, stripping the wall of its marble
decorations. In 1978, the remains of St. Francis were examined and confirmed by
a commission of scholars appointed by Pope Paul VI, and put into a
glass urn in the ancient stone tomb. Saint Francis is considered the first
Italian poet by literary critics.[34] He believed commoners
should be able to pray to God in their own language, and he wrote often in the
dialect of Umbria instead of Latin. His writings are considered to have great
literary and religious value.[35]
Character and legacy
It has been argued that no one else in history was as
dedicated as Francis to imitate the life, and carry out the work of Christ, in
Christ’s own way.[1] This is important in
understanding Francis' character and his affinity for the Eucharist and respect
for the priests who carried out the sacrament.[1] He and his followers
celebrated and even venerated poverty. Poverty was so central to his character
that in his last written work, the Testament, he said that absolute personal
and corporate poverty was the essential lifestyle for the members of his order.[1] He believed that nature
itself was the mirror of God. He called all creatures his “brothers” and
“sisters,” and even preached to the birds[36][37] and supposedly persuaded a
wolf to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf. In his
“Canticle of the Creatures” (“Praises of Creatures” or “Canticle of the Sun”),
he mentioned the “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon,” the wind and water, and
“Sister Death.” He referred to his chronic illnesses as his “sisters." His
deep sense of brotherhood under God embraced others, and he declared that “he
considered himself no friend of Christ if he did not cherish those for whom
Christ died.”[1] Francis' visit to Egypt and
attempted rapprochement
with the Muslim world had far-reaching consequences, long past his own death,
since after the fall of the Crusader Kingdom, it would be the Franciscans, of all Catholics, who would be allowed to
stay on in the Holy Land and be recognized as "Custodians
of the Holy Land" on behalf of the Catholic Church.
Nature and the environment
Francis preached the teaching of the Catholic Church,
that the world was created good and beautiful by God but suffers a need for
redemption because of the primordial sin of man. He preached to man and beast
the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God (a common theme
in the Psalms) and the duty of men to
protect and enjoy nature as both the stewards of God's creation and as
creatures ourselves.[36] On November 29, 1979, Pope John Paul II
declared St. Francis to be the Patron of Ecology.[38] Many of the stories that
surround the life of St. Francis say that he had a great love for animals and
the environment.[36]
Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the
Saint's humility towards nature is recounted in the "Fioretti"
("Little Flowers"), a collection of legends and folklore that sprang up
after the Saint's death. It is said that, one day, while Francis was travelling
with some companions, they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled
the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to "wait for me
while I go to preach to my sisters the birds."[36] The birds surrounded him,
intrigued by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. He is often
portrayed with a bird, typically in his hand.
Another legend from the Fioretti tells that in the
city of Gubbio, where Francis lived for
some time, was a wolf "terrifying and ferocious, who
devoured men as well as animals."
Francis had compassion upon the townsfolk, and so he went up into the hills to
find the wolf. Soon, fear of the animal had caused all his companions to flee,
though the saint pressed on. When he found the wolf, he made the sign of the
cross and commanded the wolf to come to him and hurt no one. Miraculously the
wolf closed his jaws and lay down at the feet of St. Francis. "Brother
Wolf, you do much harm in these parts and you have done great evil," said
Francis. "All these people accuse you and curse you...But brother wolf, I
would like to make peace between you and the people." Then Francis led the
wolf into the town, and surrounded by startled citizens made a pact between
them and the wolf. Because the wolf had “done evil out of hunger, the townsfolk
were to feed the wolf regularly. In return, the wolf would no longer prey upon
them or their flocks. In this manner Gubbio was freed from the menace
of the predator. Francis even made a pact on behalf of the town dogs, that they
would not bother the wolf again. Finally, to show the townspeople that they
would not be harmed, Francis blessed the wolf.
Then during the World Environment Day 1982, John Paul II
said that St. Francis' love and care for creation was a challenge for
contemporary Catholics and a reminder "not to behave like dissident
predators where nature is concerned, but to assume responsibility for it,
taking all care so that everything stays healthy and integrated, so as to offer
a welcoming and friendly environment even to those who succeed us." The
same Pope wrote on the occasion of the World Day of Peace, January 1, 1990, the
saint of Assisi "offers Christians an example of genuine and deep respect
for the integrity of creation..." He went on to make the point that St
Francis: "As a friend of the poor who was loved by God's creatures, Saint
Francis invited all of creation – animals, plants, natural forces, even Brother
Sun and Sister Moon – to give honor and praise to the Lord. The poor man of
Assisi gives us striking witness that when we are at peace with God we are better
able to devote ourselves to building up that peace with all creation which is
inseparable from peace among all peoples."[39]
Pope John Paul II concluded that section of the document
with these words, "It is my hope that the inspiration of Saint Francis
will help us to keep ever alive a sense of 'fraternity' with all those good and
beautiful things which Almighty God has created."
Feast day
Saint Francis' feast day is observed on October 4. A
secondary feast in honor of the stigmata received by St Francis,
celebrated on September 17, was inserted in the General
Roman Calendar in 1585 (later than the Tridentine Calendar) and suppressed in 1604, but was restored in 1615. In the New Roman Missal
of 1969, it was removed, as something of a duplication of the main feast on
October 4, from the General Calendar and left to the calendars of certain
localities and of the Franciscan Order.[40] Wherever the traditional
Roman Missal is used, however, the feast of the Stigmata remains in the General
Calendar.
On June 18, 1939, Pope Pius XII named Francis a
joint Patron Saint of
Italy along with Saint
Catherine of Siena with the apostolic letter "Licet Commissa",
AAS XXXI (1939), 256–257. Pope Pius mentioned the two saints in the laudative
discourse he pronounced on May 5, 1949, in the Church of Santa Maria
sopra Minerva.
St. Francis is honored in the Church
of England, the Anglican Church of Canada,
the Episcopal Church USA,
the Old
Catholic Churches, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, and other churches and
religious communities on October 4. The Evangelical
Church in Germany, however, commemorates St. Francis'
feast day on his death day, October 3.[citation
needed]
Pope Francis
On 13 March 2013, upon his election as Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina chose Francis as his papal name in honor of Saint Francis
of Assisi, becoming Pope Francis.[41]
Main
writings
·
Prayer
before the Crucifix, 1205 (extant in the original Umbrian dialect as well as in
a contemporary Latin translation);
·
Regula
non bullata, the Earlier
Rule, 1221;
·
Regula
bullata, the Later Rule,
1223;
·
Testament, 1226;
·
Admonitions.
For a complete list, see The
Franciscan Experience.[42]
Films
·
The Flowers of St. Francis, a 1950 film directed by Roberto Rossellini
and co-written by Federico Fellini
·
Francis of Assisi, a 1961 film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the novel The Joyful Beggar
by Louis de Wohl
·
Francesco, a 1989 film by Liliana Cavani, contemplatively paced, follows Francis
of Assisi's evolution from rich man's son to religious humanitarian, and
eventually to full-fledged self-tortured saint. Saint Francis is played by Mickey Rourke, and the woman who later became Saint
Clare, is played by Helena Bonham Carter
·
Clare
and Francis, a 2007 film
directed by Fabrizio Costa, starring Mary Petruolo and Ettore Bassi
Music
o
Cantico
del sol di Francesco d'Assisi, S.4 (sacred choral work, 1862, 1880–81; versions of the Prelude for
piano, S. 498c, 499, 499a; version of the Prelude for organ, S. 665, 760;
version of the Hosannah for organ and bass trombone, S.677)
o
St.
François d'Assise: La Prédication aux oiseaux, No. 1 of Deux Légendes, S.175 (piano,
1862–63)
·
Leo Sowerby: Canticle of the Sun (cantata for mixed voices with accompaniment for
piano or orchestra, 1944)
·
Seth Bingham: The Canticle of the Sun (cantata
for chorus of mixed voices with soli ad lib. and accompaniment for organ or
orchestra, 1949)
·
Juliusz
Łuciuk: Święty Franciszek z Asyżu (oratorio for soprano, tenor,
baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra, 1976)
·
Balada
de Francisco [Ballad of Francis] voices accompanied by guitar – Juventude Franciscana
and O.F.S – "Semeadores da Paz – JUFRA (1999)
·
Michele
Paulicelli's musical Forza Venite Gente is completely dedicated to the entire
life of St. Francis, with several songs about the main events of his life.
Books
·
Francis
of Assisi, The Little Flowers (fioretti), London, 2012. limovia.net ISBN 978-1-78336-013-0
·
Saint
Francis of Assisi,
written and illustrated by Demi, Wisdom Tales, 2012, ISBN 978-1-937786-04-5
·
Francis
of Assisi: A New Biography, by Augustine Thompson, O.P., Cornell University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-080145-070-9
·
Francis
of Assisi in the Sources and Writings, by Robert Rusconi and translated by Nancy Celaschi, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57659-152-9
·
The
Stigmata of Francis of Assisi, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2006. ISBN 978-1-57659-140-6
·
Francis
of Assisi – The Message in His Writings, by Thaddee Matura, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 1997. ISBN 978-1-57659-127-7
·
Saint
Francis of Assisi, by
John R. H. Moorman, Franciscan Institute Publications, 1987. ISBN 978-0-8199-0904-6
·
First
Encounter with Francis of Assisi, by Damien Vorreux and translated by Paul LaChance, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 1979. ISBN 978-0-8199-0698-4
·
St.
Francis of Assisi, by Raoul Manselli, Franciscan Institute Publications, 1985.
ISBN 978-0-8199-0880-3
·
Saint
Francis of Assisi, by
Thomas of Celano and translated by Placid Hermann, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8199-0554-3
·
Francis
the Incomparable Saint,
by Joseph Lortz, Franciscan Institute Publications, 1986, ISBN 978-1-57659-067-6
·
Respectfully
Yours: Signed and Sealed, Francis of Assisi, by Edith van den Goorbergh and Theodore
Zweerman, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2001. ISBN 978-1-57659-178-9
·
The
Admonitions of St Francis: Sources and Meanings, by Robert J. Karris, Franciscan Institute
Publications, 1999. ISBN 978-1-57659-166-6
·
We
Saw Brother Francis, by
Francis de Beer, Franciscan Institute Publications, 1983. ISBN 978-0-8199-0803-2
·
Sant
Francesco (Saint Francis,
1895), a book of forty-three Saint Francis poems by Catalan poet-priest Jacint Verdaguer, three of which are included in English
translation in Selected Poems of Jacint Verdaguer: A Bilingual Edition,
edited and translated by Ronald Puppo, with an introduction by Ramon Pinyol i
Torrents (University of Chicago, 2007). The three poems are "The
Turtledoves", "Preaching to Birds" and "The Pilgrim".
·
Saint
Francis of Assisi a
Doubleday Image Book translated by T. O'Conor Sloane, Ph.D., LL.D. in 1955 from
the Danish original researched and written by Johannes Jorgensen and published
in 1912 by Longmans, Green and Company, Inc.
·
Scripta
Leonis, Rufini Et Angeli Sociorum S. Francisci: The Writings of Leo, Rufino and
Angelo Companions of St. Francis (1970), edited by Rosalind B. Brooke, in Latin and English, containing
testimony recorded by intimate, long-time companions of St. Francis
·
Saint
Francis and His Four Ladies (1970), a book by Joan Mowat Erikson
·
The
Life and Words of St. Francis of Assisi (1973), by Ira Peck
·
The
Life of Saint Francis of Assisi (1996), a book by Patricia Stewart
·
Flowers
for St Francis (2005), a
book by Raj Arumugam
·
Chasing
Francis, 2006, a book by
Ian Cron
·
John Tolan, St.
Francis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a Christian-Muslim Encounter.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
·
Vita
di un uomo: Francesco d'Assisi (1995) a book by Chiara Frugoni, preface by Jacques Le Goff, Torino:
Einaudi.
·
Francis,
Brother of the Universe
(1982), a 48 page comic book by Marvel Comics on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi
written by Father Roy Gasnik O.F.M. and Mary Jo Duffy, artwork by John Buscema and Marie Severin, lettering by Jim Novak and edited by Jim Shooter.
Other
·
In Rubén Darío's poem Los Motivos Del Lobo (The
Reasons Of The Wolf) St. Francis tames a terrible wolf only to discover that
the human heart harbors darker desires than those of the beast.
·
In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan Karamazov invokes the name of 'Pater Seraphicus,' an epithet applied
to St. Francis, to describe Alyosha's spiritual guide Zosima. The reference is
found in Goethe's "Faust," Part 2, Act 5, lines 11918–25.
·
Rich
Mullins co-wrote Canticle of the Plains, a musical, with Mitch McVicker.
Released in 1997, it was based on the life of St Francis of Assisi, but told as
a western story.
·
Bernard Malamud's novel The Assistant (1957) features a protagonist, Frank Alpine, who
exemplifies the life of St. Francis in mid-20th-century Brooklyn, New York
City.
See
also
·
Prayer of Saint Francis, ("Lord, make me an instrument of your
peace…") widely but erroneously attributed to Francis.
·
Saint-François (disambiguation) (places named after Francis of Assisi in
French-speaking countries)
References
1.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Brady, Ignatius Charles. "Saint Francis of Assisi." Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
3.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j
Paschal Robinson (1913).
"St.
Francis of Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
4.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Cross,
F. L., ed. (2005). "Francis of Assisi". The Oxford dictionary of
the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199566712.
5.
Jump up ^ Tolan,
John (2009). St. Francis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a
Christian-Muslim Encounter. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199239726.
6.
Jump up ^ Cross,
F. L., ed. (2005). "Stigmatization". The Oxford dictionary of the
Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199566712.
7.
^ Jump up to: a b "Blessing All Creatures, Great and Small". Duke
Magazine. November 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
8.
Jump up ^ "St.
Francis of Assisi – Franciscan Friars of the Renewal".
Franciscanfriars.com. Retrieved 24 October
2012.
10.
^ Jump up to: a b Englebert,
Omer (1951). The Lives of the Saints. New York: Barnes & Noble.
p. 529. ISBN 978-1-56619-516-4.
11.
Jump up ^ Robinson, P. (2009). St.
Francis of Assisi. In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2011-10-17 from
New Advent.
12.
^ Jump up to: a b Chesterton,
Gilbert Keith (1924). St. Francis of Assisi (14 ed.). Garden City, New York: Image Books.
p. 158.
14.
Jump up ^ Bonaventure;
Cardinal Manning (1867). The Life of St. Francis of Assisi (from the Legenda
Sancti Francisci) (1988 ed.). Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books &
Publishers. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-89555-343-0.
17.
Jump up ^ The Word made flesh: a history of Christian thought
by Margaret Ruth mi 2004 ISBN
978-1-4051-0846-1 pages 160–161
21.
Jump up ^ Fioretti quoted in: St. Francis, The Little Flowers,
Legends, and Lauds, trans. N. Wydenbruck, ed. Otto Karrer (London: Sheed and
Ward, 1979) 244.
23.
Jump up ^ Steven Runciman, History of the Crusades, vol. 3: The
Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades, Cambridge University Press (1951,
paperback 1987), pp. 151–161.
24.
Jump up ^ Tolan, St. Francis and the Sultan: the curious history
of a Christian-Muslim encounter, Oxford University Press (2009) pp. 4f.
25.
Jump up ^ e.g., Jacques de Vitry, Letter 6 of February or March 1220
and Historia orientalis (c. 1223–1225) cap. XXII; Tommaso da Celano, Vita
prima (1228), §57: the relevant passages are quoted in an English
translation in Tolan, pp. 19f. and 54 respectively.
27.
Jump up ^ Bonaventure, Legenda major (1260–1263), cap. IX
§7–9, criticized by, e.g., Sabatier, La Vie de St. François d'Assise (1894),
chapter 13, and Paul Moses, The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam,
and Francis of Assisi's Mission of Peace, Doubleday Religion (2009)
excerpted in an article "Mission improbable: St. Francis & the
Sultan", in Commonwealth magazine, September 25, 2009.
29.
Jump up ^ For grants of various permissions and privileges to
Francis as attributed by later sources, see, e.g., Tolan, pp. 258–263. The
first mention of the Sultan's conversion occurs in a sermon delivered by
Bonaventure on October 4, 1267. See Tolan, pp. 168
30.
Jump up ^ Bulla Gratias agimus, commemorated by Pope John
Paul II in a Letter dated November 30, 1992.
See also Tolan, p.258. On the Franciscan presence, including an historical
overview, see, generally the official website at Custodia and Custodian of the Holy Land
34.
Jump up ^ Brand,
Peter; Pertile, Lino, eds. (1999). "2 - Poetry. Francis of Assisi (pp. 5ff.)". The Cambridge History of Italian Literature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52166622-8. ISBN
978-0-52166622-0.
37.
Jump up ^ Ugolino
Brunforte (Brother Ugolino). The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi. Calvin
College: CCEL. ISBN 1-61025212-8. ISBN
978-1-61025212-6. "Quote."
41.
Jump up ^ AUDIENCE TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA -
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE FRANCIS - Vatican.va - Paul VI Audience Hall Saturday, 16 March 2013
Bibliography
·
Scripta
Leonis, Rufini et Angeli Sociorum S. Francisci: The Writings of Leo, Rufino and
Angelo Companions of St. Francis, original manuscript, 1246, compiled by
Brother Leo and other companions (1970, 1990, reprinted with corrections),
Oxford, Oxford University Press, edited by Rosalind B. Brooke, in Latin and
English, ISBN 0-19-822214-9, containing testimony recorded by
intimate, long-time companions of St. Francis
·
Francis
of Assisi, The Little Flowers (fioretti), London, 2012. limovia.net ISBN 978-1-78336-013-0
·
Bonaventure;
Cardinal Manning (1867). The Life of St. Francis of Assisi (from the Legenda
Sancti Francisci) (1988 ed.). Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books & Publishers. ISBN 978-0-89555-343-0
·
Chesterton,
Gilbert Keith (1924). St. Francis of Assisi (14 ed.). Garden City, New York:
Image Books.
·
Englebert,
Omer (1951). The Lives of the Saints. New York: Barnes & Noble.
·
Karrer,
Otto, ed., St. Francis, The Little Flowers, Legends, and Lauds, trans. N.
Wydenbruck, (London: Sheed and Ward, 1979)
·
Robinson,
Paschal (1913). "St. Francis of Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton Company.
"St._Francis_of_Assisi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
Further
reading
·
Friar
Elias, Epistola Encyclica de Transitu Sancti Francisci, 1226.
·
Pope
Gregory IX, Bulla "Mira circa nos" for the canonization of St. Francis,
July 19, 1228.
·
Friar
Tommaso da Celano: Vita
Prima Sancti Francisci, 1228; Vita Secunda Sancti Francisci,
1246–1247; Tractatus de Miraculis Sancti Francisci, 1252–1253.
·
St.
Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Legenda Maior Sancti Francisci, 1260–1263.
·
Ugolino
da Montegiorgio, Actus Beati Francisci et sociorum eius, 1327–1342.
·
Fioretti
di San Francesco, the
"Little Flowers of St. Francis", end of the 14th century: an
anonymous Italian version of the Actus; the most popular of the sources,
but very late and therefore not the best authority by any means.
·
The
Little Flowers of Saint Francis (Translated by Raphael Brown), Doubleday, 1998. ISBN 978-0-385-07544-2
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