“The Life of St. Francis,” is an official biography of St.
Francis, written in 1260 by the great scholastic theologian, scholar of repute,
philosopher, and Catholic bishop St. Bonaventure, as commissioned by the
Franciscan Order. St. Bonaventure himself was considered the greatest Franciscan
mystic after St. Francis; he was born as Giovanni di Fidanza in 1221; he was
just a boy of 11 years when he came in contact with St. Francis and was saved
from an untimely death by the prayers of St. Francis. He entered Franciscan
Order in 1243, became the Cardinal Bishop of Albano and was given the title
“Doctor of the Church.” He suddenly died in 1274 while attending the Ecumenical
Council, just a few years after St. Francis’ own death in 1226. He was known
for attempting to integrate faith and reason. He was canonized in 1482 by
Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV. Being Protestants, many of us, including me, do not
know much about these exemplary saints and their lives and I thought I should
introduce them to you. Having seen briefly about Bonaventure, we will now
concentrate on St. Francis of Assisi.
St. Francis of Assisi was born in AD 1181 in Assisi, Italy,
to a rich cloth merchant Pietro di Bernardone and lady Pica, their only son, and
was baptized Giovanni by the mother and Franesco by his father. He grew up in
material comforts and was a care-free child. As a youth of 19 years in 1201, to
earn glory and honor, he adorned himself as a knight and went to join the war
with Assisi’s rival Perugia. He was captured and spent a year as a prisoner. His
father paid a huge sum as ransom to liberate him. In 1205 he again went as a
knight, but suffered illness and received a vision leading to his conversion at
his 23rd year. Not satisfied with material comforts, he started to
give away his wealth to the poor.
One day in 1206, as he was praying in a small church in San
Domiano, he heard Christ speak to him from the crucifix, “Rebuild my Church.”
When his father demanded him to return all the money he had squandered in
charity to the poor and in rebuilding the church, he at the central plaza, in
the presence of all the town people, stripped himself naked, gave back these
rich dresses to his father and renounced his hereditary rights. The Bishop of
Assisi who was there wrapped the naked Francis with his clock. Francis solemnized
his wedding to the Lady Poverty and renounced all worldly goods, honors and
privileges.
Francis engaged in prayers often and concentrated in inner
devotion, the life of the heart. He was kind to all animals and birds. He
called them his sisters/brothers. Chesterton called him ‘The court fool of the
King of Paradise.’ He was gentle, with refined manners, patient, affable, and
generous beyond his means. He was like the merchant in the parable who sold all
his wealth to buy the pearl of great value (Mt.13:44-46). He was still not sure
of God’s plan for him. One day, as he came riding a horse, he saw a leper, ran
and kissed him, and gave him some money. After mounting his horse, he turned to
see the leper, no one was found. He sang praises of God and left. He sought out
lonely places and prayed incessantly. He saw Jesus Christ on the cross, which
made him cry and sigh remembering the passion of Christ. He started to visit
lepers and help them out. On seeing large number of poor in the church of St.
Peter, he gave away his clothes to them and put on their rags and spent the day
in the midst of the poor.
Having given up all earthly possessions and relationships, he
went around as ‘the herald of the great King.’ He asked alms like a beggar and
received it. He lived in a colony of lepers and served them – washing their
wounds, bandaging them, and kissing their ulcerous wounds. God gave him
miraculous healing powers. One leper who came to see him was healed
miraculously. He begged for funds to repair the church of San Damiano. Once
that was completed, he went and stayed in a dilapidated church in Portiuncula,
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. He felt that angels visited this place often. He
started his Order of Friars Minor here and started to preach the gospel. The
truth of his simple living and teaching became known and some men were inspired
to live a life of penance and followed him. They all adopted the humble life of
Francis and were wedded to poverty and chastity. He wrote down the rule of life
for those who joined him. He went to Rome to meet the Pope Innocent III to get
his permission and he was given a mission to freely preach penance, gospel and
the rules were approved as well.
Francis moved with his followers to the valley of Spoleto and
started preaching. Instead of living alone for himself, he started to live for
others, whose souls Satan was in the process of snatching away. He took shelter
in an abandoned hut near Assisi, with his followers, now called friars (or
monks, members of mendicant orders), and lived in poverty. They spent more time
in incessant prayers. They studied the Word, day and night and taught by
example about crucified life. Once as Francis was in prayers, seated apart from
the other friars, they saw a fiery chariot of brilliance enter the hut and turn
around it three times. It was like the eyes of the servant of Elisha which were
opened to see the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17).
The little flock of twelve at Portiuncula steadily grew. They
went around the villages and towns preaching the gospel in the power of the
Spirit. Inspired by his example many joined the Order. Many miracles were
performed by the grace of God. The number of the friars grew up to 5000, and
they were provided with food and health by divine assistance. Soon provincial
chapters were established and the order grew. Some of them saw Francis lifted
up in the air inside the church with his arms extended as though on cross,
blessing the friars. Directed by a vision Francis went to a nearby mountain
with two of his companions where he fasted on bread and water and dictated the
condensed form of the Rule for his order as moved by the Holy Spirit. The rules
were confirmed by the Pope Honorius.
Francis was strict with his own body and kept the sensual
appetites controlled with rigid discipline. He hardly ever ate cooked food.
When he did, he would mix it with ashes and make it flavorless by adding water
to it. He slept on the bare ground with a piece of wood or stone for a pillow.
He was clothed in a single tunic and served the Lord in cold and nakedness. The
passion for Christ which burned in his heart made him endure the cold outside.
To lessen the softness of the tunic he wore, he used to sow pieces of cord
inside to make it rough. He took care to douse even traces of carnal lust in
his heart. In the beginnings of his conversion, he used to plunge himself in
icy water for this purpose. He called his body ‘Brother Ass!’ He commanded his
friars to avoid familiarity with women. He himself would scarcely look at the
face of any woman. They were to entertain women only for confession or very
briefly to give instruction to save their souls.
He also taught his friars to flee idleness, but work and keep
busy so that the mind or tongue would not wander into unlawful things. They were
to observe silence and not babble around. But excessive fasting, he avoided;
they have to be prudent in the matter. He himself had reached such purity with
his body and spirit in harmony with God. God ordained the creatures to serve
his servant. Some of the friars who were close to him once observed heavenly
music and lute playing, but could see no one, and realized it was a visitation
from God’s angels to comfort his poor suffering servant. Once as he was
crossing the river Po, it became night and pitch darkness enveloped them. But
Francis confidently said the Lord can make darkness shine as light. Soon a
great light began to shine around them and they safely reached their lodging,
singing grateful songs praising God.
He would not allow his friars to hold offices, even
ecclesiastic offices, because it could lead to their fall. He himself was
humble to the core. He called himself, ‘the greatest of sinners.’ Once, the
city of Arezzo was threatened by civil war. He saw with his spiritual eyes the
city devils rejoicing and inflaming the citizens to mutual slaughter. He sent
his disciple to go to the city gate and command the devils to leave the place
immediately. On his command the devils left the place and the citizens resolved
their problems amicably and the civil strife was avoided. He considered poverty
as the foundation of the Order. Only those who gave away all possessions were
admitted into the Order. He will not cease praying for any matter, until he
knew he had been heard. Once when he worried about provisions for the friars,
God responded saying, “I chose you for this because you are a simple man and
what I would do in you would be ascribed to divine grace and not to human
effort. I have called the friars; I will preserve and feed them.” This was a
great lesson to him.
He saw Christ’s face in all the poor. He had special love for
Mary, the mother of Jesus. He undertook forty days fast many times. When war
was waging between Christians and Saracens, he went to meet the Sultan, knowing
full-well the Sultan’s strict orders to bring him the heads of Christians. With
great difficulty he met the Sultan and preached him the gospel. As he wouldn’t
convert, St. Francis returned without accepting his gifts. Many healings and
miracles were wrought through him by the Spirit, but there is no place here to
mention everything.
Towards the end of his life, when he was on 40 days fasting
at Mount La Verna, he had the vision of a Seraph and the crucified Savior
covered by Seraph's wings. After the vision the markings of crucifixion – the
Stigmata was imprinted on his body. The wounds, nails and bleedings were seen
only by those who were very close to him, that too rarely, for he kept it all
covered. Two years after the stigmata, his bodily weakness and sufferings from
many illnesses increased and knowing the time of his death has come, he
requested to be carried to the church of St. Mary of the Portiuncula. He said
to his friars, “I have done my duty; may Christ teach you yours.” He called his
sufferings his sisters! He had crossed his arms in the form of a cross over his
body and bid farewell to the friars, addressing them as sons. He died in his
early forties. He was buried in AD 1226 at Assisi and was canonized in AD 1228
by Pope Gregory IX. A basilica was constructed by his followers at Assisi and
his body transferred there in AD 1230.
What a remarkable life! Wedded to poverty and devoted to
Christ! He was a man of many miracles and exemplary life; a man on whom
stigmata, the signs of the cross were imprinted; a kind-hearted soul, kind to
humans, animals and plants. He pummeled his flesh to keep it under control,
just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:27, “I punish my body and enslave it, so
that after proclaiming to others I myself will not be disqualified.” St.
Francis is the most illustrious example of this. We in 21st century
cannot even imagine a life like that, but we ought to know that there have been
saints who had practically lived such a life, and were rewarded supernaturally.
Praise to the Lord and all glory to him alone. Amen.
