St. Francis Of Assisi Research Paper

St. Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi was born in 1182 in Italy, into a rich family due to his father’s wealth from being a cloth merchant, which he wanted Francis to do as well. Francis, being a natural born leader, was loved by everyone and lived a very happy life as a child. Francis was attracted to parties as he grew up, and reflecting back on that time he even stated “I lived in sin”. After 25 years of his life he finally realized his true vocation of being a man of God, and started to pray longer and more often, as well as repenting his sins. Francis recalled his test from God, where he was face to face with a leper, despite their ugly appearance and smell, he kissed their hand, filling himself with joy. Soon Francis was left with nothing, no family, no money, no home, but remained happy as he knew he had God. As he preached, people wanted to follow his way of life by sleeping in the forest, eating garbage and loving God.

Starting this religious order, which is known for their devotion to the poor, they were taught by Francis to live by the Gospel very literally.

His companions came from everywhere, common people, merchants, and poor people, practicing pure equality he showed everyone the same amount of respect no matter where they came from or what they do. Francis felt that all of God’s creations, including nature and all its animals, were part of his brotherhood. One story of Francis, was when he preached to birds about God’s gifts of clothes and freedom, only flying off once he said they could leave. Also, when the town wanted to kill a wolf who had been eating people, Francis talked to the wolf and the wolf became loving and even a town pet. His order didn’t try to stop poverty and save the poor, but to make it holy, to show the poor to thank God for all he has

given them, and for the companions in his brotherhood to take off their backs for the poor. He also taught them to have no desire for money, only begging for food. Showing his companions how truly free they were when explaining “You can't starve a fasting man, you can't steal from someone who has no money, you can't ruin someone who hates prestige.” He finally gave up his “authority” in the order, but considering they were all brothers it didn’t affect him much. Francis was the first recorded stigmatic, meaning he had received the marks of the nails on his hands as Christ had. At the very young age of 44, he became very ill and started to go blind after spending all those years wandering and living on very little. He died on October 4, 1226 at the age of 45, he was canonized as a saint on July 16, 1228. He was the patron saint of animals, as he treated them as equals as he would humans, and merchants because of his work with poor people.
One of St. Francis’ main points of his order was to live a very simple life as well “observing the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience without anything of our own and in chastity.” Similar to Benedict’s rule which emphasizes poverty and obedience. Franciscan Monasteries are located all around the world, some of the biggest ones are Dubrovnik, Croatia and Assisi, Italy. The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America is located in Washington DC, which is the closest to us.