St Francis of Assisi

Francis was born in Assisi around the end of 1181 or beginning of 1182. He was baptised Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone but was called Francesco by his father, Pietro, a prosperous cloth merchant. Growing up with comfort and social ambition, Francis was drawn to the ideals of chivalry and dreamed of military honour.

Around the age of twenty, he fought in the conflict between Assisi and Perugia. He was captured after Assisi’s defeat and spent approximately a year as a prisoner. Illness during and after his captivity weakened him and contributed to a gradual reassessment of the life he had been pursuing.

Francis’s conversion unfolded over several years rather than through one isolated moment. In his Testament, he remembered that God led him among people suffering from leprosy and that what had once seemed bitter was transformed into sweetness. Early Franciscan accounts also associate this period with his prayer before the crucifix at the ruined church of San Damiano, where he understood Christ to be calling him to repair the Church.

His generosity towards the poor brought him into conflict with his father. Before the Bishop of Assisi, Francis renounced his inheritance and the social security attached to his family. He then lived as a penitent, cared for people affected by leprosy and repaired neglected churches around Assisi.

In 1208, while listening to Christ’s instructions to the apostles sent out to preach, Francis recognised the pattern of life he believed God was asking him to follow: poverty, itinerant proclamation and trust in divine providence. Companions soon joined him. Around 1209, Francis travelled with them to Rome and received Pope Innocent III’s oral approval for their form of life. This fraternity became the Order of Friars Minor.

Francis did not seek renewal by separating himself from the Catholic Church. He wanted to follow the Gospel radically while remaining obedient to the Church and deeply devoted to the Eucharist. His movement combined poverty, fraternity, preaching, manual service and care for people who were neglected or excluded.

In 1212, Clare of Assisi joined the movement inspired by Francis. Her community at San Damiano developed into the Order of Poor Ladies, later known as the Poor Clares. Francis also inspired a form of Franciscan life for laypeople, which eventually developed into the Secular Franciscan Order.

During the Fifth Crusade, Francis travelled to Egypt. In 1219 he crossed the battle lines and met Sultan al-Kamil. Francis went as a Christian missionary, but the encounter has also endured as an example of approaching another faith with courage, humility and personal respect rather than hatred.

In 1223, Pope Honorius III formally confirmed the definitive Rule of the Friars Minor. At Christmas that year, Francis arranged the celebration at Greccio that became foundational to the Christian tradition of the Nativity scene. He wanted people to contemplate the humility and poverty of the Incarnation with renewed wonder.

In 1224, while praying in retreat at La Verna, Francis received the stigmata, the wounds corresponding to those of the crucified Christ. His health was already deteriorating, and in his final years he suffered severe illness and increasing problems with his sight.

During an extended stay near the community of Clare at San Damiano in 1225, Francis composed most of the Canticle of the Creatures. The hymn praises God through Brother Sun, Sister Moon, the elements, the earth, forgiveness, suffering and bodily death. It expresses his conviction that creation is not merely property to possess but a family of creatures whose existence points towards the Creator.

Francis died at the Porziuncola on the evening of 3 October 1226. He was canonised by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228. His witness gave rise to a worldwide Franciscan family and continues to shape Catholic spirituality, service to people in poverty, missionary life, interreligious encounter and care for creation.

Francis lived during a period of rapid change in medieval Europe. Italian towns were expanding through trade, new merchant families were gaining influence and rival communes frequently fought one another. Francis grew up within this commercial world and initially pursued the military and social ambitions expected of an affluent young man.

The Church was also experiencing movements calling for greater evangelical authenticity, especially poverty and a return to the Gospel. Some separated themselves from ecclesial communion, while Francis and the emerging mendicant orders pursued reform from within the Church. Unlike monks permanently attached to rural monasteries, the friars lived among growing urban populations and travelled to preach, serve and beg for their needs.

Francis’s meeting with Sultan al-Kamil occurred during the Fifth Crusade, when Christian and Muslim armies were fighting in Egypt. His decision to cross the battle lines without weapons placed his missionary purpose within a personal encounter rather than military force.

St Francis speaks powerfully to people seeking a simpler and less consumer-driven life. His conversion challenges those who have achieved comfort or status but sense that their lives lack deeper direction. He offers a model for turning concern about poverty, injustice or environmental destruction into concrete service rather than remaining at the level of sentiment.

His life is especially relevant to environmentalists, animal carers, peacemakers, missionaries, community founders and people serving those who are socially excluded. His meeting with Sultan al-Kamil also makes him an important companion for Christians involved in interfaith dialogue or trying to remain faithful without treating people of other religions as enemies.

Francis’s later years make him meaningful to those living with chronic illness, disability, deteriorating sight or physical pain. The Canticle of the Creatures shows that suffering need not eliminate gratitude, beauty or praise. His acceptance of death as a sister offers a distinctively Christian response to mortality without pretending that suffering is easy.

For Catholics discouraged by failures within the Church, Francis demonstrates renewal through deeper fidelity to Christ, practical service and communion rather than contempt or separation. His life shows that holiness can be radical without becoming hostile, joyful without becoming superficial and simple without becoming passive.