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Our Life
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The Founder: St. Francis of Assisi
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The Friars in Western Canada
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St. Francis of Assisi
In 1182,
Pietro Bernadone returned from a trip to France to find out his wife
had given birth to a son. Far from being excited or apologetic
because he'd been gone, Pietro was furious because she'd had his new
son baptized Giovanni after John the Baptist. The last thing Pietro
wanted in his son was a man of God -- he wanted a man of business, a
cloth merchant like he was, and he especially wanted a son who would
reflect his infatuation with France. So he renamed his son Francesco
-- which is the equivalent of calling him Frenchman.
Francis enjoyed a very rich easy life growing up because of his
father's wealth and the permissivesness of the times. From the
beginning everyone -- and I mean everyone--loved Francis. He was
constantly happy, charming, and a born leader.
 If he was picky, people excused him. If he was ill, people took care
of him. If he was so much of a dreamer he did poorly in school, no
one minded. In many ways he was too easy to like for his own good.
No one tried to control him or to teach him.
No one loved
pleasure more than Francis; he had a ready wit, sang merrily,
delighted in fine clothes and showy display. Handsome, gallant, and
courteous, he soon became the prime favorite among the young nobles
of Assisi, the foremost in every feat of arms, the leader of the
civil revels, the very king of frolic. But even at this time Francis
showed an instinctive sympathy with the poor, and though he spent
money lavishly, it still flowed in such channels as to attest a
princely magnanimity of spirit.
His biographers
tell us that the night before Francis set forth for a battle, he had
a strange dream, in which he saw a vast hall hung with armour all
marked with the Cross. "These", said a voice, "are for you and your
soldiers." "I know I shall be a great prince", exclaimed Francis
exultingly, as he started for Apulia. But a second illness arrested
his course at Spoleto. There, we are told, Francis had another dream
in which the same voice bade him turn back to Assisi. He did so at
once. This was in 1205.
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Fast Facts
1)
St.
Francis' given name was
Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone
2)
He
was born around 1181/1182
3)
Place
of birth: Assisi, Italy
4)
He is the
patron saint of animals and
the environment
5)
Feast
Day: October 4th
6)
Received
the Stigmata, making him
the first known saint to bear the
wounds of Christ
7)
Canonized
in the year 1228
8)
Died
at the age of 44 |
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