Saint Francis of Assisi was a 13th-century rock star. He was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone and got the Stigmata. Saint Francis of Assisi was born in 1181 and died on October 3, 1226. Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian mystic, poet, and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. He is one of the most venerated figures in Christianity, He is commonly portrayed wearing a brown habit with a rope tied around his waist, featuring three knots symbolizing the three Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Is there a more famous saint in the Catholic church?
Saint Francis of Assisi Biography
Francis of Assisi was born in about 1181, one of the children of an Italian father, Pietro di Bernardone dei Moriconi, a prosperous silk merchant, and a French mother, Pica di Bourlemont, about whom little is known except that she was a noblewoman originally from Provence. His father wanted Francis to go into the family silk business. He chose differently. To avoid his father’s wrath, Francis hid in a cave near San Damiano for about a month. He returned to town, hungry and dirty, and he was dragged home by his father, beaten, bound, and locked in a small room.
In February 1208, Francis was taking part in a Mass in the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, near the hut which he had built himself. The Gospel of the day was the “Commissioning of the Twelve” from the Book of Matthew. The disciples were to go and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Francis was inspired to devote himself to a life of poverty. It was around then that he was ordained.
Shortly thereafter led eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order. That order became the Franciscans; there are over 25,000 members of this community worldwide, with more than 16,000 priests. Saint Francis of Assisi participated in the Fifth Crusade in 1219. Francis went to Egypt, where a Crusader army had been encamped for over a year, besieging the walled city of Damietta. He was accompanied by Friar Illuminatus of Arce and hoped to convert the Sultan of Egypt or be martyred in the attempt.
Saint Francis of Assisi set out to replicate Christ and carry out his work in everything he did. He died on the evening of Saturday, 3 October 1226, singing Psalm 141, “Voce mea ad Dominum.” On July 16, 1228, he was declared a saint by Pope Gregory IX (the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, a friend of Francis and Cardinal Protector of the Order). The next day, the Pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. He was buried on May 25, 1230,
The Stigmata
While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas (29 September), Saint Francis of Assisi is said to have had a vision on September 17, 1224, three days after the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata. 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. “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.”
Stigmata are the marks, scars, or pains that correspond to the wounds of Jesus Christ during the crucifixion. These marks typically appear on the hands, feet, near the heart, and sometimes on the head or back, and are given to exceptionally holy people. The phenomenon is often associated with Catholicism and has been documented many times.
Conclusion
Saint Francis of Assisi was one of the most influential saints in history. He founded a worldwide order, the Franciscans. He knew Popes and he participated in the Fifth Crusade, where he hoped to convert the Sultan os Egypt. He was a hermit, poet, and songwriter. In 1224, he received the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ. He was canonized shortly after his death.
