Francis was born at Assisi in 1181 or 1182, the son of Pietro di Bernardone, a rich cloth merchant. A lively young man who dreamed of knighthood, he was taken prisoner in a war with Perugia and afterwards fell ill. Slowly he turned to prayer: he embraced a leper he had once shrunk from, and in the ruined church of San Damiano he heard the crucifix bid him repair Christ's house.
When his father took him before the bishop for selling cloth to rebuild churches, Francis gave back even his clothes and renounced his inheritance. In 1208 the Gospel that sends the apostles out without gold or staff showed him his way of life. Companions joined him; about 1209 Pope Innocent III approved their simple rule, and in 1212 Clare of Assisi began the order of poor sisters.
Francis of Assisi in the library (1 work)
- The Writings of Saint Francis of Assisi — 13th century; translation 1906
Everything Francis wrote that survives: the Rules, the Testament, the Admonitions, letters, prayers and the Canticle of the Sun.