The fascinating, free, and faithful Saint Francis of Assisi

Why do so many Catholics—both those who practice their faith and those who don’t—have statues of Saint Francis of Assisi in their yards? Why would Francis’ hometown of Assisi be considered the perfect place to host a worldwide interfaith gathering for peace? Why do even non-Catholic churches—including those who don’t otherwise acknowledge the communion of saints—offer public blessings for family pets near Francis’ feast day?

Saint Francis of Assisi is surely one of the greatest saints in the history of the Church. The people of his time were as fascinated with him as we are today because of his Christlike way of life. Although many books have been written about the life and teachings of Il Poverello (the little poor man, as he was popularly called), there is always more to be said. Of the many remarkable aspects of Francis’ life, three are particularly worth remembering on October 4, his feast day: his love of poverty, his miracles, and his humility.

Although his given name was Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (1181-1226), everyone called him Francis because his father, a wealthy merchant, was in France at the time of his birth. Francis was a young man when a series of personal experiences led him to leave his family and live in poverty out of love for God.

When Francis left everything behind, he truly left everything behind. He walked away from his family, friends, home, and all the other comforts available to a wealthy young man, wearing only a borrowed robe and with no idea what he would eat or where he would sleep.

Francis spent the rest of his life trying to convince everyone that it was both possible and desirable to consecrate yourself to God while renouncing material possessions. Since poverty is something that most people try to avoid, his contemporaries probably thought Francis’ crazy ideas would pass away when he did. But something about Francis’ ideas and his life of abandonment has continued to ignite a similar desire in the hearts of Catholic men and women ever since.

The order that Francis established, the Order of Friars Minor, spread all over the world and eventually gave birth to other orders. Those orders include the Friars Minor Capuchin, the Friars Minor Conventual, the Poor Clares, the Secular Franciscans, and the Third Order Regulars, along with other religious orders inspired by Franciscan ideals.

No other religious family in the history of the Church has produced as many saints and blesseds as has the Franciscan order. (Sorry, Dominicans, but it’s not even a close race.) Walking in the footsteps of Saint Francis has helped 542 Catholic men and women achieve the highest levels of sanctity. Of that number, 331 died as martyrs for their faith in Christ. Franciscan saints and blesseds also include queens and doorkeepers, bishops and mystics, husbands and wives, and a pope.

The miracles of Saint Francis are no less astonishing—and instructive. After all, God does not permit miracles to occur through the prayers of His favorites simply because He enjoys entertaining us; instead, He wants to teach us. For example, Francis famously preached to the birds and tamed a dangerous wolf. These events were not intended to encourage us to become animal-lovers but instead to become God-lovers. That is, if you want to know how to communicate with God’s creatures, work very hard at learning to communicate with God Himself. One also has to wonder if Francis’ decision to preach the Gospel to sparrows was a not-so-subtle hint that birds might be more open to the message of Christ than some human beings.

Multiple witnesses attested to seeing the wounds of Jesus Christ—the stigmata—on Francis’ body. They also said they sometimes saw Francis lifted up off the ground when he prayed. Many other Catholics have also been inspired by Francis’ devotion to the sufferings of our Lord and have received these same miraculous gifts.

It is no small miracle that Francis did not die as a martyr. When he traveled to Egypt in 1219 with a dozen followers, his goal was to convert the Muslim ruler to the faith or die trying. His companions must have thought the latter was a likely outcome. But while Francis did not baptize a sultan, he did impress a sultan with his bravery. Francis’ pilgrimage to the Middle East and the positive relationship he developed with a Muslim ruler explain why the Franciscans still possess a province there, the Custody of the Holy Land, eight centuries later. Francis’ experience among the Muslims also explains why his hometown was considered the perfect place for people of different faiths to gather and try to work for peace.

Humility, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is the “virtue by which a Christian acknowledges that God is the author of all good.”¹ Francis himself famously explained humility another way when he taught others, “What a man is in God’s eye, that he is, and nothing more.”²

Unlike many other saints from the Middle Ages, we know quite a bit about Francis’ life. That’s because witnesses recorded what they heard him say and do, but it’s also because Francis personally told them about his youth, conversion, and personal trials. For most of us, it is both easy and dangerous to talk too much about ourselves and our experiences. This can lead us to take pride in our accomplishments. But Francis was able to relate past events in his life without bragging because of his profound humility.

For example, he told his followers how he, like most typical teenagers, had great plans for his adult life and how he enjoyed the comforts of living in a wealthy home. He also told them about a pivotal event in his life, a moment when he was deeply moved by the sight of a beggar. In his heart, Francis fought a great battle over how to respond. Should he give his own fine clothes to a poor man and have nothing to wear but rags? Should he merely walk away? Francis chose to give his clothes to a stranger and won the first of many battles in his spiritual life. But he was humble enough to share with others that he had been tempted to care more about his own appearance than about the nakedness of another human being.

When Francis preached to those who were poor, he called them his brothers, and they knew that he meant it. When God told Francis to rebuild His Church, Francis simply and obediently began moving stones. In his humility, he never imagined that the Lord of the universe intended him to be a key instrument in the medieval reformation of the universal Church.

Ultimately, Saint Francis has fascinated both Catholics and non-Catholics throughout history because of his freedom. Francis was free of the burden of worrying about having enough money for tomorrow because he trusted that God would be there when tomorrow arrived. He was free to receive miraculous gifts from God because he had emptied his hands of the goods of this earth. He was free of the dangers of pride because he constantly reminded himself that he was merely a little, poor man who was trying to serve God. The freedom of Saint Francis of Assisi is the kind of freedom that truly sets us free,³ the kind that fascinates the world because it brings a peace that the world cannot give.⁴

(Editor’s note: This essay was posted originally on October 4, 2023.)

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