Francis of Assisi (redirected from St Francis of Assisi)

Francis of Assisi

Saint original name Giovanni di Bernardone. ?1181--1226, Italian monk; founder of the Franciscan order of friars. He is remembered for his humility and love for all creation and was the first person to exhibit stigmata (1224). Feast day: Oct. 4

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Francis of Assisi 

(real name Giovanni Bernardone). Born 1181 (or 1882) in Assisi; died there Oct. 3 (or 4), 1226. Italian religious figure.

Francis was the son of a merchant. He renounced his wealth and devoted himself after 1206 to the preaching of evangelical poverty. Between 1207 and 1209 he founded the brotherhood of Friars Minor, which was reorganized into the monastic order of the Franciscans. The church made use of the preaching of Francis, who became very popular among the general public, for its own purposes. As a wandering preacher, Francis visited Spain, southern France, Egypt, and Palestine; under the influence of his teaching, congregations of his followers were organized in many countries. In 1220, upon returning from the East, where he had been trying to spread Christianity among the Muslims, he gave up the leadership of the Franciscans, opposing its reconstitution by the papacy into an ordinary monastic order. Francis was canonized in 1228. Stories and legends about him were collected in the anonymous The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi (Russian translation, 1913).

Francis was the author of works in Latin, for example, “Praise of Virtue” and “Praise of God,” and other works in Italian (more precisely, in the Umbrian dialect), such as the “Canticle of Brother Sun, or Praises of Creatures” (1224). This hymn, which glorifies god and his whole creation, is an entirely original work intended for a chorus. The harmonious vision of the universe and the mystical union with it as well as the joyful spiritualization of nature found in Francis’ writing brought new themes to religious poetry. As one of the earliest poetic compositions in a national language, the canticle, written in assonances, played an important role in the development not only of religious but also of secular Italian poetry.

REFERENCES

Pimenova, E. K. Frantsisk Assizskii. St. Petersburg, 1896.
Pepe, G. Francesco d’Assisi. Manduria, 1965.