My Pilgrimage to Assisi, Part II

St. Francis’ extra ordinary life of sanctity has fascinated many writers to create legendary novels and stories about him. It is impossible to compile the life story of such a saint in few words. In a sense, St. Francis embodied the qualities what the modern men and woman need – the love of nature, the love of animals, the sense of social compassion and the sense detachment to the material things of the world.   What I am trying here is to give a short summary of his early life with some of the well know incidents.      



The room where St. Francis was born

   Francis was born in 1182, the eldest son of one of the richest men of Assisi, Pietro de Bernardone. His mother Pica named him Giovanni (John) in his father’s absence at his baptism. But when his father returned from his commercial visit to France, he gave his son the new name Francis signifying his love for France. As a young boy he helped his father in his business of selling clothes. A remarkable incident happened when one day a beggar came to the store looking for help. Francis was preoccupied with his work and thus ignored the beggar. But later he was ashamed of his action and ran through the street searching for the beggar whom he eventually found and gave him everything he had. Then he promised God that he would never refuse help to a poor man. In this action we could see traces of his future life when he would run away from all worldly attractions to embrace poverty. In a way by embracing this beggar on the street he was embracing Christ who emptied himself to accept the form of a slave (Cf. Phil. 2: 7).




Statue of Francis' parents

  When the war broke between Assisi and the neighboring Perugia his youthful dream of becoming a Knight fulfilled. But he was captured as a prisoner in the very first skirmish. He was a prisoner for some time and later he decided to fight for the papal army especially to capture the Holy Land. But God had other plans for Francis. On his way to war he became ill and was bedridden for some time. As he fell asleep he heard a voice asking where he wanted to go: “To Apulia to be a knight” was his answer. The voice asked him: “Tell me, Francis, who can benefit you, the most: the Lord or the servant?” When he answered “the Lord”, the voice repeated: “Then why do you desert the Lord for the servant, and the Prince for his vassal?” The voice asked him to go back to his town where he would be given his new mission. Then he began to spend time in prayer in the nearby churches and caves.

In his earnestness to serve God and to identify with the poor he wanted to become poor. Francis decided to make pilgrimage to Rome, a place sanctified by the blood of the martyrs. In Rome, he stood with the beggars in front of St. Peter’s and began to beg and then eat the beggars’ meals. This gave him great joy and satisfaction. After some time he returned to Assisi. But now he had the great experience of what it was to be poor. When he overcame his aversion toward the poor beggars by living with them, he wanted to fight his greatest weakness – his aversion to the lepers. One day as he was riding on his horse he saw a leper in front of him. His first impulse was to flee as fast as he could but he wanted to follow Jesus’ way in its fullest sense. He got down from his horse, approached the leper, embraced him and kissed the fingers of the sick man which was covered with the awful sores from the disease. It was another radical experience for him. The next day he went to the place where the lepers lived in his town, embraced each one of them and gave them everything he had. Thus he won the greatest victory one could win – the victory over oneself. Unlike most of us who become victims to our own passions and become slaves to sin Francis became master of himself after the model of Christ.  

The Church of San Damiano was in such a ruin during Francis’ time. It had a crucifix over the high alter where Francis used to kneel down and recite a prayer he formulated which has been transmitted to us through his writings: “Great and glorious God, my Lord Jesus Christ! I implore you to enlighten me and to disperse the darkness of my soul! Grant me, O Lord, to know you so well that in all things I may act by your light, and in accordance with your holy will!” Then Francis heard God’s voice telling him: “Francis, go and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down!” Simple and literal as he was he began to rebuild the ruined Church of San Damiano.   He realized the way to build a church was using his own hands and sweat.  So he started gathering stones and doing the work himself. He also sold the clothes from his father’s store to collect money for the rebuilding of the Church.

Enraged with the mad behavior of his son in wasting his wealth by giving it to the poor and living with them, Francis father Pietro de Bernardone took the case to the bishop. To everyone’s astonishment it happened that Francis not only gave all the money he had but also his cloths, and declared: “I will not only give him the money cheerfully, but also the clothes I have received from him”.  The bishop, then, took his own outer garment and clothed the naked young man accepting the life of poverty he would be embracing. It was also a sign that he would be covered with God’s protection for the rest of his life. This happened in April 1207 - that Francis literally practiced the words of the gospel to forsake everything and decided to take up the Cross to follow Christ.

While attending Mass one day the priest read the following passage from the Gospel of Matthew (10:7-13): “Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.” In hearing  these words Francis determined that his mission was to go and evangelize. Thus a transformation happend from Francis the hermit and church builder to Francis the apostle and evangelist.

Many young men were attracted by Francis' way of life and the group continued to grow, and this caused Francis to want an official approval from the Pope. He and several of the brothers travelled to Rome to seek approval from Pope Innocent III.  He did have an audience with the pope  and presented the rule which he desired for his companions: to live in obedience, in chastity, and without property, and to follow the teachings of Christ.  He wanted the brothers to be set free from any worldly influence that would get in their way in trying to serve the poor and be obedient to God.  Pope Innocent III gave his approval to the group.  The group continued to grow by leaps and bounds.