St. Francis of Assisi

Description

St. Francis was born in 1182 to a merchant couple that imported luxurious fabrics to Italy. He was also expected to become a merchant, but instead he decided to join the second crusade, but on his first night out, he had a vision: the Lord was sending him back. He then faced the jeers of his neighbors, who thought him a coward. Francis undeterred, turned away from war to peace and vowed he would await a further sign from God. Francis then had a vision in which God told him to repair his church, his mission was to help rebuild the faith. Francis preached about humility, poverty, simplicity and prayer to everyone, even the birds, whom he thought of as God’s special creations. While others took arms in the later crusades, Francis went to the Muslim leaders with a message of peace. He attempted to express God’s brotherhodd by truly living by the gospel, but his life of poverty and wandering, while good for his soul, was hard on his body. Although he died in 1226, the Order he founded, the Franciscan Friars, carries his humble teachings in every corner of the globe.