We have all heard of many spirits coming and going from this earth, many of them are known as Saints because of the humble and kind lives they chose to live on earth. One of these Saints that deserves the recognition for me is Saint Francis of Assisi. Excuse my way of putting his great life in these few words, for he was a great person who was a gentle spirit.
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"St. Francis was born in 1181 to a wealthy cloth merchant, Pietro Bernardone, and his wife Pica. Francis grew up to be an amiable young man, who enjoyed fashionable clothes, parties with friends, and a good life available to a young man of his class in Assisi (Italy). At age 24 he fought in a war between Assisi and Perugia, when defeated he was a prisoner of war and spent a year imprisoned in dark and damp conditions. During this time he may have contracted Malaria or TB.
Within two years, still aspiring as a knight, he embarked on another military campaign. While he stopped for the night 20 miles outside of Assisi, his illness returned. During, the night he had a startling vision that moved him to return to Assisi and try to ascertain his true vocation. Having lost interest in business, his friends and their former pursuits, Francis started to search for some deeper meaning of life.
In the spring of 1206 Francis stopped at a dilapidated church in San Damiano to pray. While kneeling and contemplating the crucifix, Francis heard the voice of God imploring him, "Francis, don't you see that my house has collapsed? Go and repair it for me." Francis accepted God's challenge and immediately went about selling his horse, clothes and bolts of his father's cloth and gave the proceeds to the priest at San Damiano. Knowing his father would be outraged, he hid in a cave for weeks.
Eventually he returned to Assisi looking wild and haggard, to face his father's wrath. Pietro dragged Francis home and locked him in the cellar, but Pica released him while Pietro was away. Finally, Pietro turned to the bishop for a judgement against his son. In a dramatic public trial in front of the bishop, Francis agreed to give his father back the money that belonged to him, and stripped off all of his clothes and laid them at his father's feet, announcing all to hear, " Up until now I have always called Pietro Barnardone my father. In the future I will only acknowledge our Father who is in heaven." This is said to be the moment of Francis' final conversion.
The bishop gave Francis some rough clothes and he soon returned to San Damiano to continue his work on the church. He begged for stones for the repairs, singing the praises of God, and began to preach his new way of life based on the Gospel.
On October 3, 1226, surrounded by his brothers, St. Francis died peacefully at age 45 years old. In testament to his legacy, millions of people make the pilgrimage every year to Assisi to visit the tomb of St. Francis and to feel the presence of this Universally beloved saint.
What does a saint who lived some eight hundred years ago have to say that could possibly be relevant to us today? They are here to inspire, guide, challenge, and transform us, now, as they have done for readers through the centuries."
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from some writings of St. Francis, who I believe is loved as patron saint of all creatures and animals..
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"My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in every place give praise to Him; for He has given you freedom to wing through the sky and He has clothed you. You neither sow nor reap and God feeds you and gives you rivers and mountains for your thirst, and mountains and valleys for shelter, and tall trees for your nests. And although you neither know how to spin nor weave, God dresses you and your children, for the Creator loves you greatly and he blesses you abundantly. Therefore, my little bird sister, be careful not to be ungrateful, but strive always to praise God. " from The Little Flowers of St. Francis.
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Most high, glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart
and give me, Lord,
a correct faith,
a certain hope,
a perfect charity,
sense and knowledge,
so that I may carry our Your holy and true command.
--The first recorded prayer of St. Francis, to age 23 and struggling to discern his vocation.
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