A silk merchant's son rebuilt chapels and an order
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone—Francis of Assisi—traded fine clothes for radical poverty, gathered friars, inspired Clare's Poor Clares, and even crossed to Egypt in 1219 seeking the sultan. Canonized in 1228, he remains Christianity's most recognizable barefoot reformer.
Francis (c. 1181–3 October 1226) was an Italian mystic, poet, and friar who founded the Franciscans. Born to prosperous Assisi silk merchant Pietro di Bernardone and French noblewoman Pica di Bourlemont, he was baptized Giovanni; his father, back from France, nicknamed him Francesco. Indulged youth meant troubadour tastes, lavish spending, and military adventure—until captivity after a 1202 expedition against Perugia and a year of illness began to unsettle him. Two years after his release he headed for Apulia to join the army of Walter III of Brienne, but a strange vision sent him home.
After briefly resuming carefree life, pilgrimage and solitude led to a vision at the ruined chapel of San Damiano: the crucifix told him to repair the church. He mended chapels, served the sick, and soon attracted followers. A trip to Rome secured approval for his way of life. Clare of Assisi founded the Second Order (Poor Clares); Francis's 1219 Egyptian journey sought to convert Sultan Al-Kamil and ease crusade conflict. Within a year eleven companions had joined him, and in 1209 he wrote them a brief Primitive Rule drawn from Bible verses; for lay people who could not leave their affairs he later founded a Third Order.
Pope Gregory IX canonized him on 16 July 1228. Iconography shows a brown habit with a three-knotted cord for poverty, chastity, and obedience. Associated with animals and the natural world in later devotion, he remains among Christianity's most venerated figures—an aristocrat's heir who made voluntary poverty a mass religious movement. In 1213 Count Orlando di Chiusi handed him the mountain of La Verna, which became a favourite retreat for prayer, and he is credited with arranging the first live nativity scene for a Christmas celebration. With Catherine of Siena he is patron saint of Italy.
Source: Francis of Assisi
