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St Francis of Assisi - St Peter's Church, Nottingham, England on-line magazine
St Francis of Assisi
So much change has taken place in recent years that 1896 seems a very long time ago.
When we go further back, time telescopes in our minds so that the two hundred and fifty
year interval between 1050 and 1300 A.D. seems nothing.
I have recently been reading about the development of monasticism from the time of the
"Early Fathers", the third to sixth centuries A.D. up to about 1200 when St.
Francis came on the scene. It is a huge timespan, and the contribution which monasticism
made to the survival and development of civilisation over that period makes a fascinating
story. I had always thought that Francis was quite unique, which he is of course, but as
the power and influence of the monasteries in secular terms peaked and began to wane there
were repeated returns to the simpler life. The Cistercian Order was founded at Citeaux in
Burgundy in 1098 and the Carthusian Order arose from Chartreuse, founded in 1084. In 1115
a young German canon, son of a baron, named Norbert was thrown from his horse in a
thunderstorm and had a conversion experience very much like St Paul. He became an
itinerant preacher and later had a dream about a band of white-robed monks which led him
to build an abbey at Premontre in France. The order which he formed was very strict and
the monks worked as preachers and parish priests; they expanded very rapidly and were
known as Premonstratensians.
It is staggering that in 1210 only four years after his "conversion", St.
Francis and a few followers were able to go to Rome to see Innocent III, the very able and
powerful Pope, who approved their first Rule and had a dream in which he saw Francis
propping up the church. Ten years later the Pope approved the first Rule of the Dominican
order.
Returning to the opening paragraph, these were times of great changes, perhaps as great
as in our own. People began to live in towns and cities, and there was growing prosperity.
Universities were founded in Paris and Oxford, and literacy and education were no longer a
monastic preserve. Many of the great cathedrals of Europe were built with amazing energy
and speed.
Into this exciting world Francis was born in 1182. His parents passed on to him their
love of the Troubadours of Southern France, and he learned French and was fascinated by
their culture of pure romantic love, expressed in poetry and music.
When he was about 25, just like Norbert, he went through a period of conversion when he
renounced his wealth, fell out with his family, and embraced Lady Poverty as he described
her, using the language of the Troubadours and taking love of God, mankind and the whole
of creation quite literally.
He was a man of action and was soon at work rebuilding a local ruined church and you
would have thought that his life of absolute poverty which involved begging in order to
survive would have had little interest for anyone else. You might say the same about
Jesus' appeal to the first disciples. But Francis, like Jesus, had a compelling and
attractive personality and message, and soon others were joining him. He called them the
Friars Minor to emphasise their lowly position and their identification with the poor.
The fundamental difference between the friars and the monks was that the monks pledged
themselves to a monastery, a fixed location, and their orders accepted property. Noblemen
and kings gave property to them because they thought it would help them get to heaven. The
friars moved about and preached and ministered to the people in the towns. They had no
property to administer or to use as a base. There was an amazing response and by 1219,
five thousand friars attended a meeting known as the Chapter of Mats.
Francis' relationship with Clare is another remarkable story. He met her in secret for
a year, both chaperoned, and she eloped from her parents with a friend at the age of 18,
on Palm Sunday in 1212. She went to one of the nearby churches which he had restored, had
her long hair cut off and donned a habit. She came from the nobility and later was joined
by her mother and her two sisters. Francis did not want them to be called sisters or nuns,
and he called them instead the Poor Ladies, and kept in touch with them throughout his
life.
He died at the age of 44 after increasing ill-health, due in part to the way he
mistreated Brother Ass, as he called his body. We are fortunate in knowing quite a lot
about his life; we have his own writings, and one of his biographers, Thomas of Celano,
knew him and wrote about him shortly after his death. One little story Thomas relates is
of a brother who said to a beggar "How do I know you are not really rich and
pretending to be in need?" Francis was deeply saddened at this, and he severely
rebuked the brother who had dared to utter such words and ordered him to strip before the
beggar and beg his pardon, kissing his feet. His embrace of Lady Poverty was - you might
say - ruthless, it was absolute, as was his humility.
On another occasion Francis told the brother gardener not to plant the whole garden
with vegetables but to set aside a plot for those plants which in their season would bloom
with Brother Flowers. The reason he said was because it would invite all who saw it to
praise God; for every creature says "God made me for you, O human!".
St Francis has been an inspiration to literally millions of people. Franciscans
comprise the largest religious order, and the Pope's dream nearly eight hundred years ago
certainly came true.
Thomas of Celano described Francis as quite eloquent, with a cheerful and kindly face;
short, with black hair, slender build and with a delicate skin. He wore rough garments,
slept sparingly, gave most generously. And because he was very humble, he showed mildness
to everyone, adapting himself to the behaviour of all. Amongst the holy he was even more
so; among sinners he was one of them.
Brian Dunn, May 1996
Brenda Stephenson's article - Saint
of the Month
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© St Peter's Church, Nottingham
Last revised 5th July 1997
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