St. Francis Essay, Research Paper

Saint Francis of Assisi

By Msgr. Leon Cristiani

This biography had a lot of information on St. Francis of Assisi. He was a very generous man who founded the Friars. Along the way he accomplished many good deeds. He gave all that he had to the poor so that they could live a better life. The only things he needed were food, shelter, and companionship.

St. Francis of Assisi was born in September of the year 1182. He was born to a rich merchant named Pietro di Bernardone. In 1202 he was held prisoner for several months over a dispute between Assisi and Perugia. This was followed by a period of illness. He didn?t like the way his life was going so he turned to prayer and service for the poor. In 1206 he officially turned down his fathers fortune. To help bring his life to good he decided to become a hermit. This attracted many followers. He preached about the idea of having a simple life of following the Gospels. When Pope Innocent III found out about his good works Francis was ordained a deacon. His followers increased in population and were called friars, which is a lower form of Francis? name. In 1212 he got help from Saint Clare and established a branch for women called the Poor Clares. In 1221 Francis made a new edition for the lay people called the Third order. After a long life of hard work he finally retired from leading the friars. At this time he was given the stigmata or imprint of the wounds of Christ on his own body. He also wrote the Canticle of Brother Sun. He died October 3,1226. He was canonized a Saint in 1228 and his Feast day is October 4.

This book taught me that Francis was a rich man before he converted his life. I thought that he was always poor and he was showing appreciation for the things around him. This act of kindness makes me think of him as even a better person. This book also taught me that he didn?t have that many followers at first. When he started it was just him. In 1221 he had eleven. Over more than ten years he hadn?t made many followers. This book taught me that Francis not only gave up his fortune but he firmly believed in being poor. Not for one second would he have thought that being rich would have helped him more. From his point of view he had all he needed with him. This book taught me that people made fun of him for what he did. How could you make fun of someone that is doing such a great deed? He wasn?t hurting anyone. He was just helping people. This book taught me that he made more than a Franciscan order. He also made an order for women and for lay people. His teachings were for all people, and not only religious people.

I liked this book because it got deep down into St. Francis? life and showed all of the good points. It sends out a good message to all people that read the book. I didn?t like the book because it had a lot of stories that made the book kind of boring. They talked too much about rules instead of talking about what he did. The book was also to my liking because they used more action than normal biographies do. Normal biographies are usually all facts. This one had some stories and some neat quotes.

St. Francis was a great man that teaches us a great lesson in courage. He gave up all that he had to just to help other people. These days that is very rare. People just don?t want to follow in his example anymore. All Catholics should imitate his teachings.

The book mentioned at top of report