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The son of a noble family, he was appointed a commendatory abbot when he was 12 years old, and was created a Cardinal when he was 22, heading for a rapidly advancing and bright ecclesiastic career. He was the nephew of a Pope and became a formidable and exemplary pastor, a zealous preacher and a promoter of the implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent. He faced struggles and adversity in his efforts to reform the Church, both the clergy and the religious, to free her from outside powers that threatened her integrity. Because of his zeal, he suffered slander, humiliation and even an attempt on his life, in which an arquebus was fired at his back as he prayed. He was unharmed
One day, as young Francis was riding his horse in the countryside around Assisi, he came across a leper. He was usually very afraid of lepers and did not go near their homes, refusing to even look at them. If he did meet one on his path, he would turn his head the other way and pinch his nose to avoid the bad smell that came from them. But this was not an ordinary day. He got off his horse, gave the leper a silver coin, and kissed his hand. Then he resumed his journey. A few days later, with a pocket full of money, he went to visit a hospice of lepers. He called them all together and gave them alms, kissing the hand of each of them. He had defeated himself, and from that moment onwards, he was never afraid of lepers, whom he humbly served.
Francis had changed. He was no longer the carefree young man who walked around Assisi’s streets dressed like a jester, joking and drinking with his friends. He no longer was a spendthrift with the money he earned helping his father, Pietro di Bernardone, a wealthy merchant. He had been converted to love God and his brothers and sisters. Francis was a new man. He no longer wanted to lead a superficial life, empty of meaning. He understood that Christ was the Master to serve, and that his betrothed would always be Lady Poverty. It was 1205 and he was 23 years old. He was born in 1182 to Lady Pica de Bourlémont, originally from Provence, where his father often went to trade in fabrics. His Baptism name was John, but he was known as Francis, precisely because of his French roots.
Until his encounter with the leper, Francis had spent his youth having fun, without a care in the world. He had joined the militia that defended Assisi, the Ghibellines, against Perugia, which was under the Guelphs, but he was taken prisoner in the Battle of Collestrada (1202) and kept captive for one year, until his father paid a ransom. He became ill during his confinement and drew nearer to the faith. After returning to his family, he spent time recovering on his parent’s estate, drawing ever nearer to nature, in which he could see the signs of the Creator. Despite his trials, he continued to dream of being a knight. He thus left for Puglia to fight under the leadership of Gualtiero di Brienne. However, while he was in Spoleto, he fell sick again. His dreams had been shattered. In that moment, he heard a voice telling him to return to Assisi.
These experiences had left their mark and he was no longer the young man he had been. He decided to give all his money to the Church and to alms. But it wasn’t enough. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome and met a poor man. He wanted to experience what it meant to be reduced to poverty. And so, he swapped his clothes with those of the poor man and begged for alms at the doors of a Church. At the end of the day, he recovered his clothes, gave the poor man what he had earned and returned to Assisi. From that time onwards, he understood that poverty would no longer scare him.
Not far from Francis’ home, there was a small church, San Damiano, which had fallen to ruin. The only thing that was still left standing was a large painted wooden crucifix. One day, the Crucifix spoke to him, saying, “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down”. Francis immediately replied, “Yes, Lord, I will do it willingly”.
He began to live like a hermit. People thought he had gone mad and he became the joke of the town. Worried that he had lost his mind, his father brought him home and locked him up for a few days in a small store room, feeding him only bread and water. But Francis’ mother intervened and he was freed. The tension with his father became a full blown disagreement that even included discussion on inheritance.
In fact, to put together some money to repair San Damiano, Francis had used the profits from the sale of a few fabrics, which angered his father to the point that he reported him to the authorities. Pietro di Bernardone even took Francis before the Bishop, to be judged. But on that occasion, Francis did something that would go down in history. He stripped off his clothes in the rooms of the old Cathedral of Assisi, Saint Mary Major, renouncing all earthly possessions. Bishop Guido covered Francis with his cloak, and with this gesture, welcomed him under his protection. Francis renounced Pietro di Bernardone as his father, and stated that his Father was in Heaven. He was definitively free from any human trap or bond.
After he had repaired San Damiano, Francis wanted to repair other churches too, like Saint Mary of the Angels, known as the Porziuncola, and San Pietro della Spina.
Detached from everything, he wore a simple tunic and began a new life. He travelled through cities and villages, begging for alms and proclaiming the Word of God. From then on, he was joined by members of the nobility, the bourgeoisie, clerics and lay people, who wished to live according to his Rule, having given up all the concerns and vanities of the world. Bernardo di Quintavalle was the first one to give up all his possessions to the poor. Some companions followed Francis more closely, such as Egidio of Assisi, Pietro Cattani, Angelo Tancredi, Masseo Leone and Ginepro. They soon became 12. Francis called his companions “brothers”.
On 24 February 1209, Francis attended Holy Mass celebrated by a priest in the Porziuncola chapel. When he heard the Reading of Matthew 10:15, which refers to the mission Jesus entrusted to the Apostles, he understood that that was the life he was called to live.
The first Rule he wrote was a series of quotations from the Bible and very simple rules of life. It was approved by Innocent III in 1209, giving rise to the Order of Friars Minor. The basic principles were fraternity, by living together, humility, by serving the least ones, poverty and a missionary spirit.
Captivated by Francis’ example, in the evening of Palm Sunday 1211 or 1212, Chiara degli Offreducci (Clare of Assisi) ran away from home to meet him at the Porziuncola. Francis cut her hair and gave her the Franciscan habit to wear. She was followed soon after by her sister Agnes, and the Second Franciscan Order was born.
In 1217, during the General Chapter at Santa Maria della Porziuncola in Assisi, Francis decided to send some friars to France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and to the other provinces of Italy that had not yet been reached by his disciples.
He sent his brothers out in pairs to preach in villages and cities. His way of life did not include remaining inside a monastery, but rather sharing all the difficulties and trials of life, with others.
Francis tried to go to the Holy Land to convert the infidels, three times. The first time he set sail from Ancona, perhaps around 1212-13, but due to a storm, he landed on the Dalmatian coast and returned to Assisi. The following year, he tried to enter Morocco via Spain, but an illness forced him to return. His third attempt was in 1219, when the second General Chapter was celebrated in the Porziuncola. He left for the east, passing through Ancona. In August he reached Damietta, which was besieged by the crusaders. With Brother Illuminato, he went to meet Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil, to proclaim the Gospel to him. He was unable to convert him, but Francis was not harmed. Indeed, the Sultan gave him freedom of movement throughout his land. In Autumn 1220, he returned to Italy.
In 1219 a group of Friars Minor had been living in the retreat at Olivais, near Coimbra, Portugal, Five friars left Olivais and headed to the areas controlled by the Moors in Andalusia, then to Morocco, where they were martyred by the Saracens on 16 January 1220. An Augustinian canon, named Fernando, had met them in Coimbra and had been struck by their witness. He wanted to join the Order of Friars Minor and would later become the famous Saint Anthony of Padua.
In 1223, Francis wanted to recreate the essence of the birth of Jesus. He set up the scene in Greccio with a manger, a donkey and an ox. The characters were portrayed by the shepherds and by local people. The Altar for the celebration was placed inside the manger and Francis, who was a deacon, sang the Gospel and preached to those who had come to relive the birth of our Saviour.
On 17 September 1224, while he was meditating on the suffering of Christ in La Verna, in the Casentino Forests, a seraph appeared to him and gave him the stigmata. In 1225, he composed his celebrated Canticle of the Creatures. In June of 1226, he wrote his Testament, in which he underscored the importance of preserving the original spirit of the Rule, never abandoning the vocation to help the least ones and those in need.
Upon his return to Assisi, feeling that death was approaching, he retreated to the Porziuncola and called for Iacopa de’ Settesoli (“Brother Iacopa”). Surrounded by his friars, he gave them his Testament, asking that it be observed as a supplement to the Rule, forbidding any additions to it or interpretations. He died after sunset on 3 October 1226.
On 4 October, with a solemn procession, he was translated from the Porziuncola to the Church of San Giorgio in Assisi. Along the way, his mortal remains were shown to Clare and her sisters at San Damiano.
He was canonized by Gregory IX, in the presence of his mother, Lady Pica, on 16 July 1228, after one of the briefest canonical processes in Church history. Some forty miracles attributed to him were examined. Among them were healings of lepers, of people with dropsy and paralysed people, rescued castaways, released prisoners and a return from death.
His mortal remains were kept in San Giorgio until 25 May 1230, when they were transferred to Assisi’s Lower Basilica. Dedicated to Francis, its construction had been ordered by Brother Elias.
“God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor”, Mother Teresa often told people she met, involving them in charity towards those in need. She was convinced that in serving the poorest of the poor, one should not simply act as social workers, but as brothers and sisters who seek out other brothers and sisters. Her charity was fuelled by faith. It was not just philanthropy. Mother Teresa felt the urgent need to lift people from their misery, but she also believed in the importance of bringing to them the message that God is love and that his love translated into attention to their condition. Her thoughts regarding this were very clear: “God has identified himself with the hungry, the sick, the naked, the homeless; hunger, not only for bread, but for love, for care, to be somebody to someone; nakedness, not of clothing only, but nakedness of that compassion that very few people give to the unknown; homelessness, not only for a shelter made of stone, but that homelessness that comes from having no one to call your own.”
The Feast of the Rosary was instituted by Saint Pius V with the name, “Our Lady of Victory, to commemorate the battle of Lepanto, which took place on 7 October 1571, when a fleet of the Holy League defeated a fleet of the Ottoman Empire. Christians attributed the victory to the protection of Mary, whom they had invoked by reciting the Rosary before going into battle.
The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are united in their celebration of the Nativity of Mary. This feast was born in the East and was introduced to Rome by Sergius 1, in the seventh century. On that day, a procession would leave from the Church of Sant’Andrea al Foro, and head to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. According to the liturgical Calendar, the Feast Day was celebrated on 8 September. In the East, the Nativity of Mary had been celebrated since the 4th century and was linked to the construction of the Basilica of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, which was built on the site of Anne and Joachim’s house, where Mary was believed to be born. From Jerusalem the recollection of the nativity of Mary spread to Constantinople, where the Eastern Church linked it to the Conception. It should be noted that the Church celebrates the birth on earth and in heaven only of Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist.
The Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour, and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, commonly known as Saint John Lateran, is the Cathedral of Rome. Mater et Caput of all the Churches in the Urbe and Orbe, it is a point of reference for the Universal Church. On 9 November, we celebrate its dedication by Pope Sylvester, which took place in 324, 1,700 years ago.
Jesus, “Stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as Thou shinest: so to shine as to be a light to others” (Meditations on Christian Doctrine, VII,3). These celebrated words by Cardinal John Henry Newman sum up his thoughts and his legacy. He was a person who was “inconvenient” for his time, who drew many different reactions including among Catholics. He is known for his openness to lay people and to their participation in the evangelization of England in the 19th century, at a time when the country was still tied to tradition and against change. But Newman was certainly not one to take a step back, and he promoted an intelligent and well instructed laity: “I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold, and what they do not, who know their creed so well, that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it” (The Present Position of Catholics in England, IX, 390). He involved laypeople in teaching catechesis, and was met with opposition, even among the clergy.
He is one of the first four Doctors of the Church of the West, who promoted the evangelization of England and laid down the fundamental norms for chants, which later took his name. Gregory the Great was born to a wealthy Roman patrician family, some time around 540. He received a sound education, studying a range of subjects that went from the law, to the Bible, to the works of the Fathers, in particular of Saint Augustine.
On Christmas eve of 1252, Saint Clare was ill and confined to her dormitory bed in Assisi’s San Damiano Monastery. Her Sisters had left her on her own to recite the morning prayers but she wanted to join them at least on that night. So great was her devotion to the mystery of the Saviour’s birth that she asked the Lord to grant her wish. What took place next inspired Pius XII, seven centuries later, to proclaim Saint Clare the universal patron Saint of television and telecommunications, on 4 February 1958. The episode is still relevant today, as the day in which we commemorate the birth in heaven of the Saint, 11 August, coincides with the day the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems remembers her for her patronage.
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