Saint Francis is perhaps the best known of all the saints, at least when it comes to name recognition. More "lives" have been written about him than about any other person in history. But he is a complex and problematic figure with little resemblance to the statues of him that people have in their gardens.
The heart of Francis' spirituality was simply that he sought to imitate Jesus as best he understood him and without setting limits on how far he was willing to take it. The Church in Francis' day was very much in need of reforming, but Francis did not set out to reform it. He simply set out to live a life of imitating Jesus, and that accomplished a lot of reforming in the Church.

Imitating Jesus was the last thing anyone who knew him before the age of 24 would have expected of Francis. Francis was the spoiled son of a wealthy cloth merchant. He loved fine clothing and throwing grand parties in which he was the center of attention. The hero he wished to imitate was not Jesus, but King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The story of how he got from there to a life of imitating Jesus is a fascinating and important one that can't be condensed into a few lines. Some suggested reading about it is given in the references below. For now, let's turn our attention to how Francis imitated Jesus and why that is worth paying attention to today.

One day in 1206 when Francis had begun to seek God's will in earnest, he stopped by the small church of San Damiano, which had fallen into ruin, just outside of Assisi. There, while looking at the crucifix, he heard Christ speak to him saying, "Francis, don't you see that my house has collapsed? Go and repair it for me." Francis took that quite literally and set about repairing the building For the next couple of years he dedicated himself to the repair of this and other church buildings. Then, he heard a priest read the following text from Matthew's Gospel:

His undivided heart is surely what gave power to Francis' preaching. He was neither eloquent nor learned. When he took up preaching, he started in the streets and proclaimed a simple message with a summons to follow Christ's example in everyday life. Many were intrigued and some were convinced by what he had to say. When people came to him and said they wanted to join him in following Christ's example, he told them to sell all they had and give the money to the poor. Amazingly enough some wealthy men as well as some poor men did just that. And thus the first band of Francis' disciples, which later came to be called the Friars Minor, came into being.

This little band of disciples, who initially took up residence in an abandoned barn, were an embodiment of what I will call the second "secret" of Francis' spirituality-a community dedicated to obeying Jesus without reservation. One of the most serious mistakes people make in studying Saint Francis is to assume that the center of God's action was Francis himself. Francis was essential. Without him, this little band of disciples would not have come into being, much less taken up the kind of life they did. Nevertheless much of the power of the early Franciscan movement was this growing band of disciples themselves, often quite independent of their master Francis.

There are many wonderful stories of this early Franciscan community but there is no space here to tell them. I will confine myself to making a few points about them that are essential for us to grasp today.

	1)	When they became formally organized they took the name Friars Minor. This meant they were the bottom of society and this included noblemen and "used to be" rich men. The disciples of Francis formed a classless society which in turn welcomed people of all social classes without making distinctions of status among them.
	2)	They had no possessions or money. As they grew in size they were offered property but refused it. Francis said that if they had property, they would soon need weapons to defend it.
	3)	They worked to serve, but would except no payment except that days food. They saw their work as a means of obedience to Jesus, not a means of personal gain.
	4)	They prayed. It is estimated that Francis himself spent as much as a third of his waking life in prayer!

The problem of Francis - Voluntary Poverty

As soon as we let Francis out of the category of a saint to admire and approach him as a model to follow we are faced with a problem. Poverty (owning nothing and having no money) was essential to the life and spirituality of himself and his order. To try and make poverty an optional element and still claim to be practicing Francis' spirituality is simply dishonest. The communal life he led with his followers would have been quite different if they had been concerned with possessions or money. As it was, they enjoyed a life free from the efforts of making provision for tomorrow, free from taking care of property or possessions. Free from the jealousy that a brother might have something more. Free to follow Jesus most radical commands without fear of losing anything. And of course free to be occasionally cold and hungry.

Is such a life possible for most people? It worked for Francis and his first followers who were single men and mostly young. It worked in a christianized society in which most people were well disposed toward them. But poverty may have had its limitations for Francis too. Once, in the village of Cannara, everyone in the village wanted to follow him with their children. He is reported to have said something like, "Don't be in too much of a hurry. I'll get back to you." This may have been the motive for Francis creating his Third Order, with less stringent requirements.

There is no easy answer to tension surrounding the question of voluntary poverty. The question even produced a lot of tension within the Friars Minor after Francis' death. In thinking about the central role of poverty for Francis it is important to keep in mind that for Francis, poverty was not a deprivation, it was a positive passion. Poverty was not a giving up of a good to obtain a higher goal. Francis embraced poverty in order to live as Jesus lived, and in so doing he came in contact with a lot more of Jesus than people with more practical minds ever do.

Suggested Readings

The literature on Saint Francis is so extensive that I can't pretend to be familiar with even a small portion of it. The following is simply a list of some things I have read recently and found to be of value.

Francis and Clare: The Complete Works - This contains all of Francis' writings as well as those of Saint Clare.

Francis of Assisi: A Revolutionary Life , by Adrian House is an excellent biography. It is not easy to separate the real history of Francis from the mythology that has grown up around him, but House has made a good effort at it and yet his book is very readable, not an academic treatise.

The Little Flowers of Saint Francis - This collection of stories about Saint Francis and the early Friars Minor was written within a century after Francis' death. It often feels more fanciful than historical, but is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in Francis and his followers.

Living the Incarnation - by Sister Frances Teresa OSC, takes key elements of Francis' conversion and his perspective to set out a general itinerary for the spiritual life. (See note)

Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety , by Richard Rohr

St. Francis of Assisi: Omnibus of Sources Writings and Early Biographies - Marion A. Habig, OFM, ed. This is an important tool for anyone wanting to do serious research into Saint Francis. (See note)

Notes: The noted books are not available from our regular inventory, but can easily be special ordered. Please send an e-mail to Orders requesting these books if interested.