ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI - A Short Hagiography (By SimoTheFinlandized / Paul Palazzolo - 2022 CE)

============================== ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI - A Short Hagiography (By SimoTheFinlandized / Paul Palazzolo - 2022 CE) ============================== Saint Francis of Assisi (September 26, 1181 – October 3, 1226) is a Christian Saint. He is the founder of the Franciscan Order and is the patron saint of animals, the environment, of merchants, the nation of Italy, and of Roman-Catholic action. He was born in the city of Assisi, Italy where a large basilica was built in his honor. On his feast day, October 4, many churches have a ceremony for people to bring their pets and working animals to church. ============================== Saint Francis was born to Pietro Bernardone, a wealthy and powerful cloth merchant, and his wife Pica. He was originally named Giovanni Francesco Bernardone. In his youth, he was first interested by French troubadours, known as wandering poets and musicians who improvised songs on a stringed instrument. He later planned a career in the military. When he was serving in the war between Assisi and Perugia in 1202, at the battle of Ponte Saint Giovanni, he was captured and imprisoned for a year. When Francis returned to his home-city of Assisi he had a religious-conversion experience, including a reported message from Christ calling him to leave this worldly life. He began taking his Christian faith a lot more seriously. He acted towards people as if the Gospels were his law-&-order, taking Jesus Christ as a literal example for loving one another. He dressed in rough and ragged clothes, asked and begged for sustenance, and piously preached purity and peace. His family disapproved of his antics, and his father disinherited him, so Francis renounced his wealth and inheritance. After that Francis started visiting hospitals and caring for the sick, including the lepers. In 1209 Francis started to attract a group of devout followers, and with a blessing from the Roman-Catholic Pope, he founded the Franciscan Order based on a simple statement by Jesus: “Leave all and follow me”. In 1219, he went to Egypt to persuade their Sultan so that Christians could take pilgrimages to the Holy Land and so that the conflict of the Crusades could end. ==============================