 Francis of Assisi was actually called Giovanni Battista Bernardone. He was born in 1181 or 1182 in Assisi and died in the Portiuncula Chapel, in the city of his birth. His conviction was to live in a manner which strictly followed Christ's example.
The life of Francis of AssisiFrancis was the son of a rich cloth merchant. In his youth he received excellent schooling and lived a life with no financial worries. As a young man, he was involved in the war, thrown in jail, and became gravely ill. His father payed for his release. While praying in the Church of San Damiano ( approx. 20 minutes on foot from Assisi) Jesus spoke to him from a picture of the cross, and gave him the task of rebuilding the churches. The picture of the cross remains to this day, hanging in the Basilika Santa Chiara in Assisi.
Do I get something to eat and drink every day on a pilgrimage?
Francis then prayed for the building materials needed for the reconstruction of the churches. In addition to this, he took money from his parents' business, which he used for the churches. This resulted in a dispute which ended up in court. Francis subsequently cut off all ties with his father and turned to a life of poverty and begging.
In 1208, the abbot of the Benedict Monastery of Monte Subasio gave Francis the small Portiuncula Church, so that Francis could make this the center for his school of belief. He considered himself a penitent and encouraged others to repent for their sins. His interpretations of Christian beliefs attracted many young men over the years. In 1209, Francis of Assisi undertook a pilgrimage with twelve young men. They walked to Rome to meet Pope Innocence III in order to receive acknowledgment of their way of life. In 1210, the Pope supposedly gave him permission to preach his way of living in poverty and repentance according to his rules.
In 1212, the first monastery was founded in his name in Tuscany - the "Convento di San Francesco".In 1219 Francis traveled to Palestine where he worked as a missionary and preached in front of the Sultan in Damiette at the Nile delta.
As his health worsened, he decided to move back to Italy. Upon his return in 1224, he moved back to a cave in the mountain of La Verna, where he had lived since 1212. On On 17 September 1224, he is said to have had a vision in which he received the wounds of Christ on both hands. This event is seen as the first deliverance of stigmatization.On 4 October 1226, Francis of Assisi died in the Chapel of Portiuncula, in the company of his companions. As soon as 16 July 1228, he was sanctified by Pope Gregory IX.
The Way of St. FrancisThe Way of St. Francis is to be found in the areas in which he worked and the places where he left behind his footprints. Among these places are cities such as Florence, Gubbio, Assisi, Rieti and Rome.
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