Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone, better known to the world as Francis of Assisi, died on this day 785 years ago. The son of a wealthy cloth merchant, Francis experienced a vision in his early twenties while heading off to a war, and this led to a spiritual awakening, leading him to renounce worldly pursuits and eventually to embrace a life of poverty. He forsook his patrimony and lived as a beggar.
He walked around preaching repentance, and was gradually joined by a group of followers, who lived a simple life in a deserted house. They journeyed to Rome to seek the Pope’s permission to found a new order. The Pope was initially reluctant, but after a dream decided to endorse the new order, which became known as the Franciscan order. Members of the order were known as “lesser brothers” and had no possessions.
Francis’s aim was to imitate the life and carry out the work of Christ as nearly as possible to the way in which Christ did it. He is said to have had a great love for animals, and one year at Christmas he created a living nativity scene to help people understand the birth of Jesus. He visited Egypt in the hope of converting the Sultan who was at war with the Crusader armies, and the Franciscans have had a presence in the Holy Land since 1217.