St. Francis of Assisi
Patron of animals, ecology, and the poor
- Feast day
- October 4
- Origin
- Assisi, Italy
- Era
- 12th–13th century
- Order
- Franciscan (Friars Minor)
- Canonised
- 1228
About the saint
Francis was born around 1181 to a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi and spent his youth in comfort and soldiering. Captivity after a battle with Perugia, a long illness, and a voice from the crucifix of San Damiano telling him to "rebuild my church" turned his life inside out. He stripped off his clothes in the town square and gave them back to his father, choosing poverty for good.
The brotherhood that gathered around him became the Order of Friars Minor, approved by Pope Innocent III in 1209. Francis preached peace, greeted animals as brothers and sisters, travelled to Egypt to speak with the Sultan al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade, and built the first Christmas crib at Greccio.
Two years before his death in 1226 he received the stigmata on Mount La Verna, the first recorded case in Christian history.
Works
Documented miracles
The stigmata at La Verna
In September 1224 Francis received the wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side, witnessed by Brother Leo.
Mount La Verna, 1224
The wolf of Gubbio
Francis is said to have made peace between the town of Gubbio and a wolf that had been killing livestock and people.
Gubbio, c. 1220