St Francis of Assisi - Childhood to early adulthood

St Francis was the founder of the Francisian order. He was born in Umbria, in 1181 or 1182 - the exact date is not known. He died in Umbria on the 3rd of October 1226. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, but even as Francis sang merrily and delighted in fine clothes, he showed an instinctive sympathy with the poor.

When he was about 20 years of age, he contracted an illness and started thinking of the emptiness of the life he led. However, when he became well again, he resolved to embrace a career in the military. The night before Francis set off to start his military career, he had a strange dream in which he saw a wall of armour, all marked with the Cross. He then had a second illness, and once again a dream, this time telling him to turn back to Assisi. He did this at once (c. 1205).

Not long after his return to Assisi, Francis was praying outside of St Damians, a chapel below the town. He heard a voice saying "Go Francis, and repair my house, which you will see is falling into ruin". He took this literally to mean repairing St Damians. He went to his father's shop, bundled some fabrics, and took them to a market at Foligno and sold both the fabric and his horse to procure goods to repair St Damians. This led to conflict with his father, and eventually, after being taken before the Bishop, Francis stripped his clothes and gave them to his father, telling him that he no longer had a father on earth and would now only answer to his Father in heaven.

Francis begged stones in the city and restored St Damians. He also restored the chapels of St Peter's and St Mary of the Angels, close to Assisi. He continued his charity work, especially with lepers.  Francis devoted himself to a life of poverty, and began to preach repentance.  Within a year he had eleven followers.  He chose never to be ordained as priest, and they became known as "lesser brothers".

In 1209, Francis led his followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order.  Pope Innocent III granted Francis and his companions leave to preach repentance everywhere. They returned to Assisi, and were given the small chapel of St Mary of the Angels by the Benedictines of Monte Subasio.

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