Saint Francis of Assisi – The Always Joyful Brother

We know more about St. Francis than any other medieval saint. Two years after his death, his disciple Thomas of Celano prepared the biography The Legend of the First and Second, and the Franciscan St. Bonaventura (1221-1274) wrote his biography in the works The Major Legend and The Minor Legend. Some original writings of Francis have also been preserved: The Rule, The Testament, letters, and a few poems. These short, simple, and intimate writings summarize the original Gospel messages given in parables, which Francis faithfully followed, deeply inspired by Christ’s teachings. From this legacy emerges his character, which captivates and inspires with its unique simplicity and cheerfulness of spirit.

Childhood and Youth

Francis of Assisi was born in the Italian town of Assisi in the province of Umbria in 1181 or 1182, into the family of Bernardone, to mother Pica and father Pietro. As his father was a prosperous citizen, a member of the textile traders’ guild, Francis had a carefree childhood, and his early youth was spent

He was in idleness and socializing with friends. Although he helped his father in his business, he showed no interest in trade. Toma Čelanski writes about his youth in the following way: That’s how he was from childhood, nearly all the way until he reached the age of twenty-five. He wasted away and squandered that period of his life. Moreover, he surpassed his peers in the emptiness of his life. (…) Everyone admired him, and he tried to surpass everyone else with the shine of empty fame, pranks, peculiarities, frivolous words and songs. He dressed extravagantly and ostentatiously. He was very wealthy, but not stingy, rather wasteful…

Franjo’s youthful years gave no indication of the golden years that would come later. Enchanted by Provence, he wanted to become a troubadour or a great warrior. He participated in battles between the nobility and the common people in Assisi in 1200 and two years later in the war between Assisi and neighboring Perugia, where he was captured for a year. He fell ill in the local prison, and that’s when the seed of his imminent transformation was sown. formations. It is not known exactly what happened in prison, but Franjo doesn’t come out the same. Returning home sick and weak, everything seemed empty to him. Friends in Assisi welcome him with the same way of life and although he initially joins them in socializing and feasting, he increasingly withdraws into himself and distances himself from society. Inner turmoil leads him to secluded places and abandoned churches where he finds solitude to converse with God.

Although he still can’t figure out what destiny has in store for him, he becomes increasingly aware that a new life is beginning for him. In 1205, he prepares to go to Apulia to fight on the side of Pope Innocent III against Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany, Sicily, and Jerusalem. The night before he was supposed to go to war, he had a dream in which he saw his house filled with military uniforms and weapons. However, as Jacques Le Goff, one of the most important medievalists, will notice, Franjo was not aware that this dream symbolically announced another battle. bu – that spiritual experience. However, sensing it, he returns back to Assisi without reaching Apulia. That year marks the beginning of his conversion, announced by a series of significant dreams, when he increasingly realizes what he must do.

Conversion

Francis’ merchant father did not understand his son’s daydreaming, solitary wanderings, and growing strange affection towards the poor and sick. He also found it difficult to bear the fact that Francis’ behavior had become the subject of ridicule among the townspeople.

He expected his son to inherit the family trade, but without his father’s knowledge, Francis sells fabrics and uses the money to repair the church of St. Damian, after one day, while praying in it, he heard an inner voice saying: Go and repair my house, for as you can see, it is falling apart. This will be the first step towards conversion. Soon he will repair several chapels, including the church of St. Mary of the Angels, located about four kilometers from Assisi, popularly known as the Porziuncola. This church will be a particularly important place for St. Francis and in his spiritual journey. He will always return to it. It is also the gathering place of the first brothers, and in it he will also die.

The next step towards conversion is a fierce argument with his father over spending money on the poor and repairing chapels. Franjo then silently takes off his civilian clothes and thus symbolically renounces all earthly possessions. At the age of twenty-five, covered only in a coarse cloak, he goes outside the city-state among the lepers whom he helps with compassion and love, redeeming himself for the disgust he felt towards them as a young man.

Finally, he will experience his conversion in Porziuncola, when listening to the reading of the Gospel, he hears the words of Christ sending his disciples to preach: Freely you have received, freely give! Do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff…3 Feeling as if those words were directed straight at him, Francis exclaimed joyfully: This is what I want to do with all my heart! He cast off the last remnants of his worldly possessions. In the early years of his life, he abandoned material possessions and dressed himself in a rough wool tunic, fastened with a piece of rope. He renounced everything unnecessary, realizing that only this way could he attain inner freedom or, as fra Chesterton says: He immersed himself in poverty as people dive in search of treasure. He was about twenty-seven years old at the time. He turned his attention to what he considered more important – the acquisition of invisible treasure.

Medieval hagiographies depict his relationship with plants, animals, and all of nature; for him, everything was worthy of respect and admiration, and he considered everything his brothers and sisters because for him, nature, like humans, was God’s work. In his Sermon to the Birds, he says: My dear sisters, the birds, you must praise your Creator and always love Him. He has clothed you with feathers, given you wings to fly, and everything else you need. He recognizes God’s goodness in the “brother Sun,” “brother Moon,” and in all of nature. Toma Čelanski mentions how he walked with respect on the stones, removing insects from his path so as not to harm them. tly affects Franjo’s worldview and motivates him to pursue a life of humility and preaching the message of God’s omnipresence. In his teachings, Franjo emphasizes the importance of taking care of all living beings, as exemplified by his request for his brothers to provide honey and wine for the bees in winter to prevent them from freezing. The Porziuncola in the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels is a significant location for Franjo, where he spreads his message of praising and blessing the Lord with humility. Franjo’s perspective is shaped by the context of his time, which is transitioning from the Middle Ages to the beginnings of the Renaissance. He is aware of the darkness that still lingers from events such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, famines, and the growing materialism of the Church. However, he remains hopeful and focuses on spreading God’s message of love and caring for all creatures. The emergence of reformist-minded religious orders such as the Waldensians, Cistercians, Humiliati, and Carthusians is on the rise. There is an increasing influence of secular individuals and laypeople in areas that were previously reserved exclusively for the clergy, resulting in the establishment of the Dominican and Franciscan orders. However, Francis does not rise against the Church and its doctrines. He acknowledges its authority and does not point fingers at its flaws, but rather bypasses them, much like water, striving to preserve what is pure and good. Furthermore, he is not a social reformer, but through the ideal of poverty combined with faith, he seeks to revive the original teachings of Christ, which lead to perfect joy, as described by his contemporary St. Sava, who rejoices in joy and revels in happiness. Bringing people closer to one another, awakening love, compassion, tolerance, and the spirit of forgiveness – all of this brings people closer to God. Giotto’s artwork “St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata” depicts this idea. Carried away by his lively words and example, people began to gather around him.
When those who wanted to follow his way of life started joining him, the biographies say that he went with them to the church to discern God’s will regarding their common path. Randomly opening the Gospel book on the altar, three times in a row he opened it to the same place where Christ tells his disciples to leave everything and follow him. This will be our rule of life, exclaimed Francis and led his followers to the public square where they distributed all their possessions to the poor.
When their number reached eleven, Francis introduced written rules. The first rule did not reach us in its original form, but it seems that they were short and simple teachings from the Gospel. When these rules were formulated, St. Francis and his companions went to Rome in 1210 for the Pope’s approval, although it was not obligatory at that time. Since then, he only managed to obtain oral approval from the Pope; The approval that imposes on the brothers to listen to Franjo, and Franjo had to promise obedience to the Pope, will only be received in the year 1223.

More and more brothers are joining Franjo, and the Porcijunkula becomes the gathering place of the Franciscan Order. From there, in pairs, they would go to neighboring cities and countries, preaching love and poverty, humility, spreading joy, and calling themselves God’s troubadours. They slept in caves, huts, church courtyards, worked hard in the fields to feed themselves, and when they didn’t work, they prayed. The locals often helped them by providing them with food, although it went against the provisions of the Rule, which states that they must support themselves through work or alms. Franjo and his companions attracted a large number of people with different interests, views, and education in a very short time, so the number of brothers rose to five thousand by 1219! It was then decided that they would go on missions to various places: Germany, France, Spain, Hungary, England, and other countries. e.

Three Orders

The first order6 arose spontaneously when an unknown man joined him during a sermon in Assisi – later he would be named the Order of Lesser Brothers. Francis called them “little ones” so they wouldn’t forget that they should serve others in their community, the sick and the needy. He wanted the Order to be of a fraternal-lay type, rather than monastic-ecclesiastical, because the church orders were economically provided for,they had possessions and a roof over their heads, while the Franciscans renounced that and worked or begged for a meal. He strongly opposed the possession of money and material goods.He used to say we would need weapons and laws to defend what we owned. He was extremely rigorous with regard to bodily needs, often fasting and abstaining from water, hot food, bread, and clothing.

The second order is the Poor Clares, a women’s order led by St. Clare, Francis’ friend from youth who joined him in seclusion in 1211. He assigned her the Church of St. Damian as her place of action, which he himself had rebuilt with his own hands. T Girls and women who followed Francis’ teachings were gathering around Clare and her sister Agnes. The Third Order is the secular order and consists of those who can have a family but follow the rules adapted for them, inspired by the ideals of St. Francis. It was established in 1221. Among the well-known names, Dante Alighieri, Raymond Lull, Roger Bacon, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and others belonged to this order. To expand the Order, Francis withdrew into seclusion to write a new rule. Among other things, he believed that academic knowledge brings honor and power, and honor and power make us weak in the face of temptations. According to him, there are three evils: empty scholarship, power, and wealth, and Francis demanded work and prayer instead. This rule, which he later revised, emphasizes three requirements – mercy, poverty, and chastity, as well as the requirement to follow the example of Christ. Special emphasis is placed on poverty. This rule still applies to the Franciscan Friars Minor today. Disagreements within the Order were becoming more and more frequent. Difficult times awaited Franjo: he was exhausted by a digestive system illness and an eye disease, and during the forty-day fast in the hermitage on Mount La Verna in 1224, he received the stigmata on his side, hands, and feet. He struggled more and more with the wounds he hid from the brothers themselves, so he withdrew from the world. He became almost blind and suffered from terrible headaches. He tried to heal his “donkey brother,” as he called his body, in several places in Italy, but without success. Holy Klara took care of him first, and then his fellow friars. During his illness, he composed the Song to Brother Sun.

Sensing that his death was near, he asked the brothers to take him to the Porziuncola. There, he dictated his Will, in which he reiterated the Franciscan principles that the brothers should follow: mercy, poverty, and work. When he felt the end approaching, he asked to be laid on the ground in front of the little church of Saint Mary of the Angels, where in 1226 he handed his soul over to the heavenly Father in the forty-fifth or forty-sixth year of his life. At the age of forty-six, he was declared a saint two years later.

Always cheerful brother

What was this saint really like, about whom Nikolai Berdyaev wrote that he was “the most important figure in Christian history”? He was “always cheerful brother,” he rebuked gloominess, considered sadness inappropriate, loved to laugh, joke, sing…

St. Clare

Prayer of St. Francis for peace

He said that the virtue of one surpasses the multitude of imperfections and that only one ray of light suppresses the greatest darkness. He taught the brothers to think, speak and act well; he considered not doing any good deeds to be a great sin. He acted with words. He reminded them to respect others’ opinions, not to judge those who live differently, and emphasized that a person knows as much as they do. He was an example of simplicity, modesty, and nobility. In everything created, no matter how insignificant it seemed, he found God’s dwelling place, and recognized it by the beautiful, true, and good that we all possess deep within us. The poor and rejected held a special place in his heart. Humility was the crown of his virtues, as well as obedience to that quiet inner voice of his own conscience. He returned to the original teachings of Christianity, unburdened by interpretations and distortions that had arisen over time. He offered everyone to drink from that source, because the closer a person is to the source, the purer the water they drink.