Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan Tradition

Introduction: Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan Tradition

Whether we speak of the Franciscan tradition, the Franciscan movement, Franciscanism, or Franciscan values, in each case we are using the name of the person who stands at the beginning of this tradition - St. Francis of Assisi. Who was he?

Francis of Assisi is the best known of all Christian saints after the Apostles. He was born in 1181 in Assisi in central Italy, the son of Pietro di Bernadone, a wealthy cloth merchant and his French wife, Pica. Francis was a leader of the revels of the youth of Assisi and though not a noble, longed to become a knight. When Assisi and the neighboring city of Perugia went to war in 1202 he became a soldier, was captured and imprisoned for almost a year. After a serious illness, he tried to join papal forces fighting against Frederick 11, but turned back because of a dream. By this time he was turning inwardly towards a different kind of "knighthood," the service of Lady Poverty. He spent much time in prayer and at the church of San Damiano heard a voice speak to him from the cross, "Go Francis, and repair my house, which you can see is in ruins." He was also changed by an encounter with a leper after he not only gave money to the man, but kissed him. He angered his father by selling cloth from the family business to pay for rebuilding of the church, and in 1206 renounced family ties and all possessions completely to lead the life of Jesus and his disciples as described in the Gospels. He began preaching repentance and conversion of life, rebuilding churches around Assisi, and caring for the poor and the sick, living on whatever people gave him.

By early in 1208 others had joined him, thus beginning the Franciscan order of brothers or Friars Minor, the First Order. In 1209 Pope Innocent HI, after some hesitation, gave verbal approval to the first or "primitive' Rule for the brothers which Francis had written. This Rule has been lost. In 1212 Clare Offreduccio, a young woman of noble family, was ordained as a nun and became head of the Second Order, that of sisters, called the Poor Clares. The Franciscan movement spread rapidly, and in time the Third Order, of householders called 'tertiaries," was also founded. In 1219 Francis fulfilled a long-held wish to preach among the Muslims when he traveled to Damietta in Egypt during the Fifth Crusade and met with the Sultan, Malik-al- Kamil. The Order was expanding to include thousands of friars and nuns not only in Italy but also in other countries, in many houses or communities. This made necessary a more elaborate Rule and an administration which did not depend directly on Francis, who could no longer deal personally with each of his many followers. The definitive Rule co-written by Francis with scholars and legal experts was approved by Pope Honorius III in 1223, superseding a version done in 1221. The requirement of absolute poverty cherished by Francis- permitting no possessions by friars or nuns, either individually or collectively, was already an issue of dispute.

Francis had committed himself totally to the