If you’ve read literally any of my other posts, I’m sure you’ve seen me refer to St. Francis of Assisi. He is definitely my favorite Christian mystic and saint, and I quote him quite often, especially in my spiritual practices. His life and teachings have been hugely influential to me, I created an entire system of mysticism based around them, which you can learn more about here. So I’m very excited for this post which will be a brief biography followed by a discussion of the major themes of his teachings highlighted by quotations from Francis himself.
(🎥If you prefer watching video content, watch here: St. Francis of Assisi: His Life and Teachings)
There are a million books written on St. Francis but for anyone looking for a good entry point to learn about him and his teachings, I highly recommend the book by Jon M. Sweeney called St. Francis of Assisi: His Life, Teachings, and Practice. It’s short and contains a brief biography, stories about his life, and original English translations of everything ever written by Francis himself. Which is, admittedly, not all that much. But it’s not the number of words he wrote that matters, it’s the profundity. You see Francis was more concerned with actions than words and he disliked books and the monastic book-centered culture of his time. He could see how, in some people, obsession with books eclipsed passion for God and service. Nevertheless, there is enough to get a good sense of how he thought and how he saw the world. And I believe that if more of us saw the world as Francis did, it would be a much better world for all of us.
There is a very good reason that I focus so heavily on St. Francis. He is one of the key figures from Christian history who drew me back to Christianity. His version of Christianity was radical for his time. But it’s even more radical today. And that’s exactly what we need. We need a radical departure from the status quo. Not only is Christianity dying out, but humanity itself is facing imminent existential crises. We need a new worldview, a new myth, and a new way of living.
Luckily we have St. Francis to guide us. Overconsumption, disrespect for Nature, and the dehumanization of people who aren’t part of our tribe are the source of most, if not all, of our current crises. So detachment from materialism, harmony with Nature, and universal brotherhood are all desperately needed right now. And these are all things he both lived and taught.
Francis saw the universe and our beautiful planet, along with all of its plant and animal inhabitants, as a grand song of praise to God. The elements, the plants and animals, the stars, the Sun, and the Moon were his sisters and brothers.
How many of us can say that today?
Not many.
But through recitation and contemplation of his words, we can begin to see the universe around us in this way as well. When we see the world this way it is no longer a place of suffering, a trap, a prison, or something to be endured—no, it becomes a place for learning, playing, loving, flourishing, and growing. When we see the plants and animals as our brothers and sisters it becomes much more difficult to exploit them. And when we see all humans as worthy of love and respect it becomes much more difficult to dehumanize them.
When we attune ourselves to hear the music of the spheres we can take our rightful place in the grand symphony of praise that is our universe. Because we all have a unique and beautiful part to play in the cosmic symphony. But we must begin to see ourselves as an important and beautiful part of the world to feel the cosmic rhythm and take our rightful place. We have to transcend the egocentric perspective of separation. While real and a necessary step in the evolution of consciousness, it is not the end. Our current obsession with separation is precisely what has generated the existential crises we face today. We must pass through the stage of individuation and separation, and come back to unity, to shared values, to a shared story. And Francis is the perfect person to guide us.
His Life
So who was St. Francis?
The man we know as St. Francis of Assisi was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but his father called him Francesco, or “Francis”. And, of course, he was born in the town of Assisi around the year 1181 and he died in 1226 when he was just forty-five. In that short time, he started a revolution that continues to this day and founded one of the most important and respected Christian religious orders. He was even designated the patron saint of Italy.
His father was a successful silk merchant and his mother was a noblewoman, so he enjoyed an easy and lavish life as a child and young man. He liked bright colorful clothing, had rich friends, and indulged in all the worldly pleasures of the time. But in 1202 he joined the military and was taken captive for a year. During this time he suffered an illness which caused him to start to reexamine his life.
After he returned home he set off for war again in 1205 but almost immediately returned home. He seems to have had a mystical experience at this time which caused him to return home and lose interest in worldly pleasures. According to legend, it was around this time that a friend asked if he was interested in getting married, to which he replied, “Yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen.” By which he meant Lady Poverty.
The seeds of his revolution had been planted but he was still living at home and under the direction of his father, although not for long. Within a year Francis would renounce his father and his patrimony in dramatic fashion. Francis longed for spiritual enlightenment and he went looking for it. That was when he had another mystical vision while in the rundown country chapel of San Damiano in which Jesus told him to rebuild the church. He took this to mean the actual physical building he was in and set about trying to rebuild it and there was no turning back. He did rebuild that church as well as a few others and it would end up being the home of his closest female friend and disciple, Clare.
San Damiano Church today.
However, his father had other plans for Francis and was so upset with him selling his possessions and giving everything to the poor that he locked Francis in a room in the house until his mother eventually freed him. Shortly afterward, Francis’s father would drag him before the bishop and the town and demand repayment for all the money Francis had squandered by giving to the poor. In response, Francis stripped himself naked in front of his father, the townspeople, and the bishop and left everything behind. He turned away from his earthly father to embrace what his heavenly Father wanted of him. And for the rest of his life, he wore only a simple tunic and lived a life of radical poverty.
This story resonates deeply with most young men, including myself, as there comes a time in every young man’s life when he must step out from under his father’s shadow and embrace his unique path in life and it is vital to have a specific moment which makes a deep impression upon his mind to mark that transition. This was/is the purpose of rite of passage ceremonies, but in Western culture, with our lack of such ceremonies, young men often find the transition more difficult to navigate and we end up clashing, sometimes in dramatic fashion, with our fathers. And this highly emotional event becomes our own sort of rite of passage. That was certainly true for my own life, as I packed up my belongings and left everyone and everything I ever knew, and left not only my home town, but my state, and headed to the mountains of Colorado when I was nineteen.
This event put Francis on his revolutionary path and it wasn’t long before others were so moved by his example that they too left everything behind to follow him and live a life of pious poverty. In 1208 he was joined by his first two followers, Bernard and Peter, but they were unsure of how to proceed. So they made use of a Christian form of divination called sortes apostolicae. They went to the church of St. Nicholas in Assisi early in the morning and prayed, and then Francis opened the Bible at random three times to consult the will of God about how they should live. And all three verses affirmed his vision for a life of poverty. They were:
Matthew 19:21 “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor.”
Luke 9:3 “Take nothing for your journey.”
Matthew 16:24 “He who wishes to come after me, must deny himself.”
Francis himself refers to this event in the testament he dictated towards the end of his life:
“And afterward the Lord gave me brethren. No one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High himself revealed to me that I ought to live according to the form of the Holy Gospel.”
Within a year he had gained eleven followers so he wrote a simple rule for their way of life and they headed to Rome to gain the official approval of the Pope for their new religious order and way of life. Meanwhile, the Pope had a dream in which he saw the Lateran Basilica, which was the symbol of the Church as a whole, start crumbling and falling down until a small man in a simple tunic with a cord tied around his waist came and held it up. When Francis arrived, the Pope recognized him as the man in his dream and officially endorsed Francis and his way of life.
This way of life was seen as impractical and even unsafe by many, nevertheless, it was approved and the friar’s way of living would revolutionize what it meant to live a life of religious devotion. While no copies have been found of the original rule as presented to the Pope, the friars would come together and create what is known as “The Rule of Life of 1223” which guides the lives of Franciscans to this day.
The guiding principles for this rule of life are obedience, poverty, and chastity. This may be a surprise to some people today as Francis is often wrongly portrayed as some sort of happy-go-lucky hippie mystic, or birdbath saint. While it’s true that he loved plants and animals and treated them with kindness and compassion, as he did human beings, that was only one side of Francis. He also deeply respected the authority of the church and held his followers accountable for following the rules and being obedient to the Pope. And would punish them when they did break the rules, sometimes so severely he would then come back and apologize and ask them to punish him in return.
Anyways, with papal approval, the Franciscan order, then known as the Friars Minor, was officially founded and it quickly began to grow. Shortly afterward, Clare of Assisi, who would become Francis’s closest female disciple and friend would come to join the brothers and they would found the Order of the Poor Clares who would take up residence at San Damiano where Francis had his vision to rebuild the church. Clare would go on to become a great mystic and saint and eventually became the first woman to write a monastic rule of life for her order. (Clare’s own life and teachings will be the subject of a later post, but check out this spiritual practice inspired by her that I call The Clare Method.)
Icon of St. Clare of Assisi
Francis would go on to found a third religious order for those who did not wish to withdraw from the world and take religious vows but who wished to live the Franciscan way of life. This third order would quickly expand beyond Italy and Francis himself was determined to change the world and began to travel and preach the gospel. In 1219, during the Fifth Crusade, Francis traveled to Egypt to meet with the sultan and preach the gospel to the Muslims. Something no one else would have even considered at the time. Francis sought peace and reconciliation when every other Christian was after blood. It seems he thought he could persuade the sultan to change his ways which obviously didn’t happen. But according to legend, he was greeted graciously and seems to have made an impression as he was allowed to leave and return to Italy. And Franciscans have had a presence in the Holy Land ever since. They were entrusted by Muslims, Jews, and Christians to safeguard the holiest places in Jerusalem which they still do today. I met a few Franciscan friars caring for an ancient Christian basilica when I was there in 2022.
This Franciscan church in Galilee celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2019. I took this picture on a pilgrimage in 2022.
This was one of many mythic events in the life of Francis. There are countless tales of him communicating with animals and he famously identified so deeply with Jesus Christ that he bore the stigmata, or the wounds of the crucified Jesus. He was so charismatic and his simple way of life so enticing that his order grew in unprecedented fashion and even today the Franciscans are the most numerous religious order in the world.
Francis lived a relatively short life and during his later years, he would dictate his testament and his Canticle of the Sun, which is believed to be the first work of literature written in the Italian language. At the time all religious literature was written in Latin, which only priests and nobility could read, but Francis was a man of the people. He was also the first person to celebrate Christmas by setting up a nativity scene in which he used real animals and a straw-filled feeding trough. Francis wanted to make the gospel real and embodied for people by engaging their senses and speaking to them in their language. He emphasized living the gospel rather than simply preaching it.
He was a truly unique, beautiful, and impactful human being. But, ultimately, Francis died on October 3rd, 1226 while singing Psalm 142:
“I cry aloud to the Lord;
I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out before him my complaint;
before him, I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me,
it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk
people have hidden a snare for me.
Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life.
I cry to you, Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
Listen to my cry,
for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me,
for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of your goodness to me.”
Within two years he was declared a saint by Pope Gregory the 9th and the Basilica of St. Francis was commissioned in Assisi where he was buried and where his remains can be found to this day.
The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy.
But that is just a brief overview of his biography. To get to know Francis we need to look at some of his writing and some of the stories of his life.
His Teachings
Francis didn’t write much. He disliked books and chose to keep his writing as simple as possible. He was a poet and poets at the time weren’t known for writing but singing. And Francis and his followers sang often. They would walk everywhere they went and sing along the way. And sometimes one of his followers would write down what he sang.
And I think it’s important to note that some of what’s been attributed to Francis is not always accurate. For example, one of the most common quotations of St. Francis you’ll find is one he never actually said—or at least, he didn’t say it as it is quoted: “Preach the Gospel at all times, only occasionally, use words.”
While that may be an accurate summary of his philosophy, what he did say was:
“God has called us with so much mercy, not only for our souls, but for others’. So we should be out in the world encouraging people, always more by deeds than by words. Show them how you do penance for your sins and how you live the commandments.”
However, he did leave behind a few letters, prayers, rules of life, and poems, all of which I quote and refer to often. His earliest recorded writing is a prayer from 1206 which he is said to have prayed while kneeling in front of an icon of Christ that still hangs in Assisi today:
“Highest of all,
Most beautiful One,
Please enlighten my heart, even in the shadows,
Where I try to hide.
Please show me the right and true way
To follow you,
With confidence and hope,
With love and a feeling of understanding of
You and your presence in my life.
Only then, will I be able to do
Your holy will and follow
Your true commandments.
Amen.”
A simple and beautiful prayer, and a great example of Francis’s style. It was after this prayer that he heard God’s call to rebuild the church. It seems his prayer was answered.
Much of what he wrote is rules for his brothers to guide them in the spiritual life they had chosen. When people feel called to a life of spiritual devotion there is often a tension between wanting to go away into solitude and withdraw from the world and needing to be in the world to serve. Francis was well aware of this tension as he dealt with it himself. This is why he created his rules for those who desire to live alone. Here are a few quotes from that to give you an idea of his spiritual genius:
“Each brother may have his own room to pray in solitude, and to sleep. But he must not always be alone.
In each situation, two of the four brothers should be as “mother” to the other two. The other two, then, should be as “sons.” The two who are being as mothers for their sons should follow the life of Martha, from holy scripture, and the sons who relate to their mothers, should follow the life of Mary….
And those brothers who are as mothers to their children should always be seeking to protect their sons from all harm. This includes unnecessary talking–don’t do it.
Finally, those who are like a spiritual son should, from time to time, take on the role of the spiritual mother. Brothers living in these situations of holy quiet can learn to take turns in these roles by agreement among themselves.”
Francis wanted his friars to be different from the monks who had preceded them. Before Francis vowed religious life was about being locked away from the world in cloisters. But he knew that real spiritual life, the kind that can change the world, required you to be in the world, not separated from it.
This is especially apparent in the way he spoke about lepers and his experiences serving them. He had been challenged and transformed by interacting with these people who were considered outcasts. People whom he never would have come into contact with if he was shut away in a monastery. In the opening to his testament, he states:
“I am Brother Francis. God showed me the ways of sin beginning with the sight of lepers and how uncomfortable it made me. But then God led me among them, and I began to learn to have compassion for them, and I began to help with their troubles. Before long, what had made me so uncomfortable became instead something sweet to my soul, even to my body.”
He also had a profound respect for the Eucharist and the priests who perform this sacred Christian rite and this is apparent in his writing. Which is, again, very different than most Christians today. In one letter he wrote:
“Visit churches and care for them. Show respect to the clergy, not just because they are clergy, but because they are so close to the Body and Blood of Jesus. Remember always that no one can be saved without that Body and Blood.”
And again he mentions it in what is known as his Testament which was most likely dictated by him on his deathbed. He states:
“Then God gave me a faith in priests, those of the Roman Church, so that I would never cease to follow their advice. Anywhere in the world, I would only preach if the local priest invited me to do so. To them I give all my respect and honor. I cannot even imagine sin in these men, because I see the Son of God among them so often. I am only able to see the Son of God clearly, in this corporeal world, in his holy Body and Blood, which only priests may administer. This is the one holy mystery to be honored above all others. It should be carefully kept and protected.”
Powerful words about a sacrament that has become nothing but a symbolic reenactment of a historic event to most Christians today. Sadly, I don’t know any Christians who “see the Son of God” during the eucharist today and I think things would be very different if they did.
So we can see from these selections that Francis was a charismatic, dynamic, and radical human being beyond the “bird bath saint” as some have called him. But I want to return to the three qualities of Francis I mentioned at the beginning and which I think we ought to aspire to cultivate: detachment from materialism, harmony with Nature, and universal brotherhood.
Detachment from Materialism
Francis was serious about his vow of poverty. He was nicknamed il poverello or the little poor one. He knew all about the dangers of materialism. His father was a wealthy merchant after all. And he took Jesus’s command to sell everything and give it to the poor literally. Something very few people have ever done. He could see that material success most often leads people away from God and towards egocentrism. He was keenly aware of the corrupting nature of money and possessions. The Franciscan rule of life is adamant that no money or possessions be kept.
“No brother is ever permitted to receive coins of money, either for themselves or for someone else.”
“As payment for work, brothers may receive what is needed for their bodily needs, and those of their fellow brothers, but again, never coin or money. Work humbly. Remember your poverty.”
“Nothing, no stuff, not a house, no place of residence, nothing at all is to be considered your own. You are pilgrims and strangers in this world. You serve the Lord with humility, in poverty.”
Now we don’t need to take a vow of poverty to learn from his example. But we do need to learn to detach ourselves from our possessions and from our obsession with the pursuit of material goods. After all, it’s relationships that give us meaning and purpose, not possessions. And it is precisely our insatiable desire for stuff that is leading us towards disaster.
Harmony with Nature
This brings me to the second quality of living in harmony with Nature. Stories abound of Francis preaching to the birds or talking to the trees about God. These tend to be the most popular stories about Francis and are widely known.
For instance, one day a local fisherman took Francis out in his boat, caught a big fish and presented it to him as a gift. Francis just kissed it and let it back into the water.
In another story he called out to an almond tree, “Brother Almond, tell me about God!” and the almond tree opened its blossoms.
He also required that any garden the friars planted include a strip at one end for flowers. Something most people saw as useless at the time.
And then there is his great poem the Canticle of the Sun in which he states that God is glorified through Brother Sun, Sister Moon and the stars, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire, and Mother Earth.
He sings:
You are glorified by our Mother Earth.
Through her, you sustain and keep us.
Every plant and fruit and flower and color of
yours enters our lives by Mother Earth.
Francis saw God in every creation, even the stones. And it is very difficult to disrespect and destroy the natural world when you see the stones, plants, animals, and the Earth itself as your brothers and sisters and mother. This was at a time when animals were seen as either tools to be used for work or terrifying monsters to be feared.
Universal Brotherhood
And, finally, universal brotherhood. Francis didn’t get caught up in tribalism. Remember how he went to meet with the sultan when every other Christian simply wanted to kill him? Francis loved all humans, even criminals and lepers and he codified this in the rule as well:
“Wherever you are, and go, meet each other as if you are members of one family. Share your needs with one another. Just as a mother loves a son in the flesh, you should love each other in the spirit.”
“Brother Francis counsels and advises his brothers in Jesus Christ, that when they are out in the world they should not argue or judge others. They should be meek and peaceful, gentle and humble. They should speak courteously.”
He was insistent that we not judge others or wish them harm, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. In one letter he states:
“You should love anyone who harms or bothers you. You shouldn’t be wishing them harm, or even for them to go away. Only God’s will be done. In fact, you shouldn’t even wish for them to be better Christians, as if that is your judgment to make. It is not.
This is a time for you to go deeply into your private room and pray. If you have done that, then you would see, with God’s help, that there is no one in the world who has sinned, or could sin, in such a way as to not merit your forgiveness. And even if he hasn’t asked for your forgiveness, you should be asking him if he would like to have it from you.”
Wow. What a challenge. This is why I love coming back to his teachings over and over again. They are so radical and deeply challenging.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this post about St. Francis of Assisi, and if you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to pick up one of the books listed in the sources below. But I want to leave you with one last story about Brother Francis and his good friend Brother Leo that I believe perfectly encapsulates his way of living:
“Francis and Leo were walking from Assisi to a nearby town. Leo was tired. Perhaps they’d been walking a long time. Francis was upbeat and feeling good. Then it began to rain steadily. Leo started to grumble. There was no place for cover, and Francis seemed unperturbed. Then Francis said to Leo, “Do you know what perfect joy is, Leo?” “Not really,” Leo said, unhappily, and in a way designed to discourage further conversation. They walked on a bit farther as Leo picked up his pace, walking in front of his friend, anxious to get to wherever they were going as quickly as possible. Several minutes go by, and Francis says, this time shouting up ahead to Leo, “Leo, what is joy?” This time, Leo doesn’t even respond but lets out a sort of growl. Enough of this, he thinks to himself. I’m not interested in a lesson right now. Again, minutes go by, the rain is falling even harder, and Francis repeats the question again. Leo spins around and yells back, “I don’t know! What is perfect joy?!” Francis replies, “If, when we arrive, we’re wet down to the bones, and shivering from cold, hungry as can be, and we knock on the door to signal our arrival, and a friar opens it but doesn’t recognize us, and slams it shut in our faces, fearful that we’ve come to rob him, and we’re left standing in this rain even longer, and then perhaps we knock again and someone else opens the door and hits us with sticks, yelling at us like strangers or robbers, if we remain patient and humble and loving, even then, through all of that, well, that, Leo, reveals the source of perfect joy.”
Alright, well, I’ll leave you with that. And thank you so much for visiting my blog and supporting my work.
If you would like to support me by joining my Patreon or sending a one-time donation, those links can be found in the sidebar. Or pick up a copy of my latest book Luna: How to Harness the Power of the Lunar Phases for more practices and ceremonies inspired by St. Francis!
Thanks for reading.
Love,
Justin
❤️🙏☀️
References:
1) Sweeney, Jon M. St. Francis of Assisi: His Life, Teachings, and Practice. St. Martin’s Essentials, 2019.
2) McGinn, Bernard. The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism (1200-1350). The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2013.
3) Rohr, Richard. Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi. United Kingdom, Franciscan Media, 2020.