We opened a special space, within this century, to speak exclusively about this great enlightened one who was a “milestone” in the History of Christianity. To speak of the one who not only preached the teachings of Jesus, but who lived, intensely, His Gospel of love like no one else, Francis of Assisi, or as he is known within the Catholic Church, Saint Francis.

He is the living proof that God never left humanity out in the open, abandoned, and that the boat of planet Earth has always been under the command of Jesus.

We were, then, since the 5th century, in the Age of Darkness (which will extend until the 15th century), as historians call this period. And it was in this window of time that Francis arrived in the world!

Traditions say that Jesus called John the Evangelist to return to the stage of the world to take care of restoring the Message of the Gospel, which was forgotten in the world, because of much turbulence, of a Church that moved away from the primitive ideals, in order to reestablish a Christianity based on contact, on simplicity, on the proposal of love, of fraternity, in the living and in the principles that Jesus had come to teach us.

The most probable is that he would have been born on September 26, 1182. The important thing is that he came and came to continue the message of Jesus.

His mother was called Pica de Bourlemont, a noble woman of French origin. His father was called Pietro di Bernadone, a rich merchant. His mother gave him the name Giovanni (John) di Pietro (name of the father) di Bernardone (family name).

The first very interesting story of his life was when of his birth, as traditions say. His mother was in labor the whole night and he was not born. In the morning, a beggar knocked at the door of the house, and when he was attended by the servant, he then told her to go tell the lady that the boy would not be born in a rich room, that she should go to the stable of the house, because it would be there that the boy would be born.

She went, even against the will of the father, who said he had a name to uphold, and that in the stable his son would not be born. She said to her husband that she had spent the whole night in suffering and that she would go down to the stable.

And it was in a stable that Francis was born, in the middle of animals, of straw, just like Jesus! He is known, according to Catholic tradition, as the Other Christ, for having shaped his life, poverty and spirituality in the image of Jesus, for having lived a life based on that of the Master.

Until then, his name was not Francis. There are three hypotheses for his name to have changed: 1- His father was a rich merchant who sold very expensive fabrics and the best came from France, then, Francesco. 2- The name of his mother, Pica, a French name, to honor the family of the wife. 3- In his adolescence, he liked to go to taverns to drink wine and be with friends who called him Little Frenchman.

For most historians, his name, Francesco, was changed since his birth. Others say it was after his birth. The most probable is that his name was changed because of the fabrics that came from France to his father’s shop. Therefore, his name was changed by his father and became Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone, and not the name that his mother had given him.

His father, being a rich merchant, wanted his son to follow his steps in business, that he would be a great knight and that he would fight in the crusades, in the wars between neighboring cities, common at the time, for the supremacy of commerce or economic power, or even that he would follow the religious life.

History narrates that Francis became fond of military life, he indeed wanted to be a knight. This pleased his father very much. He had a life, until then, like every young person, with the same problems, dreams and aspirations. He frequented taverns, gathered with friends, was no different from the others. He enlisted in the army, but never went to the great crusades, only to local battles between neighboring cities.

We were in the period of feudalism (small kingdoms with their local lords), the cities had their dependencies, each one of them with their laws, their own currencies, as if each city were an isolated country. In this period Italy was all fragmented and the cities entered into war with each other, for various interests. Therefore, Italy was a set of city-states and not a country as it is today.

The first war in which Francis participated was against the city of Perugia, but Assisi was defeated. With this, his life began to change, because he was taken prisoner and historians say that he stayed one hundred days imprisoned in isolation. He was about nineteen years old.

In this period in which he was imprisoned, he began to notice the other people in the cells next to him. Thin people, beaten, going through hunger and cold. He began to analyze the situation in which all were, after having fought for a cause that led them to a depressing situation, without freedom. He then began to re-signify his purposes of life, began to pray. Historians say that when he received bread, he no longer ate, but shared with his cell companions and began to dialogue with them.

After one hundred days, his father paid bail to free him, as it was common at the time for nobles to pay bail for prisoners. He returned to Assisi, but he was no longer the same. His dream of becoming important faded from his mind, he was changed. But not to the point of becoming the Francis of today.

Even so, he enlisted again for a new war, this time against the city of Puglia, in the south of Italy. When he entered the city of Spoleto, still far from his destination, his horse reared and he heard a voice that said: “My son, whom do you want to serve, God or men?”, Francis then got off the horse and returned to Assisi. However, when a son becomes a deserter, he is no longer well received among all, especially by his father, because with such an attitude, he had dishonored the name of the family.

Thus began very great frictions with his father, who was pointed as having a deserter son. He began to be beaten a lot by the father, who gave him very severe punishments, putting him to work in a very hard way, wanting him to change. His mother always by his side, suffered with him.

In this period, Francis entered into a life of prayers, of meditation. He began to go out through the meadows, through the fields of Assisi, talked with the birds and with wolves. There was in the city of Gubbio a fierce wolf that terrified everyone, who wanted to kill it. Francis said not to do it, because he would talk with the wolf and so he did. He understood that the wolf was hungry, for this reason it scared people. Francis began to bring food to the wolf, which stopped terrorizing and became friend of the inhabitants of Gubbio.

With this he began to be seen, besides deserter, also as crazy, because he spoke with animals. Once, a leper approached him and, for the first time (because in the past he did not allow the approach of such a being), he did not push him away with harsh words, but said: “What before seemed disgust to me, now seems sweetness to me. What do you want from me, my brother?”. The leper was surprised: “Your brother?”. Francis answered yes, because they were children of God. He was completely changing.

On another occasion, he entered a church almost in ruins, the church of San Damiano, and praying, he looked fixedly at the crucifix that was there, when he heard the voice that said to him: “My son, rebuild my Church that is in ruins”. It was the renewal of the Church itself, but at first, he understood that it was to materially rebuild that little church in ruins...

He then picked up stones to restore the church, but they were very few and he had no own resources. Historians say that he began to take fabrics from his father’s shop, to sell and buy material for the reconstruction of the church. Whether it was really like that, the fact was that his ideal was noble. After the restoration, he realized that it was not the material church that he should restore but the Moral Church...

The Catholic Church, in this century, was very distorted by the practices of indulgences, of crusades, of the sale of forgiveness, by the Inquisition that was beginning. It was the message of Jesus that needed to be restored, the message of His Gospel. It was an awakening in his life, he would be a messenger of Christ and would preach the Good News wherever he went.

His proposal was a little different from the other mendicant orders that already existed, of the Augustinians, the Gregorians and the Dominicans, because Francis wanted to speak less and do more. This phrase is still attributed to him: “Go, preach the Gospel and if necessary use words”. While he cared for children, the sick and the elderly, he spoke of the Gospel.

His father then made a complaint to the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the time. The bishop was called Guido, and he liked Francis. For this reason, he heard the accused, something that the Church did not do, except to give opportunity for the person to redeem themselves. Then, in the square of Assisi, around the year 1206, an Ecclesiastical tribunal was established, having as prosecutor Giovane Pietro di Bernadone, the father and the victim, the own son, Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone, with twenty-four years of age.

The complaint was that Francis, for his father, was crazy, because he talked with animals, he took his father’s things to sell and restore a ruined church and, because of this, people spoke badly of his family. His father only wanted to recover his son and not that he be judged. The bishop then gave opportunity to Francis to defend himself.

He only said of the love he had for his father and, looking into his eyes, thanked him for everything he had done for him until then. He said more, that he would not be able to return the things he had taken, because he had used them for the reconstruction of the church, because he had confused himself regarding the order received, but what he had at the moment, he would return. Then, he took off all the clothes he was wearing and gave them to his father, said goodbye to everyone and became the Francis we know...

From then on, he would no longer be Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone, he would simply be Francis of Assisi, “The troubadour of God”. From then on, he would sing God as the birds sing. Every day, he would speak of the Gospel. He became a Minstrel of God, as some historians say. It was a very significant turning point in his life. He wanted that they return to the Christianity of when Jesus was still among us.

In the southern region of Assisi there was a small chapel in Santa Maria degli Angeli, at the curve of the Rivo Torto (crooked river), because the river made a curve exactly where the chapel is located. Francis used it to begin there his work of spreading the Gospel, caring for the needy and speaking of Jesus. He gave it the name Porziuncola, which means: small portion. It was very tiny, almost no one fit and very simple. Between the 16th and 17th centuries a huge Basilica was built over Porziuncola, to protect it.

Already to the north of Assisi, later, a sumptuous Cathedral was built, constituted of three Churches, one on top of the other, literally, and that has the name of Cathedral of Saint Francis. “With all respect, it does not approach the Franciscan ideals, because it is much more a construction of the Church”.

In one of these Churches, the underground one, are the remains of Francis and his closest friends. His coffin, very small, is made entirely of stone, because that is how he wanted it, in simplicity. Unfortunately, in this church photos are not allowed, but what is felt inside is indescribable...

Francis of Assisi was not a revolutionary, he did not want to break with the Church, all Franciscan revolution happens in the soul. So much so that he had the idea of going to pope Innocent III to deal with him. Then, living around the surroundings of Santa Maria degli Angeli, other people began to join Francis and to live the Franciscan ideals.

Twelve were his first companions. The first was Bernardo de Quinta Vale. He was a knight like Francis, who abandoned the armor. The four closest and his confidants, who are buried together with Francis, are: Friar Rufino, Friar Angelo, Friar Masseo and Friar Leo.

Francis and his companions went to pope Innocent III, from Assisi to Rome, walking. Remember that this pope was one of the most perverse that the Catholic Church had, because by his hands occurred the Albigensian Crusade, in which thousands of people died, in the south of France. However, he did good things within the Church. But Innocent did not want to receive Francis.

They stayed there, waiting for the pope to change his mind. By intervention of a cardinal, called John of Saint Paul, who ended up convincing the pope to reconsider, saying that perhaps it would be better to receive this young man and his group, because he might be recovering the foundations of the Church.

Innocent slept and had a symbolic dream, with the mother of the Churches, the Church of Lateran (San Giovanni in Laterano), which is dedicated to Saint John and Saint John the Baptist. In this dream, he saw a young man holding the pillar of the Church and this young man was Francis. He woke up frightened and, the next day, sent to call Francis.

Francis answered the pope that he wanted to live like Jesus and recited the Gospel of Matthew, chapter VI verses 25 to 34... The pope told him that he also had this same ideal in his youth, of building the Church without status, without money, without power, in pure simplicity, but it was impossible. At that moment, the cardinal John of Saint Paul made the pope see that, if what Francis wanted was impossible, then, it would be the same as saying that living the Gospel was impossible. The pope then reflected, and ended up allowing Francis to live according to the teachings of Jesus.

They returned to Assisi and began to preach (at that time, to be a preacher, it was necessary the consent of the pope). He established three rules for the conversion of those who became Franciscan: poverty, obedience and chastity.

Later three classes of Franciscans arose: class of the friars minor, whose members did not possess material goods and obeyed chastity; class of the Poor Clares, only of women and; secular class, whose members could be Franciscans, but could also form a family.

Thus, the Franciscan Order grew very rapidly in Europe. The magnetism of Francis was impressive, because he employed so much certainty, so much intensity and authority in what he spoke and did, that made the Franciscan order spread throughout the whole world.

Francis presented a proposal totally contrary to everything that could be imagined. His presence of spirit, his magnanimous character and his enlightened aura were the reason for the success of the order created by him. Today, whoever visits the places where he lived, can still feel his magnetism, his spiritual presence...

It is told that at the end of his life, pope Innocent III had leprosy and was placed in a room apart from all, he no longer gave orders and there was no one to take care of him. Francis went to visit him and seeing him almost completely deformed, took care of him until the end.

Francis met the Offreducci family, and one of the daughters, the young Chiara (Clare), when she heard Francis speak, was enchanted by him. The two lived an intense love, but a love of soul. Clare wanted to follow him, but there was no place for young women in the Franciscan order. With his help, she created the order of the Poor Clares. Her sisters and her mother ended up going to live with her the religious life.

Francis visited Clare whenever possible and they exchanged ideas, spoke of difficulties. They became Brother Sun and Sister Moon.

In 1219, Francis decided to join a crusade, but not to fight and, rather, to speak with the sultan Al-Malik al-Kamil, nephew of the caliph Salah ad-Din. The intention of this crusade was to conquer Egypt, which dominated Palestine and, thus, be able to retake the Holy Land.

Francis told the cardinals his purpose, in which he was advised not to proceed as he intended, because he would end up dying, but he went anyway.

Historians say that when he approached the camp of the sultan, his warriors came with spears to kill him, but Al-Malik came out of his tent and stopped them, because he had dreamed of him, letting him enter.

In the dialogue that happened between the two, Francis said that he had come in the name of peace, to present Jesus to the sultan. “Which Jesus?”, asked the sultan. “The one who kills? The Jesus who transformed Jerusalem into a pool of blood? The Jesus of the knights who set fire and throw salt on the ground so that nothing grows?”

“No!”, said Francis, “I came to present to you the Jesus of the Beatitudes, the Jesus who was transfigured on Tabor, the Jesus who was crucified between two thieves, the Jesus who was the prince of peace”. The sultan stated that this Jesus he did not know and asked to know him.

Then, Al-Malik, in turn, spoke of the prophet Muhammad, of the Quran, of the Suras, and Francis listened. They made a plan for peace, which unfortunately has not been achieved until today, but which was attempted by Francis, in 1219. He had the safe-conduct of the sultan to go wherever he wanted. He then returned and went to speak with the cardinals about the peace plan, but he was not heard...

Francis became so saddened, that he went walking to the Holy Land to know the places where his Master lived. Then, he returned to Assisi. Due, perhaps, to so much desert sand in his eyes, he ended up developing trachoma in both. There was no cure for such infection and what was done was to burn the eyes so that the infection would not reach the rest of the body.

Francis made a poem for the fire that would burn his eyes. “Oh! Brother fire, you who illuminate, bring beauty, brighten places, you need to burn me. I know that I have infection, but when you burn me, burn me gently, so that I do not feel so much pain. Fulfill your role”. He had his eyes burned and remained faithful to Jesus.

Before, however, of losing his eyes, when he was still returning to Assisi, passing through the city of Greccio, in the province of Rieti, Italy, inspired by the visit he had made to the Holy Land and, to remember the birth of Jesus, he created the first nativity scene in the history of Christmas, using real people and animals, in the year 1223. The nativity scene was set up at the top of a hill and was seen by all the local inhabitants. Even today one can visit this place that, without explanation, is impregnated with the magnetism of Francis...

When, finally, he arrived at Assisi, he felt “betrayed”, because the representative of his order, friar Elias, in his absence, replaced an original rule. From then on it would be possible to have money and positions. Francis became extremely saddened...

In 1224, he went up a mountain, in the surroundings of Assisi, Mount Alverna. At its top he prayed to Jesus, because he wanted to know where he had erred, if he had followed each line of the Gospel. And, while he prayed, he received the wounds of Jesus, in a phenomenon called stigmatization, that is, the marks of the nails in the hands and feet.

He heard the answer of Jesus, that he could only do the part that concerned him and that he had no responsibility for what others did. Sister Clare also told him that it would even be pride to want to be responsible for others, but that he should fulfill his part, that it would be enough for him.

Then came for Francis the final hour. On October 3, 1226, he called Clare and friar Leo and asked them to take him to Porziuncola, because it was there that he wanted to die. He asked that they remove his clothes and place him on the ground, because he wanted to return to true life the way it was. And, thus, blind, thin, with stomach problems, because he almost did not feed himself, he died. And when he was departing the birds of Alviano, with which he spoke, came to meet him and began to sing...

The Church considers the day of Saint Francis, October four, 1226 (day in which he was buried), but the correct date is day three. Cardinal Ugolino became pope Gregory IX and made official the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition. In 1228 he canonized Francis as saint, making him Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron of Nature, the patron of Italy.

When Jorge Mario Bergoglio, from Buenos Aires, decided to adopt the name Francis, in a certain way he brought all this magnetism of the Saint to his pontificate. Just as the current pope carries the name Leo XIV, with the magnetism of friar Leo to his pontificate.

FRANCIS OF ASSISI, GUIDE OF HUMANITY!!!