Saint Francis

I've been reading a book on Saint Francis of Assisi. I really think its good to learn about the saints. To be honest, I have a really hard time reading most of the Old Testament, because of the way its written. I also have a hard time reading some of the letters of Paul. I really do well reading the Gospels and that helps a lot. I also do well reading historical books or kind of scholarly books on the Bible. So I'm going to try and do that, while also trying to keep reading all three sections of the Bible.

Anyway, here's a little about Saint Francis. I expect to write more as I plow through the book.


Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals, birds and the environment. He is also the basis for the Franciscan Order, which is one of the main orders of friars in the Catholic faith. Saint Francis was from Italy, and was the son of a prominent merchant and business man. Francis didn't begin life very "saintly". He was the son of a merchant and spent money extravagantly on his friends. He was also a singer and dancer and performed at festivals. He even fought in a war between his city, Assisi, and a rival city, Perugia.

Before Saint Francis went to war, he was a happy go lucky youth. During the war, he was taken prisoner, and his innocence, to an extent, was shattered. However, during his imprisonment, he began to turn his attitude around. He felt that even though he was stuck in prison (a medieval prison being much more horrible than the disturbing conditions we have in American prison's today), he said that "his spirit was free." The other prisoners assumed he had gone insane.

Saint Francis would be released from prison, but would not go back to his previous life as an extravagant merchant's son. Instead, he took a vow of poverty and took care of the most persecuted and least loved people in Assisi, including lepers. Saint Francis inspired others and preached against love of money and against the different feudal divisions that were dividing his land.

In the next post, I'm going to write about what I've learned and taken away from Saint Francis' story so far.