St Francis & the Franciscans

Giotto di Bondone, Stigmatization of St Francis, 1325, Basilique Assise

St Francis' Life
For the blog I have decided to briefly summarize the extracts of ‘Thomas of Celano First And Second Lives of Saint Francis’ given to us in the reader. Thus my blog entry considers the fantastical elements of St. Francis’ life.

^“Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.” Matthew 10:9

Francesco Bernardone was born approximately 1181 into a wealthy merchant family. In his youth he entertained a military career and lived an urban life. He undergoes a drastic transformation were he ultimately rejects this way of living. This conversion begins in 1202, were during a military expedition he is captured by the Perugians for a year, feeling profoundly reshaped from this experience however the pull towards a religious life is reinforced when he visits the church of St. Damian on his return from the war. Here the voice of the Holy Spirit urges Francis to rebuild the damaged Church. This in turn drives him to essentially cut ties with his father after he steals from him to fund the restoration of the St. Damian church.

St. Francis’ devotion to the impoverished life is inspired by Christ and the Apostles, he felt certain that this was his calling. Destitution and piety was the imperative of the Franciscan order, through poverty they could essentially imitate Christ and his apostles. They had no possessions or property and would wonder place to place preaching and begging. The Franciscans were inconstant praise of God; some would suspend themselves with ropes so they would not fall asleep whilst praying or expose themselves to extreme cold for the spiritual experience. They also held the clergy in high respects, for this there order was accepted in 1209 by Pope Innocent III, although Francis and his first twelve followers were initially turned away.

 He’d preach indiscriminately, and was known for his unwavering benevolence, even to the animal kingdom.  His connection with the natural world is that of legend, as his ability to communicate and control with animals often transcends human capability. In these tales Francis preaches to birds or fish who wait for his sermon to finish and will leave only when he gives them permission to do so. He was also famed for being able to miraculously heal, the bread which he would blessed was said to cure sickness. Things he touched was said to have the same quality, people would cut off pieces of his clothing, and at times he was almost stripped naked. 

The Franciscan order founded the tradition of recreating the nativity scene. St. Francis, while staying in the town of Greccio, wanted to witness the memory of Christ on the day of his birth. The manger they created was said to have healing capabilities as the people who visited seemed to regain their health.  This event occurred during the last years of St. Francis’ life, during this time he receives the stigmata. He is visited by a vision of God nailed to a cross with six wings. Afterwards marks appear on his body that replicate the wounds Christ receives during crucifixion. St. Francis was canonized in 1228, two years after his death.

-- Anna

St Francis' beliefs

A link which is interesting to read in order to see how their life style worked: Saint Francis of Assis, The Rule:  (c.1233)

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/stf01007.htm

I think it is very interesting to note, that whilst Francis was devoted to the church, he was still a critic of the monetary style way of life, which showed an individual’s absolute devotion to God. The second reading in our reader; Medieval Civilisation by Kay Slocum, has some very interesting points on this subject. 

Some images of St Francis:

St Francis renouncing his inheritance

--Mia

Urbanisation and St Francis: Le Goff's argument

The article by Le Goff starts by describing the times in which Francis would have grown up. This description involves the rapid increase in population that occurred from the year 1000. This lead to better farming practices and urbanisation. Urbanisation caused the greatest changes to society as material wealth became a strong motivator rather than Christian ideals, thus leading to towns becoming centres of great power rather than Christian authorities.

It was from this that the Church began to change. This was through the Gregorian reform. Le Goff states that the reform “was more than a process of releasing church society from feudal secular domination.” What the reform also did was separate the laity from the clergy and a return to the true apostolic life.

The reform of the Church was also a natural reaction to the changes of society. These are shown in the establishment of new Orders, the development of the canonical movement and the acceptance of ecclesiastical diversity. The new Orders created had a focus on returning to the original Order of Saint Benedict with emphasis on manual labour and a simple life without any forms of monastic wealth. The canonical movement created a new balance between the active and contemplative life. The acceptance of ecclesiastical diversity allowed lay people to become more involved in Christian practices but still allowed for the separation between clergy and laity.

The Church also changed some of its doctrinal formations and religious practices to cater to the new society. In the case of sin, penance became less important than the admission of guilt. This revolution of thought in the Church aided another revolution: the scholastic revolution. New urban schools sprung up either focussing on theology or law. The creation of many new schools allowed for new methods of thinking and practice to become prominent symbolised by the creation of scholasticism.

Yet the Church had some major setbacks. These setbacks were the failure of Crusades, the struggle against heresies and its inability to deal with the new pleasures created by wealth. The Church also failed to properly engage itself within the new urban system and remained rurally focussed.

All this relates to the Franciscan movement. We can see that the failures of the Church lead to the swelling urban population wanting something different. The Franciscan movement can be see as capitalising on this sentiment as well as capitalising on the pre-existing movement towards the simple life of St. Benedict to contrast against the unattractive side of urban life.

--Tom