St. Francis of Assisi, the history of the patron saint of Italy

St. Francis of Assisi, the history of the patron saint of Italy

St. Francis of Assisi, the history of the patron saint of Italy

St. Francis of Assisi, the history of the patron saint of Italy


The history of Italy has always been linked to that of Christianity, being its official religion, and the land where the greatest protagonists of Catholicism performed their memorable deeds.
Indeed, statistics remind us how almost ninety-eight percent of the Italian population is baptized, and almost ninety percent declare themselves believers.
If this result has been arrived at, it is because the belpaese is famously a country of saints and poets, and for both categories one of the most beloved figures is St. Francis in Umbria, from Assisi, who enjoys considerable importance and relevance having intertwined his fortunes with those of the Patron Saint of Italy

The life of St. Francis of Assisi in Umbria.

The story of the people's most beloved saint began in the year 1182, in one of the wealthy families of the city of Assisi that was strongly expanding at the time; his parents were Pietro Bernardone de Moriconi, a prominent cloth merchant, and the Provençal-born noblewoman Pica Bourlemont.
He had a happy and carefree adolescence, in which he showed early on a penchant for writing, and an outgoing and jovial nature.
Things changed totally in 1202, when after a bloody revolt of the people against the city's nobles Francis was imprisoned in Perugia and forced to stay a year in jail.
He was released through the payment of a ransom, but on returning to his family he was no longer the cheerful person he had once been; ill and suffering he became much more reflective and introspective, and with less and less attraction to bourgeois life.

Thus it was that in 1205 St. Francis gave up his career in the cavalry in the service of the Pope and heard for the first time the voice of the Lord urging him to repair the dilapidated church of San Damiano; the saint performed using even his father's money, and this created an irremediable contrast between him and his family.
This led to the famous restitution of property, in which St. Francis publicly shed his wealth and comforts in the public square to embrace an ascetic life dominated by love for the Lord, and for all creation.

He left Assisi, and headed to Gubbio where he tamed a ferocious wolf simply by speaking to it, his first miracle. His figure immediately drew proselytes, a total of twelve disciples, and at the Tugurio of Rivotorto in 1209 the Franciscan order, characterized by total poverty, was officially born.
In 1219 St. Francis traveled to Palestrina, Egypt, and Morocco, and went as far as Spain when he was later forced back by his health.
He later wrote the rules of the Order, organized the first nativity in history, received the miracle of the stigmata at Mount Verna, and composed the Canticle of the Creatures. Francis died in October 1226, aged only forty-four due to illness, and was elected saint in 1228 by Pope Gregory IX.

The works and thought of St. Francis of Assisi
The thoughts and beliefs of St. Francis of Assisi are based on the renunciation of material goods, devotion to the Lord, and embracing poverty and all living things on earth.
These themes are well present in the Saint's written works, among which one can recall the writings in Latin, the Opuscolae, and the praises written in the vernacular, the Laudes creaturarum.
St. Francis is considered the protagonist of a vital spiritual renewal, and his devotion in particular to Jesus is made glaringly obvious by the importance the Saint of Assisi gave to the teachings of the Gospel, which he always sought to spread by living as a figure and mirror of the figure of Christ on earth.

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