Son of Pietro Bernadone, a rich cloth\u00a0merchant. Though he had a good\u00a0education\u00a0and became part of his\u00a0father\u2018s\u00a0business, he also had a somewhat\u00a0misspent\u00a0youth. Street brawler and some-time\u00a0soldier.\u00a0Captured\u00a0during a conflict between\u00a0Assisi\u00a0and\u00a0Perugia,\u00a0Italy, he spent over a year as a\u00a0prisoner of war. During this time he had a\u00a0conversion\u00a0experience, including a reported message from Christ calling him to leave this worldly life. Upon release, Francis began taking his\u00a0faith\u00a0seriously.<\/p>\n
He took the\u00a0Gospels\u00a0as the rule of his life, Jesus Christ as his literal example. He dressed in rough clothes,\u00a0begged\u00a0for his sustenance, and\u00a0preached\u00a0purity\u00a0and\u00a0peace. His family disapproved, and his\u00a0father disinherited him; Francis formally renounced his wealth and inheritance. He visited\u00a0hospitals, served the\u00a0sick,\u00a0preached\u00a0in the streets, and took all men and\u00a0women\u00a0as siblings. He began to attract followers in\u00a01209, and with\u00a0papal\u00a0blessing, founded the\u00a0Franciscans\u00a0based on a simple statement by Jesus:\u00a0\u201cLeave all and follow me.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0In\u00a01212\u00a0Clare\u00a0of\u00a0Assisi\u00a0became his spiritual student, which led to the founding of the\u00a0Poor Clares<\/em>. Visited and\u00a0preached\u00a0to the\u00a0Saracens.\u00a0Composed\u00a0songs\u00a0and\u00a0hymns\u00a0to\u00a0God\u00a0and\u00a0nature. Lived with\u00a0animals, worked with his hands, cared for\u00a0lepers,\u00a0cleaned\u00a0churches, and sent food to\u00a0thieves. In\u00a01221\u00a0he resigned direction of the\u00a0Franciscans.<\/p>\n While in meditation on Mount Alvernia in the Apennines in September\u00a01224, Francis received the\u00a0stigmata, which periodically bled during the remaining two years of his life. This\u00a0miracle\u00a0has a separate memorial on\u00a017 September.<\/p>\n In the\u00a0Middle Ages\u00a0people who believed to be possessed by\u00a0Beelzebub\u00a0especially called upon the intercession of\u00a0Saint\u00a0Francis, the theory being that he was the\u00a0demon\u2018s opposite number in heaven.<\/p>\n He was born in 1181 at Assisi, Umbria, Italy as Francis Bernardone and died on 4 October 1226 at Portiuncula, Italy of natural causes.\u00a0 His relics are in Assisi, Italy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Readings<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus is happy to come with us, as truth is happy to be spoken, as life to be lived, as light to be lit, as love is to be loved, as joy to be given, as peace to be spread.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Saint\u00a0Francis of Assisi<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Praised be my Lord and God, with all His creatures, and especially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and brings us the light; fair is he, and he shines with great splendor. O Lord, he is a sign to us of you! Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for this stars, set clear and lovely in the heaven.\u00a0\u2013 Saint Francis<\/em><\/p>\n (catholicsaints.info)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Son of Pietro Bernadone, a rich cloth\u00a0merchant. Though he had a good\u00a0education\u00a0and became part of his\u00a0father\u2018s\u00a0business, he also had a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feasts-saints"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwc-tt.com\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}