The Initial Years

1.1. Let us start with a few words regarding the birthplace of Francis and Clare: Assisi. In the
Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri describes Assisi as the Orient, the place where the sun rises
(Canto XI Paradiso, 52-54). In fact, he compares Francis to the rising sun. It is within this
mediaeval context of cosmology that we have to understand the life and times of Francis of
Assisi and of Clare, his "pianticella", or little plant.

1.2. Assisi still presents itself as a typical mediaeval town. It rises above the valley of Umbria,
a land-locked region in central Italy. It is a relatively small region, just 8456 square kilometres
in extension. It is also characterised by mountains, hills and woods in the central Appennine
region of the Italian peninsula. Only about 6% of its territory consists of plains. Assisi, at 424
metres above sea level, overlooks one of these plains, but above it rises Mount Subasio (1290
metres above sea level), a dome-shaped mountain, covered with woods. Today Assisi has a
population of about 24.790 inhabitants. In the 12th and 13th centuries it was much smaller.

A view of Assisi

1.3. The mediaeval world evolved around two super powers. On the one hand there was the
Holy Roman Emperor and on the other the Pope. Great figures stood out on both sides, such
as Frederick Barbarossa and Innocent III. It was a world dominated by the sacred and the
profane, but the distinction between the two was so subtle that they often ended up fighting
one against another. Politics and religion were jointly used to wield power. It was the age of
the crusades to the Holy Land, in which faith and political ambition both played an active
role.

1.4. The feudal lords still dominated the political scene in many towns. Assisi was no
exception. The feudal castle, called Rocca Maggiore, dominates the town even today,
although the one we see today is not the castle which stood there in the 12th century. The
nobility still exerted a considerable political influence in local affairs. However, by the end of
the 12th century, a new class was emerging in society, namely the middle class, composed
mainly of business people. Thus, even in a small town like Assisi, there was a clear-cut
distinction between the "maiores" or "boni homines", who were the nobles, and the "minores"
or "homines populi", the merchants. The latter were feeling that they wielded enough
financial power to embark upon a power struggle against the nobles. Their aim was to
dismantle the old feudal system and change it with a more democratic type of government
which was called "Comune".

Rocca Maggiore

1.5. Francis was born in this historical context in 1182. There is still an open discussion
regarding the house in which Francis was born. Various places in Assisi claim the honour:
Chiesa Nova, San Francesco Piccolino, the Bernardone house or TOR Casa Paterna. All these
places are found around the central square of the town, called Piazza del Comune, dominated
by the Minerva Roman Temple and the Torre del Popolo. In the first fresco which Giotto
painted on the wall of the upper Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, we find a representation of
this square. The scene could have been painted today. It has changed very little since the
times of Francis.
 Pietro Bernardone (from stage play "Int fejn sejjer?")

1.6. Francis was the son of Pietro di Bernardone, a rich cloth merchant who often travelled to
France on business. In fact Pietro was away when his wife, Pica, whom he had first met in
Provence, gave birth to Francis. When Pietro returned he learnt that the boy had been baptised
in the cathedral church of San Rufino, and had been given the name Giovanni. Pietro did not
like the name, and renamed his son Francesco.

1.7. In the upper part of the town, where we find the cathedral church of San Rufino, another
child was born some eleven years later, in 1193. This time it was a girl, and she was a
member of a noble family. Chiara, or Clare, the enlightened one, was born in a rich house
overlooking the cathedral square. Her parents were Favarone di Offreduccio and Ortolana.
Clare belonged to the "maiores" class. Francis belonged to the "minores".

1.8. Tensions in Assisi arose round about 1198. In that year Pope Innocent III was elected. He
was to prove himself a great statesman and affirmed the Church's supremacy even in temporal
affairs. In the spring of that year, Duke Conrad of Urslingen, who presided the Rocca fortress
of Assisi in the name of the Emperor, travelled to Spoleto to yield the Duchy of Spoleto to
Innocent III. The citizens of Assisi grasped the opportunity of his absence to besiege the
fortress and raze it to the ground. Francis must have been about sixteen years old at the time.
He certainly must have taken part in this adventure, which was to mark the independence of
Assisi as a free Comune. Civil war inevitably broke out between citizens and nobles. Clare's
family had to flee to Perugia, a nearby town, larger and stronger than Assisi. They probably
returned to Assisi round about 1203, when a document established peace between the
"maiores" and "minores" of Assisi.

1.9. In 1202 the Assisi nobility who had taken refuge in Perugia confronted the people of
Assisi. Francis took part in the battle of Collestrada, in which the Assisi forces were captured
and taken prisoners. Francis spent one year in prison, and he was lucky enough to be
ransomed by his rich father. His frail health had taken its toll upon him in prison, and he had
to spend much of 1204 in bed.

Young Francesco (from stage play "Int fejn sejjer?")

1.10. When Francis felt better he began to aspire to higher ideals. This time he dreamt of
knighthood. His was an age of chivalry. This ideal was the theme of songs by troubadours
who travelled along the new roads across the Alps into the Italian peninsula. The romance of
chivalry, together with the fame of taking part in a crusade, captured the hearts of many
young men. Francis was no exception. In 1204 he found the opportunity to set out to Puglie,
in southern Italy, with the aim of joining the fourth Crusade. He set out to meet Walter of
Brienne and join his forces. But his adventure was short-lived. The next day, after a sleepless
night in Spoleto (his biographers speak of visions and dreams), he returned to Assisi.

The dream of the palace

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1.11. Francis returned to the derision of his father and friends. His ideals were shattered, his
future bleak. The only practical solution to his problems seemed to consist in staying for long
hours selling bales of cloth in his father's shop. But if this was an easy solution to Pietro di
Bernardone, it did not convince Francis. The last thing he would do was to remain closed
inside a shop. Francis could also choose to live an easy life with his friends. He was
accustomed to it. He spent lavishly on entertainment. Many times his friends elected him as
the king of their feasts. They would have fun until late at night, and then go out singing loudly
along the narrow winding streets of Assisi. But Francis was getting bored of this boisterous
company. So he began to roam about the Assisi countryside. His early biographers speak
about a period of "conversion". They speak about a very particular period of his life. It was
quite short, really, just between the end of 1204 and the first months of 1206. But it was an
intense period of reflection.
 The advice of San Damian's Crucifix and detail of the Crucifix
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1.12. Francis would go with an unnamed friend in a lonely spot, and enter all by himself into
a "crypt", where he would spend hours. When he returned to his friend he would seem
completely dazed. Or else he would ride his horse in the plain below Assisi, where there was a
leper colony. It was on one of these occasions that he met a leper face to face. Although being
terrified of the poor wretch, he dismantled from his horse and ran towards the man, offering
him money, and the kiss of peace. He would cherish this encounter all his life and even bring
it to his memory before his death. Towards the end of 1205 another encounter changed him
radically. This time he was in an old and semi-abandoned church just below Assisi. The
church of San Damiano was officiated by a poor priest who could not even afford to buy oil to
light the lamp in front of a Byzantine image of the crucified Christ. Francis was enchanted to
gaze upon this crucifix. It is still visible today in the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Assisi. Christ
is alive on the cross. He is not fixed to it, but seems to dominate the background, where angels
and saints surround him. His eyes are wide open, and although blood is dropping out of his
wounds, he does not seem to feel any pain. It was this crucifix which "spoke" to Francis. His
biographers affirm that Christ asked Francis to repair that old church, calling it "my church".
It was obvious to the keen eyes of a young man like Francis that that church needed urgent
repairs. So he chose the easy way to do it. He went to his father's shop, took a bale of
expensive cloth, went to the marketplace of Foligno, and sold cloth and horse. Then he
returned exuberant to give the money he earned to the poor priest, who wisely rejected the
offer, knowing that Pietro di Bernardone would be enraged by his son's latest eccentricity.
However he allowed Francis to live with him in San Damiano as an "oblate", that is, as a
person who offered his services to a particular church with the aim of living a penitential life.
The turning point

The renunciation to wealth in front of the Bishop of Assisi

(left: fresco by Giotto; right: detail from fresco by Gozzoli)
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1.13. Francis entered in open conflict with his father. Pietro was convinced that his son was
going to ruin his business and his family's reputation. He could not bear to see his son begging
stones to repair San Damiano's church, nor could he believe his eyes to see his son full of
prodigality towards beggars and outcasts to the point of mixing freely with them. Pica tried to
calm him down, to explain that Francis needed time to reflect. It was all in vain. Pietro
decided to bring Francis in front of the town consuls to declare that he had to renounce his
right to the family's possessions. But Francis was an oblate, and thus he was directly under the
bishop's jurisdiction. The consuls were well aware of this and they did not get involved in the
matter. So Pietro turned to Guido, the bishop of Assisi. Francis this time accepted the
challenge. The trial took place in the bishop's residence, near the church of Santa Maria
Maggiore. Guido tried to coax Francis into giving back to is father the money he acquired for
San Damiano. Francis promptly obeyed, giving back not only the money but also stripping
himself naked before the onlookers and presenting his clothes and all his belongings to his
father. "From now onwards - he stated - I can turn to God and call him my Father in heaven".
Pietro had to return home an embarrassed man, and Francis left Assisi for some time dressed
in the poor garments of a hermit. Along the road robbers attacked him. He answered that he
was the herald of the great king. They considered him a poor idiot and threw him in a ditch
full of snow, leaving him there singing God's praises. For some months he found hospitality
first as a kitchen worker in the Benedictine abbey of San Verecondo, and later in the town of
Gubbio, in the house of a friend, Federico Spadalunga. In Gubbio he served the leper
community.
 Francis meets a poor man and A cloak is laid at his feet

1.14. In the summer of 1206 Francis returned to Assisi, determined to repair San Damiano.
He boldly entered the town and started begging stones and scraps of food. Although he felt
disgust at the idea of eating leftovers, he had to learn the hard way, like the poor did. He
understood that the real "minores" of Assisi were not the merchants, but the outcasts. And he
was determined to feel one of them. Even when he was still a rich young man he wanted to
understand the way of life of the poor beggars. He was on a pilgrimage to the tombs of the
apostles in Rome. At Saint Peter's tomb he changed his clothes with those of a beggar, and
took his place for a whole day.

1.15. Francis sang at the top of his voice when repairing San Damiano. He remembered his
mother's soft voice singing in her Provençal dialect. These songs came spontaneously to him
as he worked hard. Farmers would stop and eye him with suspicion, but also probably with
some affection, as they looked at his youthful exuberance. He would tell them that San
Damiano would become a holy place where young and noble ladies would come to serve God
in the future. The biographers considered these words as a prophecy regarding Clare and her
"Povere Dame di San Damiano", as the first Poor Clares would be called.

1.16. In a short time Francis repaired San Damiano. Then he proceeded in repairing other
churches, first San Pietro and then Santa Maria degli Angeli or the Porziuncola. This church
was to become the birth-place of his movement. It lies in the Umbrian valley below Assisi.
Francis discovered it in the woods. It belonged to the monks of the abbey of San Benedetto al
Subasio. Francis reckoned that the monks would be happy enough to let him make use of it.
So he began the task of repairing this church. It soon became so dear to him that he would
recommend it to his friars as one of the holiest places on earth. It was there that he wanted to
die in 1226. But the Porziuncola chapel was the venue of many important landmarks of his
life.

The Gospel on the feast of Saint Mathias

1.17. One of these landmarks coincided with the feast of the apostle Saint Mathias, on 24
February 1208. Francis was listening to the Gospel during Mass. It was all about Christ
sending his apostles to preach barefoot, with no staff or wallets. They were to be itinerants or
pilgrims, and they were to preach peace to all who would listen to them. Francis was
overjoyed. That was what he had been searching for all along. He wasted no time in carrying
out literally what he had heard. He removed his staff, his shoes, his hermit's leather belt, and
went barefoot with a tunic in the form of a Thau, and a cord around his waist. He changed his
style of life from that of a hermit-penitent to that of an apostolic preacher. That was the ideal
that his movement would follow in the future

The first followers

1.18. It was only a matter of a few weeks for Francis to have the joy to receive his first
brothers or friars at the Porziuncola. The first among them was Bernardo da Quintavalle, a
rich young man from Assisi. He invited Francis to his house for supper (incidentally, the
house still stands in Assisi). At night Francis slept in his friend's house, and Bernardo noticed
that Francis was praying all along. The following morning he took a bold decision. Together
with Francis he went to the church of San Nicolò in the town square, and together they
consulted the book of the Gospels. For three times they opened the book and met the words:
"If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me" (Matthew 19,21); "Take nothing for your
journey" (Luke 9,3); "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and
take up his cross every day and follow me" (Luke 9,23). These Scripture verses were to
constitute the basis of the life and Rule of the evangelical movement initiated by Francis. In
April of the same year 1208 two other men joined Francis and Bernardo. They were Pietro
Cattani, a canon of the cathedral church, and Egidio or Giles, who joined Francis on 23 April.
As soon as they joined forces they left in pairs on a preaching expedition. Francis and Giles
went to the Marches of Ancona.
 The first companions singing and praying (from stage play "Int fejn sejjer?")

1.19. The small brotherhood was steadily growing in numbers. In the autumn of 1208 the
friars went to preach in the Rieti valley. They stopped in a tiny village called Poggio Bustone,
where Francis greeted the people with the words "buon giorno, buona gente" (good day, good
people). In an intense moment of prayer Francis experienced a profound sense of forgiveness
and reconciliation with himself.

1.20. In 1209 Francis wrote down a brief Rule for the brothers. It was mainly composed of the
Gospel texts like the ones quoted above. He boldly decided to take his group to Rome to meet
Pope Innocent III and ask for approval of their way of life. It was a courageous gesture on his
part. Innocent III certainly would have looked suspiciously on such groups of lay preachers.
He had seen enough of them, and most were prone to heretical tendencies. They preached the
Gospel and even lived Gospel values in direct opposition to the institutional hierarchy, whom
they attacked in their preaching for its immoral and scandalous practices. There were many
heretical sects, especially in southern France and northern Italy. The Cathari were the most
dangerous. It seemed that the laity was in upsurge against ecclesiastical institutions. Innocent
III, however, was a shrewd politician as well as supreme head of the Church. After winning
many doubts regarding the group of beggars who were presented to him by Cardinal Giovanni
Colonna di San Paolo, he rightly judged Francis to be instrumental in proposing genuine
reform among laity and clergy, without the danger of lapsing into heresy. (It is him who
tradition indicates as the Pope who had a dream inwhich he saw Francis supporting a Church
on his shoulder). So Innocent III orally approved the Rule and life of the Order of Friars
Minor, as Francis called his friars in his firm belief that they were to live as true brothers and
as true "minores" on the model of Christ and the apostles.
 Pope Innocent's dream
(fresco by Giotto)
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1.21. The group of twelve friars returned to Assisi full of joy. After a short stay at Orte they
settled at Rivo Torto, some distance away from the Porziuncola. In this place they stayed for
some months in extreme poverty. Once the emperor-elect Otto IV passed along the road
nearby on his way to be crowned by the Pope. Francis sent one of the friars to announce
boldly to him that his glory was short-lived. The poor friar was soon removed and silenced by
the imperial guards, but he was happy enough to have carried out his mission. When a farmer
rudely demanded to make use of the friars' poor dwelling place, Francis and the brothers left
Rivo Torto and went back to the Porziuncola.

1.22. One of the characteristic notes about Francis and his movement was its openness to
universal dialogue. Francis wanted to meet heretics, saracens, robbers. In 1211 he left for the
lands of the saracens. His old dreams of chivalry and glory with the crusades now changed
into a heartfelt desire to embark upon a peaceful crusade to preach to the saracens. But his
plan this time failed. His ship got caught in a storm and he was shipwrecked on the Dalmatian
coast. Francis had to return to Ancona as a stow away.

1. St. Francis and St Clare - life and times (4)

 The Porziuncola

1.23. The Porziuncola was again a venue for an important landmark in the early Franciscan history in
1211. During the night of 18-19 March Clare escaped from her family's house in Assisi and managed
to go out of the town gates and proceed to the Porziuncola. It seems that a plan was carefully worked
out between her and Francis, with the approval of the bishop Guido. That Sunday was Palm Sunday,
and Clare took part in the celebration of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, in the cathedral
church. When everybody was in bed she set out to execute her plan of escape. For months she had
been meeting Francis secretly to tell him that she wanted to join his movement. So they finally
decided to put their plans into action. Clare was met by Francis at the Porziuncola. There she let him
cut her golden tresses at the foot of the altar of the Virgin Mary. She changed her noble garments
and put on the habit of penance. Francis sent her together with some friars to a secure refuge, the
female Benedictine monastery of San Paolo delle Abbadesse in Bastia Umbra. Her family would come
demanding her return, but in that place she was protected by a papal intedict upon any outsider who
ventured into the nun's quarters. After a short time Clare passed to another Benedictine monastery,
Sant'Angelo di Panzo, on the foothills of Mount Subasio. There she was joined by her sister Caterina.
Her uncle Monaldo came over to drag Caterina back home by force, but his plan did not succeed.
Clare and her sister, who changed her name to Agnese, were sent by Francis to San Damiano. As he
had predicted, it was here that the Order of the Poor Ladies of San Damiano was founded. In this
small chapel and adjacent monastery Clare and her sisters lived a cloistered life, but without any
property or possessions. Until 11 August 1253, the day of her death, Clare never left San Damiano.
There she asked two Popes to confirm the Privilege of Poverty for her sisters. There she was joined
by her mother Ortolana, and her other sister Beatrice. At San Damiano she received the final
approval of her Rule, modelled upon that of the Friars Minor, just two days before she died, praising
God for having created her.
 Francis cuts the golden tresses of Clare's hair (from stage play "Int fejn sejjer?")

1.24. Clare's life of contemplation was complementary to the active apostolic life of Francis and the
brothers. However one should not be led to think that Francis did not cherish the contemplative life.
He spent long months in solitude, normally with a small group of brothers, in one of the many
hermitages he founded in the Italian Appennines. The most famous of these is probably the
hermitage of Le Carceri, on Mount Subasio, above Assisi. Francis also wrote a short Rule for those
brothers who lived in hermitages. On 8 May 1213 Francis was at San Leo, a mediaeval castle quite
close to San Marino. There he was approached by a certain Count Orlando of Chiusi, in Tuscany, who
offered to him and the brothers a mountain called La Verna, in the Casentino. Francis gladly accepted
the offer because La Verna provided an ideal place for a hermitage. The mountain was to witness the
event of the stigmatisation of Francis in September 1224.

Clare's hair as preserved at San Damiano

Journeying for the Lord

1.25. Another apostolic journey was undertaken by Francis in 1213-1214. This time he
wanted to go to Spain, in order to evangelise the saracens in Morocco. Even this time Francis
did not succeed, because of an illness which forced him to return to Italy. At the Porziuncola
he received a group of learned men who came to his Order. One of them was friar Thomas of
Celano, who would become the author of three biographies on Francis.

1.26. In November 1215 Francis assisted at one of the most important events in the history of
the Church, namely the Fourth Lateran Council, summoned in Rome by Pope Innocent III. It
was during this event that Francis probably met another great founder of an apostolic religious
Order, namely Dominic Guzman. This Council took important decisions, among which the
decision not to approve new Rules for religious Orders. Francis succeeded in getting his
definite Rule approved in 1223 on the grounds that Innocent III had already approved it orally
in 1209.

1.27. On 16 July 1216 Pope Innocent III died in Perugia. It was during this occasion that
Jacques de Vitry, who was elected bishop of Acre in the Holy Land, in a letter written from
Genova, mentions the Friars Minor and the Poor Ladies of San Damiano. It is the first non-
Franciscan document regarding the movement of Francis of Assisi. Honorius III succeeded
Innocent III. From him Francis obtained the Porziuncola indulgence during the summer of
1216. The documentation regarding this indulgence comes from sources as late as 1310, but
convincing studies have been made regarding the historical truth of this indulgence and the
original way in which Francis requested it.

The interior of the small chapel of the Porziuncola

1.28. The Porziuncola church also became the venue for annual meetings of the friars, called
General Chapters, usually held during the feast of Pentecost, in May-June. We have
documented evidence of some of the more important Chapters. In 1217, for example, the
brothers during the Chapter decided to organise missions north of the Alps and across the
Mediterranean. Giles was sent to Tunis, Elias to the Holy Land. Francis tried to go to France,
but when he arrived at Firenze, Cardinal Hugolino, who was papal legate to Tuscany and
Lombardy, asked him to remain in Italy. Cardinal Hugolino was to play a very important role
in the organisation of the Order. He helped Francis in the final version of the Rule, and he was
also chosen as a Cardinal Protector of the Order in 1220. His personal friendship with Francis
was probably instrumental in the latter's canonisation in 1228, just two years after his death,
because at that time Cardinal Hugolino had become Pope Gregory IX. During the Chapter of
1217 the Order was organised on more efficient lines, because it was divided into provinces.

1.29. The Chapter of 1219 decided to send new missionary expeditions to Germany, France,
Hungary, Spain and Morocco. The friars who left for Morocco were martyred at Marrakesch
on 16 January 1220. Saint Berardo and his companions are the first Franciscan martyrs in a
long list of heroic friars who gave witness to the Gospel by dying for its cause.

The basilica built over the small chapel of the Porziuncola

1.30. During the same occasion Francis decided to leave for Acre and Damiata, in Egypt,
where the fifth crusade was trying to conquer Egypt. During the autumn of 1219 Francis
arrived at Damiata and requested permission from the papal legate to enter the saracen camp
at his own risk. Together with frate Illuminato he went into the saracen camp and even spoke
to the sultan Melek-el-Kamel. The sultan listened willingly to Francis, and it seems that he
also gave Francis permission to visit the Holy Land. After the crusades conquered Damiata in
1220 Francis went to Acre, probably after having had the occasion to see the Christian
sanctuaries of the Holy Land, then in the hands of the saracens. Francis and his followers have
remained in the Holy Land ever since. The historical facts of Francis' journey to the orient are
documented also in a letter written by Jacques de Vitry, from Diamata in 1220.
 St. Francis landing at Damiata

1.31. During his absence from Italy Francis had left the Order in the hands of two friars, friar
Matteo da Narni and friar Gregorio da Napoli. In the spring of 1220 he received information
regarding the state of the Order in their hands which preoccupied him greatly. Together with
Pietro Cattani, Elias and Caesar of Speyer he returned to Italy and landed in Venice. It was on
this occasion that Francis asked the help of Cardinal Hugolino, who was appointed Protector
of the Order. Francis resigned from the leadership of the Order, and appointed Pietro Cattani
as Vicar. Cattani remained in his post until 10 March 1221, when he died. During the
Pentecost Chapter of 1221 friar Elias was nominated Vicar. Meanwhile, on 22 September
1220, Pope Honorius III, by papal decree "Cum secundum consilium", ordered the
establishment of the novitiate in the Order.

1.32. The Chapter of 30 May 1221 remained famous in the history of the Order. It has been
called the "chapter of mats". Historians differ as to the exact year in which this Chapter was
held. It seems probable that the "chapter of mats" took place in 1219 and not in 1221, because
at this latter date Cardinal Hugolino was papal legate in the Veneto region, and the chapter
was presided by Cardinal Raniero Capocci, a Cistercian. This Chapter remained famous
because of the great number of friars who attended it, and who constructed simple huts around
the Porziuncola; hence its name. What is of importance in the Chapter of 1221 is that this
meeting approved the First Rule, or "Regula non bullata", which did not get papal approval. It
was also this Chapter which decided to send a new missionary expedition to Germany, under
the leadership of Caesar of Speyer and Thomas of Celano, together with Giordan of Giano,
who would later write a chronicle of this missionary endeavour.

1.33. The year 1221 also marks the approval of the "Memoriale propositi" or the first Rule of
the Order of Penitents, or Third Order. The events which led to the beginning of this large
Franciscan family, made up mainly of lay persons, are still open to discussion among
historians, but it is accepted that Francis gave a norm of life to lay persons who wanted to
embrace his evangelical ideals. This norm of life was later sanctioned by the Church.

1.34. The period 1221-1222 is marked by a preaching tour which Francis organised in
southern Italy. On 15 August 1222 Francis preached in the main square of Bologna, a famous
university city, where his friars probably had a school of theology. From a short note which
Francis wrote to Anthony of Padova, dated 1223, we know that this famous saint and doctor
of the Church was teaching theology to the friars in Bologna, because he belonged to the
province of Romagna, in northern Italy.
 Preaching before Pope Honorius III
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1.35. The need to have a definite Rule approved by the Church led Francis to retire to another
hermitage, that of Fontecolombo, in 1223, together with friars Leo and Bonizo from Bologna,
an expert in canon and civil law. There Francis composed his final version of the Rule, which
after many difficulties and opposition on the part of the learned friars of the Order, was
approved by the General Chapter. On 29 November 1223 Pope Honorius III formally
approved the Rule of Friars Minor, the "Regula bullata", by the bull "Solet annuere". In yet
another hermitage near the Rieti valley, Greccio, Francis celebrated in an original way the
feast of Christmas on 25 December 1223, by organising a Christmas Crib Midnight Mass in
order to evoke the poverty of Christ's birth in Bethlehem.

The manger of Greccio

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1.36. The General Chapter of 1224 organised yet another missionary expedition, this time to
England. On 10 September the first friars landed in Dover, and proceeded to Canterbury,
London and Oxford, where they immediately took up residence and organised their life as
itinerant preachers around the universities. Thomas of Eccleston gives us an interesting
chronicle of the first Franciscan friars in England, "De adventu Fratrum Minorum in
Angliam".

Pope Honorius III approving the Rule

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The end of the earthly journey

 The stigmates on La Verna
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1.37. Between 15 August and 29 September 1224 Francis was at La Verna, for a period of
prayer and fasting which he called"the lent of Saint Michael". It was during this time,
probably around the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September, that Francis had the
mystical vision of the crucified seraph and received the marks of the passion of Christ in his
body. The event is well documented by all the reliable mediaeval sources of his life. After the
end of this period of retreat he returned to the Porziuncola, passing through Borgo San
Sepolcro, Monte Casale and Città di Castello. Although he was weak and very ill, riding on a
donkey, Francis made a preaching tour in Umbria and the Marches during winter of 1224-
1225.

1.38. The year 1225 marks the beginning of his last illness. He became virtually blind, and
during the spring was taken to San Damiano to be taken care of by sister Clare. Friar Elias
insisted that Francis should receive medical care, but the treatment was postponed. At San
Damiano, after a difficult night, Francis composed the first part of his Canticle of Brother
Sun, or Canticle of Creatures. Later on he would add the part regarding forgiveness, after he
reconciled the bishop and the podestà of Assisi.
 St. Francis in extsasy
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1.39. In July 1225 Francis agreed to go to Rieti, to receive medical treatment at the hands of
papal physicians. In Rieti he was welcomed by Cardinal Hugolino and the papal court. Then
he proceeded to Fontecolombo where, under pressure from friar Elias, he accepted to undergo
the painful operation of having his temples cauterised. The operation was a complete failure.
In September 1225 he was transferred to San Fabiano della Foresta, near Rieti, where he
underwent further treatment. By his prayers the vineyard of the poor priest who took care of
the church of San Fabiano, produced abundant fruit, even though it was trampled by the
persons who often came to visit Francis.

1.40. The year 1226 was to be his last. In the spring he was taken to Siena for further
treatment. One night he was in agony, and fearing he would die, he dictated some words of
farewell which are known as the Siena Testament. Later on he was transferred to the
hermitage of Celle di Cortona, where he probably dictated his Testament, or last will.

1.41. In the summer of 1226 Francis was at Bagnara, on the hills near Nocera. His condition
was worsening, and he was taken to the bishop's residence in Assisi. He was aware that"sister
death" was not far away. So he asked to be taken to the Porziuncola in September. Bishop
Guido at the time was away on a pilgrimage to Monte Gargano. On his way to the
Porziuncola Francis blessed his home town.
 The dying St. Francis (from stage play "Int fejn sejjer?")

The Transitus Chapel at the Porziuncola where St. Francis died

1.42. On Saturday 3 October 1226, at sunset, Francis died at the Porziuncola, after asking the
friars to read to him the passion of Christ according to John, and praying psalm 141. On
Sunday 4 October the funeral cortege transported Francis to Assisi, and passed by San
Damiano so that Clare and the sisters could see their spiritual father for the last time. Francis
was buried in the church of San Giorgio, where, as a child, he used to go to the cathedral
school. The Vicar, friar Elias announced Francis' death to the Order by a circular letter.

St. Francis after his death

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 The poor Clares in front of the dead body of St. Francis
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1.43. On 19 March 1227 Cardinal Hugolino was elected Pope and took the name of Gregory
IX. One of his first preoccupations was to render glory to the "poverello"of Assisi. On 30
May 1227 Giovanni Parenti was elected Minister General of the Order during the Pentecost
Chapter.

The lower church on the tomb of St. Francis

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1.44. On 29 April 1228, with the papal bull"Recolentes" Gregory IX decided to built
a"specialis ecclesia", a special church, in honour of Francis. On 16 July he came personally to
Assisi to canonise Francis. The bull"Mira circa nos" of 19 July declared Francis of Assisi
saint and fixed his feast day for the universal Church on 4 October. During the same occasion
Gregory IX laid the foundation stone of the basilica he order to be built on the"collis inferni",
on the western part of the town, which he renamed"collis paradisi". The triple church was
built in record time, under the direct care of friar Elias. It consists of the burial cell of the
saint, and of two superimposed basilicas, that is, a sepulchre church and a monastic church.
The sepulchre church was ready for the solemn translation of Saint Francis' relics on 25 May
1230.

Final scene from the stage play "Int fejn sejjer?"

1.45. In 1939 Francis was proclaimed patron saint of Italy and in 1980 he was proclaimed
patron of ecology by Pope John Paul II.