Michelle Hayden, age 15, of Albuquerque, N.M., for her question:
WHO WAS SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI?
Saint Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Franciscan religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. He inspired many people during the Middle Ages with his simple life of poverty. Today, many admire him and the things that he stood for: his love of peace and his respect for all living creatures.
Francis was born in Assisi, Italy, about 1181. His father was a well to do textile merchant.
As a young man, Francis took an active part in his city's commercial, political and social life. He was a member of the army during a war between his city state of Assisi and the nearby city of Perugia. He was captured by the enemy and spent most of 1202 and 1203 as a political prisoner.
The suffering Francis saw during the war caused him to think about the true meaning and purpose of life. In 1205 he saw a vision of Christ and completely changed his way of life.
Francis rejected an inheritance from his father and started to devote his life to rebuilding churches and serving the poor. He adopted absolute poverty as his ideal. He tried to pattern his life after Christ by preaching the Gospel and healing the sick.
Soon Francis started to attract followers. In about 1210, Pope Innocent III approved the formation of the Franciscan order by Francis. Although many of his followers became priests, Francis remained a layman.
Francis expressed his religious ideals in poems as well as through his ministry. In "Canticle of the Sun," he showed his love for all living things. His poems were considered to be a contribution to the development of Italian literature.
Francis not only sent the friars of his order to preach in foreign countries, but he also went himself. He was one of the most respected men of his time.
Francis died in 1226. Just two years later, he was canonized by his church and declared a saint.
Francis was shipwrecked on the coast of Yugoslavia in 1212 while he was traveling to Syria to convert the Moslems. He tried to go to Morocco as a missionary but became ill in Spain and could not continue.
Francis went along with the crusaders to Egypt in 1219. He returned to Italy in 1220 and continued to preach but he let others administer the Franciscan order.
While praying on Mount Alvernia near Florence in 1224, stigmata appeared on his body. Stigmata are wounds that look like those suffered during the Crucifixion by Jesus on His hands, feet and side.
Francis suffered with the wounds of the stigmata for the rest of his life. The reality of these wounds is so well testified that the most critical of modern scholars accept it.
A book called "The Little Flowers of Saint Francis" was published by his followers about 100 years after his death.