Francis of Assisi
A young cloth merchant of Assisi who gave up his property to live by the Gospel in poverty, founded the Order of Friars Minor and wrote its Rule. He died in 1226 and was canonized in 1228.
Francis traded in cloth at Assisi before his conversion (Thomas of Celano, First Life of Francis 8). In his Testament he traces the change in his life to the time he spent among lepers, and says that he worked with his hands and wished all his brothers to work, begging alms only when they were not paid (Francis of Assisi, Testament). Thomas of Celano reports that in the thirteenth year after his conversion he went to Syria while Christians and Saracens were at war and presented himself to the sultan, who received him with honour (Thomas of Celano, First Life of Francis 57).
Celano dates his death at the Portiuncula, in his native city, to Sunday 4 October 1226 (Thomas of Celano, First Life of Francis 88). The Testament names the bishop of Ostia as protector of the brotherhood (Francis of Assisi, Testament); that bishop, by then Pope Gregory IX, declared Francis a saint at Assisi on 16 July 1228 (Thomas of Celano, First Life of Francis 126). See Francis of Assisi and the Friars Minor.
In the timeline
- about 1209, estimated dateFrancis of Assisi and the Friars Minor
Francis of Assisi gives up his property to live by the Gospel in poverty, gathers brothers and wins the approval of Pope Innocent III. Clare founds a sister community, and in 1223 Honorius III confirms the Rule of the Friars Minor.