Saint Francis of Assisi

(One of my most beloved Saints I have narrated his life here in a first person account. His prayer that I love most and pray everyday I have given at the end)


I was born in 1182 to the son of a wealthy merchant. My early years were spent in frivolous activities and as a spoilt rich brat.
God had other designs that would soon change this state for me.
One day while praying at the Church of San Damiano, I heard the voice of Christ say to me, “Francis, Repair my falling house”.
I knew in my heart that this voice I had to pay heed to and immediately felt an overpowering urge to act upon the wish of my beloved Lord.
I immediately sold a bale of silk from my father’s warehouse and paid for the repairs of the Church of San Damiano.
My father was shocked and enraged by my action. There was a public confrontation between my father and I.
My father disinherited and disowned me for my action.
I could not fathom that someone as wealthy as my father would think twice before paying for the repairs of the home where our Lord resided.
I was deeply moved that my father would rather confront me than be more supportive of my choice.
My whole fundamental thoughts were shaken by this move of my father’s. I no longer could see the use of all the wealth he hoarded. I no longer could bear to be under the same roof as my father. For someone so hesitant to spend on the Church, I felt, could no longer have anything in common with me.
I, at that moment knew my father’s wealth was of no use to me as it was of no use to the needy and the poor and the Church.
I renounced my father’s wealth and all the material possession’s I had been enjoying since birth.
I devoted my life and my time in service of the poor and those unfortunate afflicted by dreadful diseases.
In my times, the most dreaded of diseases was something known as leprosy.
Lepers were kept at a distance and were regarded with fear and disgust.
I cared for them, fed them, bathed them and even kissed their sores.
Since I could not pay for the repairs of the Church of San Damiano, I undertook to repair it by my own labor.
I moved in with the priest and begged to use the stones lying in the fields and shaped them to help repair the church.
I got to eat my meals by eating leftover vegetables from the trash bins.
I also worked during the day and got paid in the form of bread and milk and vegetables instead of money and I used it to feed the lepers.
Some friends joined to help me.
After three years, in 1210, the Pope authorized the forming of the Order of Friars Minor, commonly referred to as the Franciscans.
(Friar means brother)
My companions and I took the word of Christ as our mission.
Christ said in Matthew 10:710: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”… You have received the Gospel without payment, give it to others as freely. Take no gold, or silver or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, no garment nor sandals.
I had these words etched in my heart and accepted no money nor property when I set out to serve the poor and the needy.
I also believed that the commoners should be able to pray to God in their own language and I wrote often in the dialect of Umbria instead of Latin and thereby made available the prayers to most commoners.
In 1219, I went to the Holy Land of Egypt to preach to the Muslims. I was given a pass through the enemy lines, and spoke to the Sultan, Melek-al-Kamil. I proclaimed the Gospel to the Sultan, who replied that he had his own beliefs, and that Muslims were as firmly convinced of the truth of Islam as I was of the truth of Christianity. I proposed that a fire be built, and that I and a Muslim volunteer would walk side by side into the fire to show whose faith was stronger. The Sultan said he was not sure that a Muslim volunteer could be found. I then offered to walk into the fire alone. The Sultan who was deeply impressed but remained unconverted. I proposed an armistice between the two warring sides, and drew up terms for one; the Sultan agreed, but, to my deep disappointment, the Christian leaders would not.
I returned to Italy with the only consolation being that the Franciscans were given custody of the Christian shrines then in Muslim hands.
Back in Italy and neighboring countries, the Order was suffering from its own success. Many persons were deeply attracted by me and my air of abandonment, and freedom. What was overlooked was that these were made possible only by my willingness to accept total poverty, not picturesque poverty but real dirt, rags, cold, and hunger, and lepers with real puss oozing from their sores and a real danger of infection.
Many idealistic young men were joining the Order in a burst of enthusiasm and then finding themselves not so sure that such extremes of poverty were something they could be associated with. When there were only a few friars, they were all known to me personally, and the force of my personality kept the original ideals of the Order alive in them. Now that the Order was larger, this was no longer enough.
In 1220 I resigned as minister-general of the Order, and in 1221 I agreed to a new and modified rule, which I did not approve, but sadly could not resist.
I died on 4 October 1226.
On July 16, 1228 my name was pronounced as a Saint by Pope Gregory IX.
The very next day the Pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of Saint Assisi.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, let sow pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith.
Where there is despair, let me sow hope.
Where there is sadness, let me sow joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.