St. Francis Of Assisi

1 Luis Mendez Mr. Allsup English 1301.05 Research Paper St. Francis of Assisi We have heard the saying: put your money where your mouth is. Certainly St. Francis does so. The exceptional life he chose to live, not only has impacted religion tremendously. It has also impacted education through both his precepts and examples.

St. Francis of Assisi was born under the name of Francis Bernardone in September 26, 1811. His father was Pietro di Bernardone, a successfully merchant of the time. His mother—of French origin— was Pica Bourlemont. At the end of the second crusade, in his early twenties, Francis joined the army of his town to fight Perugia. After they were ambushed, Francis was captured. This hardship period as a prisoner turns to be a turning point in his life, his conversion. Louis De Wohl, in his novel Francis of Assisi, asserts this point, “The story of the soldier and merchant’s son who might have been right hand to a king…and whom became instead the most beloved of all saints.”1

St. Francis believes precepts as the fundamental elements to succeed in life. Today in his congregation, his disciples follow these rules. Among his many precepts, three stand out. The first: simplicity of life. John Davis, in The Gift of Saint Francis, supports this point. In his analysis, he exposes the revised rule of 1221 (second rule) which was adopted by the Franciscan congregation. In this rule, St. Francis calls all his disciples to live in poverty. Francis establishes that, “Brothers…should seek the most

2 humble jobs so that they are on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. They should be servants rather than masters.”2 The complex life of the twenty first c makes it difficult to live in simplicity. Factors such as technology, individualism and materialism contribute to it. Technology for example, complicates a simplistic life as it provides for a higher standard of living. In addition, individualism makes us selfish thus preventing our simplicity. Finally, materialism leads us far from simplicity, as we have an excessive urge to acquire more than what we need.

The second: reverence for the environment. St. Francis in The Canticle of Brother Sun gently portrays, “Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Wind and air, breezes and clouds and weather foul of fair-to everyone that breathes Thou givest a share.” 3 In this figurative language, St. Francis calls us to preserve nature. Throughout the canticle, he portrays the need of balance in nature which has been disturbed by humanity. Consider global warming, the weather is dramatically changing as the result of the over consumption of natural resources. The effects can be seen in natural disasters like: tsunamis, hurricanes, the melting of the poles, and the extinction of species. Leonardo Boff, in Saint Francis A model for Human Liberation, recalls the precept for the environment also in the simplest things. He mentions that St. Francis “prohibits the brothers from cutting any tree at the roots that they might bud again. He commanded the gardeners to leave a plot of uncultivated land so that all types of grasses might grow (including weeds), because ‘they too proclaim the beauty of the father in all things’.”4 It is our responsibility to take care of this world in order to preserve life, not only for ourselves, but for the generations to come.

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The third: self-giving. Saint Francis mirrored the example of Jesus Christ, as Saint Mark mentions in the Bible, “If a man wishes to come after Me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and follow in my steps”5. All the disciples who want to become part of the congregation must deny themselves. In The Gift of Saint Francis, the precept establishes that, “the brothers who are anxious to follow the humility and poverty of our Lord Jesus Christ should allow themselves only what the apostle permits: ‘Having food and something to cover ourselves with, we consider it a privilege to live with the outcast of this world: the sick, the weak, the poor lepers, and the beggars on the road”. 6 Selfgiving constitutes the core for the spirit of St. Francis accepting to live in poverty and humbleness. I should show how, with a little help from Leonardo Boff, in Saint Francis A Model for Human Liberation, self-giving = poverty + humility. He recalls that, “true poverty is always accompanied by humility that supports and accepts everything”.7 All his disciples must follow this precept. The precepts of St. Francis would not mean anything if he would not have put them into practice.

We know the life of St. Francis due to his actions. The examples of St. Francis and his disciples are preserved in: The Little flowers of St. Francis of Assisi (the Fioretti). This work helps us to illustrate some of his precepts. The first example is that of simplicity of life. St. Francis gave all his possessions to the poor. In the film, Brother Son, Sister Moon by Franco Zeffirelli, the new attitude of St. Francis, about the real richness in heaven and not on earth, shows him throwing away all his father’s possessions through the window. St. Francis argues, “...father the real treasures are in heaven and not

4 on earth”.8 Francis realizes that he needs no more ties in his spirit to be free and to obey God.

The second example is that of reverence to the environment. St. Francis feels the presence of God through both, inanimate and animate elements in nature. He strongly believes that everybody is part of the whole universe, and everybody should be kind to one another. The work, The little flowers of St. Francis, narrates how St. Francis converts a fierce wolf, which devoured not only animals, but also people in the region of Agobio, to a nice and gentle protector of the town; he safes him from being killed. This demonstrates his regards for animals and environment. St. Francis recalls, “come hither, brother wolf: I commanded thee in the name of Christ that thou do not harm, nor to me nor to anybody”.9 Due to his reverence for the environment and for animals, St. Francis is well know today as the patron of the nature and creatures.

The third example is that of self-giving. Leonardo Boff recalls in his analysis that, “Francis and his ‘little poor people’ lived this spirit of minority with courtesy and unassumingly, with joy and without false pity”.10 St. Francis felt guilty about the cruel treatment of the servants; he feels their pain and he becomes one of them. As a result of the situation, he rejects his father. In the film, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, St. Francis tells his father, “…what is born with flesh is flesh. What is born with spirit is spirit”.11 Selfgiving involves freedom from human ties like wealth. If St. Francis would not have denied himself, he would not have felt the compassion for the poor and what is most

5 important, he would not be a saint. Instead, he refuses the human world and serves the poor.

The precepts by St. Francis impacted education. In general education, he invites us to respect one another, to listen, and to obey. Besides that, he encourages older people to teach good values to the next generation, especially those concerning nature and fraternity between men. The numbers of Colleges, which based its mission on precepts by Francis, is vast. This fact is visible in the webpage Google. The Saint Francis of Assisi College System Calamba asserts their mission statement. “We, at Saint Francis of Assisi College System a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, but Catholic-oriented, multicampus institution of learning, envision the total development of our students and the community guided by the virtues of Saint Francis of Assisi for the progress of the society”.12 In addition, his examples impacted education because the main goal of colleges and universities is to prepare us for life. What is distinctive of colleges and universities based on virtues by St. Francis is the creation of a serving community in the Franciscan spirit. Precepts by St. Francis teach us to focus on intangible treasures, such as love and service towards others, rather than on tangible treasures.

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6 2.-65 3.-228 4.- 35 5-2 6- 67 7.- 70 8.- scene 5 9.- 61 10.- 75 11.- scene 9 12.- Mission Statement

BIBLIO 1.-De Wohl, Louis. Francis of Assisi. J. B. Lippincott Company: Great Britain, 1958. 2.-Davis, John. The Gift of Saint Francis. Published in the U.S.A by Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, 2003 www.avemariapress.com ISBN 0-87793-603-X 3. - A. Armstrong, Edward. Saint Francis: Nature Mystic. University of California Press: Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1973. ISBN 0-520-03040-0e 4. - Boff, Leonardo. Saint Francis. A Model for Human Liberation The Crossroad Publishing Company. 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y., 1985. ISBN 0-8245-0671-5

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5.-Kempihs, Thomas. The Imitation of Christ. Catholic Book Publishing Co.: New York, 1993. 6. - Davis, John. The Gift of Saint Francis. Published in the U.S.A by Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, 2003 7. - Boff, Leonardo. Saint Francis. A Model for Human Liberation The Crossroad Publishing Company. 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y., 1985. ISBN 0-8245-0671-5 8. - Zeffirelli, Franco. Brother sun, Sister moon. A Paramount Release of an British CoProduction. Copyright 1972. 9. - St. Francis of Assisi. The Little Flowers of ST. Francis of Assisi. Translated from the Italian From the Italian by T. W. Arnold, M.A. with a note by DR. Guido Biagi New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers Printed in Great Britain, 1925 10. - Boff, Leonardo. Saint Francis.(A Model for Human Liberation) The Crossroad Publishing Company. 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y., 1985. ISBN 0-8245-0671-5 11.-Zeffirelli, Franco. Brother sun, Sister moon. A Paramount Release of a British CoProduction. Copyright 1972. 12. - Saint Francis of Assisi College System Calamba. Mission statement. 14 April 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Francis_of_Assisi_College_System_Calamba