BLESSED FRANCIS OF ASSISI (OCT. 4TH)

 

Blessed Francis of Assisi, AD 1181 - AD  1226

Edited by Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

Today, Westerners remember the Francis of Assisi. He was born of a rich Italian merchant and a noble French mother in AD 1181. After a youth of enjoyment and riches, he became a soldier, and after seeing the horrors of human violence, he came to realize the emptiness of a selfish and profligate life. On a pilgrimage in AD 1205, Francis came to the Church of San Damiano, where he had a vision before the icon of the Crucified Christ in which he heard God calling him - "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." This caused him to renounce his wealth, give to the poor, and become a beggar on the streets, helping the sick and suffering that he found around him. 

One morning in February AD 1208, Francis was taking part in a Liturgy in the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, near which he had by then built himself a hut. The Gospel of the day was the "Commissioning of the Twelve" from the Book of Matthew. The disciples are to go and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Francis was inspired to permanently devote himself to a life of poverty and monasticism. Having obtained a coarse woolen tunic, the dress then worn by the poorest Umbrian peasants, he tied it around himself with a knotted rope and went about exhorting the people of the countryside to penance, brotherly love, and peace. Francis's preaching to ordinary people was unusual as he had no license to do so, and he had not officially joined any sanctioned monastic order. 

Scenes from the Life of the Blessed Francis, Latin Manuscript, Approx AD 1320, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Over the next few years, Francis found a huge following of likeminded young men, who followed his example, sold all that they had, gave to the poor, and ministered to the sick, dying and the lepers. There was great controversy about the movement until it was recognized and given permission by the Pope in AD 1209, after which time the Franciscans received monastic tonsure from their local bishops and followed an approved “Regula” that was set down by Francis with ecclesiastical approval. 

After this, unlike other monastic abbots, who would always stay in one place and see to the care of the community, Francis went on a long missionary journey to the Middle East, to try to convert the Egyptian Sultan to Christianity and avoid the ravages of more brutal Crusades. While unsuccessful, Francis preached to all the Muslims that he met, even being given an audience with the Sultan, who protected him and allowed him to take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. 

The Vision of the Cruciform Seraphim 

Upon his return to Italy in AD 1222, Francis relinquished all control of the Franciscan Order, and set out preaching to the peasants in Northern Italy. While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a period of fasting, Francis is said to have had a vision on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata, the first time that such a thing had occurred in recorded Christianity. "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ." (From Brother Leo’s account of the Life of Francis) Suffering from an infection and the pain of the stigmata, Francis received care in several cities, but to no avail. In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here he spent his last days dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of Saturday, the 3rd of October, AD 1226, singing Psalm 141, "Voce mea ad Dominum".

St. George slaying a dragon and St. Francis of Assisi, by Nikolaos Tzafouris, Crete, AD 1487 - 1501, held at Sotheby’s Auction House 

Francis has become a controversial figure within Orthodoxy over the last few years, but there was always great respect for him and his order in Crete and Cyprus, where Latin influence was strong, and a few icons of him survive within canonically Orthodox churches. Franciscans were traditionally less likely to subvert Orthodoxy in the Middle East than the Jesuits and Dominicans. Because of the lack of stigmata within Orthodoxy, many theologians have concluded that these marks were either autosuggestion or the result of a demonic delusion, and many have pointed out how they may have contributed to his death. Regardless, Francis showcases the increasingly divergent mental cultures of East and West through his personal relationship with God and his willingness to follow His commandments as an individual. His creative attitude and lack of concern for official process highlights the opposite ideals that developed in the post-imperial Byzantine milieu, which focuses much more on strictness, obedience, and canonical process. At one point, the East had such personalist monastics as well, in the characters of Sts. John of Damascus, Maximos Confessor, Symeon the New Theologian, and Theodore Studite, but such revolutionaries became fewer and further between as Orthodoxy entered its period of "Babylonian Captivity" under the Turks. In this way, Francis is a very helpful figure to the Western Orthodox, who struggle to bridge that divide and understand how to re-integrate elements of Western Culture with the Eastern Orthodox mentality. 

An Icon of Blessed Francis in the Nave of the Panagia Kera Byzantine Orthodox Church in Kritsa, Crete, one of the oldest Greek Churches in Crete and one of the most important Churches in the Byzantine Tradition to Preserve Pre-Iconoclasm Examples of Ancient Christian Iconography

COLLECT

ALMIGHTY GOD, Who ever delightest to reveal Thyself to the childlike and lowly of heart: grant that, following the example of the blessed Francis, we may also count the wisdom of this world as foolishness and know only Jesus Christ and Him crucified, Who livest and reignest with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

(Portions of the text taken from Wikipedia)