Francis of Assisi

Francesco di Bernardone was the son of a rich cloth merchant in Assisi, Italy. As a young man he enjoyed fine clothes and parties and dreamed of becoming a knight, but after being held prisoner for a year in a war with nearby Perugia and suffering a long illness, he began to change. He embraced a man with leprosy, whom he had once avoided, and in the ruined church of San Damiano he heard Christ on the crucifix telling him to rebuild his church. When his angry father took him before the bishop, Francis gave back even his clothes. He began living in complete poverty, preaching and caring for the sick, and others joined him. In 1209 Pope Innocent III approved his simple rule, the start of the Order of Friars Minor. With Clare of Assisi he founded an order for women. In 1219 he crossed the lines during the Fifth Crusade to preach to the sultan of Egypt. He made the first Christmas manger scene at Greccio, wrote the Canticle of the Sun praising God for Brother Sun and Sister Moon, and died in 1226.

Faith: Founder of the Franciscan Order; a Catholic saint. Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)