Saint Francis of Assisi Saint Francis was born in Italy in 1182, while his father was visiting France. His father returned home very angered at his wife. He was mad that she had gotten their son, Giovanni, baptised. His father, Pietro Bernardone, wanted his son to grow up and become a businessman, not a man of God. Pietro was so unhappy that he renamed his son Francesco, which is the equivalent of calling him Frenchman.
Saint Francis had a very easy going childhood because of his father’s wealth and the permissiveness of the times. Saint Francis, a happy, charming, and a true born leader, was loved from the very beginning of his childhood. People constantly tended to him, if he did bad in school no one minded, when he was ill people …show more content…
Francis took some fabric from his father’s store and sold it for stone to rebuild the church. Francis’ father accused him of stealing and brought the matter up with the bishop. The bishop told francis to return his father’s items, and that God would provide. Francis not only returned his father’s fabric, but he began to take off all of his clothes except for some rags. He declared that “Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father” and he freely proclaimed “Our father who art in heaven” He then left into the freezings woods wearing nothing but rags. He was happily singing but then got attacked. He got up and continued to dance and sing again. He went on to rebuild the San Damiano church with his bare hands. Although he was never a ordained priest, he still went around preaching the good news. In 1224, Francis reportedly received a vision that left him with the stigmata of Christ—marks resembling the wounds Jesus Christ suffered when he was crucified, through his hands and the gaping lance wound in his side. This made Francis the first person to receive the holy wounds of the stigmata. They would remain visible for the rest of his life. Because of his earlier work treating lepers, some believe that the wounds were actually symptoms of