From Riches to Rags
Francis of Assisi
A merry-hearted laugh echoed through the stone prison. "That Francis," an inmate muttered. "One would think he was at a festival."
The other prisoner sighed. "But it's simple for him to stay happy. When peace is made between the cities, he'll be a free man."
Francesco Bernardrone, a twenty-year-old Italian of the early thirteenth century, had been captured in a war between his home city, Assisi, and its neighbor, Perugia. Imprisonment had cut short his dreams of knighthood.
But a year later, in November of 1203, Francis was free to return to the games, festivals, and parties, which his upper class set enjoyed. His friends gave him a resounding welcome, remembering that Francis, with his pranks and merry ways, had always been the life of the party.
A few weeks after his return home, however, Francis became gravely ill. One day after the crisis passed and he had regained some of his strength, he took a long walk into the open country. He should have enjoyed the fragrance of the spring flowers, but instead his conscience kept reminding him of his wasted youth.
Shortly thereafter, Francis was invited by a knight
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to help fight a religious war. Thinking the excitement would take him out of the doldrums, Francis took up his shield and buckler and rode away. But on the road he became ill again, and the next day he came straggling back home.
During the days of recuperation, Francis thought more and more about his meaningless life. He noticed the crowds of beggars and poor people in the street outside his father's shop. To the chagrin of his tight-fisted merchant father, Francis tried to give purpose to his life by donating heavily to the poor.
One day after Francis had recovered, he was helping in his father's shop. A shabbily dressed beggar came in. "Something for me, young master? In God's name, please," he pleaded.
The impatient Francis hardly looked up. "Be gone," he shouted, and the beggar ran out into the street.
Suppose he had asked in the name of a baron," Francis thought when the man was gone. I would have given him something. But he asked in the name of God and I chased him away. Impulsively, Francis left the shop to find the beggar.
More and more the plight of the poor and the injustices in the life about him tugged at Francis' heart. Frequently he slipped away to a secluded cave. There he prayed, "Lord, show me the purpose of my life."
His father scolded him for his moodiness. His friends begged him to forget the poor and return to the social whirl. But Francis could not forget. He continued to pray.
One day in 1206, Francis was praying in a decaying old chapel outside the city. He felt that Christ spoke clearly to his heart.
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"Lord Jesus, shed abroad Your light in the darkness of my mind," he whispered. "Be found of me, Lord, so that in all things I may act only in accordance with Thy holy will."
He paused to hear what he later declared was God's answer. "I have accepted you. Now I want your labor, your life, and all your being."
With a happy, new peace, Francis hurried home to tell his father that he had decided to sell all his belongings and become an apostle to the poor.
His merchant father was furious. When he saw that pleas and threats were of no avail, he disinherited Francis in a public ceremony. Francis tossed his remaining clothing and money to his father who took them and then callously turned his back on his son.
Francis left the city of Assisi clad only in an old mantle lent him by a gardener. During the next two years he stayed alive by begging and sleeping in the open. He spent his energies giving spiritual comfort to the poor and lepers and helping to rebuild crumbling churches.
In the year 1209, when Francis was only twenty-seven, a message came that set the course of the rest of his life. He believed that these words of Jesus in Matthew 10:8-10 were a direct commission to him: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep."
The words convinced Francis that he was on the right road. He discarded his shoes and purse and began gathering a band of companions who agreed with him
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to live by the rule of the biblical commission. The brothers, as they called themselves, went out two by two on their gospel tours. They sang, preached, and distributed food and clothing to the needy in the city squares and marketplaces.
Upon entering the order, the brothers sold all their material possessions and gave the receipts to the poor and needy. They were expected to continue their trade, or learn one if they had none, and give their earnings to the poor.
The people easily noticed the difference between the poor brothers and the selfish church leaders who gloried in wealth. They took notice of the morally clean lives which the brothers lived while some leading clergymen made jokes about their scandalous sins.
The work of Francis and his brothers came as a fresh breath of revival during the Dark Ages. And, although he lived only seventeen years as the apostle to the poor, his example is an inspiration today to Christians of all denominations. This man who lived three centuries before Luther is called by Protestant church historian Phillip Schaff, "one of the spiritual lights of the Dark Ages."
