In honor of St Francis, I give you a poorly written paper on his life that I wrote the night before it was due during my undergrad. Good Times!
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The Life of St. Francis and the Art it Inspired
In the year 1182 in the small Umbrian city of Assisi,
Italy, a man was born who would forever change Christian art and thinking:
Francis Bernardone. Francis’ teaching
had a tremendous influence on art. One
look around Assisi and Francis’ influence cannot be missed. The Basilica of San Francesco, the most
noticeable monument to Francis that can be seen in Assisi, contains three
chapels - the upper church, the lower church, and the crypt chapel containing
the tombs of Francis and four of his brothers.
The upper church at San Francesco is decorated with many frescoes, but
28 stand out because they present the life of St. Francis. These paintings often referred to as the
“Legend/Life of St. Francis,” are believed to have been painted by Giotto di
Bondone and his school[1]. The Giotto sequence in the upper church
parallels the life of Francis to the life of Christ. This sequence is very significant in the art
and thought of the Church because it was the first time it had been done. Francis, whose life went from being a fighter
to a builder, was very important in the building of the kingdom of heaven.
Francis Bernardone was born into the
Assisi merchant class, his father a wealthy cloth merchant and his mother
thought to be from Province nobility; Francis was one of several children[2]. He was baptized at Santa Maria Maggiore in
Assisi, in the font that was moved to San Rufino at its completion (St Clare
was also baptized in this font). His
mother baptized him John after John the Baptist. However, when his father returned home from
business in France, he called him Francis.
Francis’ father taught him the family business. One day in his father’s shop, a beggar came
in and begged in the name of Christ of Francis and he turned him away only to
realize what he had done and tracked down the beggar so he may give him
something. It was that day that Francis
decided to never turn away anyone who begged of him in the name of Christ[3]. At the time of Francis’ birth, there were
three classes in Assisi, the nobility; which you could only be born into; the
merchant class; and the poor. During
this time, there was a struggle between the nobility and the merchant class. Francis, in his young adulthood wanted to
move up between the classes, so he became a knight and went off to fight. He participated in the revolt against the
German count, lord of Assisi and found himself imprisoned in Perugia. After his imprisonment, Francis became ill,
but at the first chance after he recovered his health, he set off to fight in
Apulia. Before he left, he encountered a
noble knight who was poverty stricken and exchanged cloaks with the man. Before his departure, Francis dreamt of a
room full of weapons. When he inquired
to whom they belonged, he was told they were his; thus, Francis set off the
next day to Apulia. When he reached
Spoleto, he had another dream where he was asked if it was better to serve the
master or servant. When he answered the
master, he was asked, “Why do you serve the servant instead of the master the
poor instead of the rich?” It was then
he realized the Lord was speaking to him, and he was instructed to return home
where he would be told what he was to do[4]. This was when Francis chose to take as his
bride Lady Poverty. He also decided to
take a pilgrimage to Rome to visit the tombs of the Apostles. When in Rome he exchanged clothing with a
beggar and sat at the door to St. Peter’s begging[5]. After his return to Assisi while in prayer at
San Damiano, the crucifix spoke to him and told him to “rebuild my
church.” Francis took this message
literally as the church of San Damiano had fallen into ruin; thus, he began to
physically rebuild the church of San Damiano.
Francis got the money to rebuild the church by taking cloth from his
father’s shop and selling it to pay for the materials. Francis’ father was not happy with him taking
the cloth from his shops and spending the profits, so he imprisoned Francis in
a closet. During his father’s absence,
his mother released him. He took refuge
at San Damiano with the priest there until his father called him before the
civil authorities to force him to give up his inheritance where Francis
declared that since had he was no longer under civil jurisdiction since he had
entered the service of God. Thus he was
called before the Bishop where he removed his clothing and gave them to his
father, denouncing him saying, “Hitherto I have called you my father on earth;
henceforth I desire to say only ‘Our Father who art in Heaven.’”[6] Legend has it that the Bishop wrapped his
cloak around Francis symbolizing the acceptance of his mission by the
Church. After this, Francis continued
his mission to rebuild the church, begging for stones; he repaired San Damiano,
Saint Peter’s, and the shrine of the Porziuncola. Francis took on the lifestyle of poverty as
directed in the gospel and was joined by three followers - Bernard of
Quintavalle, Peter of Cattaneo, and Giles.
The four went out in pairs, making an impression with their words and
behavior. As a result, it was not long
before several people grouped themselves around Francis ready to share his
poverty[7]. When their numbers had reached eleven, the
first rule of the Friars minor was composed, and the friars set out for Rome to
gain the approval of the Holy See. At
first Innocent III rejected them. It is
said that Innocent, the Pope at the time, had a dream that Francis was holding
up the Basilica of St. John Lateran, and he asked to speak to Francis and he
gave verbal approval for his order. In
1211 due to the generosity of the Benedictines, Francis and his brothers were
given the Porziuncola, the chapel of St. Mary of the angels. The first Franciscan convent was established
by there by the building of several huts, shortly after Francis and the friars
were joined by new recruits, among them Angelus Tancredi, Leo and Rufinus[8]. In 1212, Clare joined Francis order. On Palm Sunday, at the age of eighteen, after
being impressed by Francis’ preaching, Clare ran away from her father’s house
to the Porziuncula where she was received by Francis and his brothers. Francis clothed her in a “rough tunic and a
thick veil”[9]
and cut her hair. Because there was no
women’s convent, Francis arranged for Clare to stay with the local Benedictine
sisters. She remained there until her
sister had joined her, whose name was changed to Agnes because Clare’s prayers
saved her from being drug away by the twelve, armed men her father sent to
fetch her[10]. Francis established them in a convent
adjacent to San Damiano, now in good condition by the work of Francis’ hands[11]. Clare and her sisters took a very strict vow
of poverty, to have nothing but what the brothers could beg for them. Cardinal Ugolino, who was named protector of
the order, thought it was unrealistic for the cloistered sisters to live off
only what the brothers could gain for them by begging. Therefore, he set up the sisters’ rule very
much like that of the Benedictine sisters.
Clare was not satisfied with this; she wanted the privilege of poverty,
to be able to rely solely on begging and God’s providence. Clare spent a good part of her life asking
the popes to approve her rule and finally, two days before she died, Innocent
IV “solemnly confirmed the definitive Rule of the Clares.”[12] Clare had a special devotion to the Holy
Eucharist. She is often depicted holding
a ciborium because during the attacks of Frederick II Clare stood at the
doorway to the sisters’ dwelling at San Damiano holding the ciborium and the
men fled[13]. Clare is responsible for starting the second
order of the three orders of Franciscans, the Poor Clares. When Clare died, the people of Assisi wanted
her body inside the city because twice the prayers of she and the sisters saved
the city from destruction. In homage,
they erected the Basilica of Santa Chiara as a monument for her just as they
erected San Francesco for Francis because she is his female equivalent[14]. When Francis wanted to give his life wholly
over to contemplation, become a hermit, Clare convinced him to keep his
presence in the world, although for the most part Francis never truly separated
the active and the contemplative life[15]. However, Francis often hiked up Mount Subasio
to the Carceri, caves in the limestone called prisons, with his brothers Leo
and Rufinus, to spend time alone in contemplative prayer[16];
each had a cave to themselves at the hermitage.
Many stories are attributed to Francis illustrating his
control over creation. For instance, the
story of Francis silencing the birds, he and one of his brothers were at a
Venetian Lagoon and they heard some birds singing. Francis and his brother decided they should
sing their office with the birds, but the birds were so loud that they could
not hear each other, so Francis asked the birds to be quiet until they had
finished praying, and the birds were silent until Francis told them to sing
again[17]. Also the story of “the Miracle of the
Spring,” Francis, feeling ill and weak was riding on a donkey leant to him by a
peasant, when the peasant started complaining of thirst. Francis asked for God’s assistance, and water
sprang forth from a rock, where never before had water been found and water has
not been found since. This creates
parallel between Francis and Moses, making water flow from a rock[18]. Francis had a great love of creation, which
could possibly be attributed to the Albigencian heresy, the belief that Jesus
was only true God, and not true man.
Francis fought this heresy by emphasizing the humanity of Christ
creating the first nativity scene, Christmastime of the year 1223. He also placed a great emphasis on the
Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, possibly even starting the
devotion of the Stations of the Cross.
In his fight against Albigencianism, Francis chose to celebrate the humanity
of Christ, and the goodness of all creation, in a time when creation and
humanity were thought to be evil. In
1216, while he was in prayer at the Porziuncula, Christ appeared to Francis and
offered him any favor he desired.
Francis being concerned greatly with the salvation of souls, he asked
for a plenary indulgence for those who confess their sins in the Porziuncula[19]. This was early in the pontificate of Honorius
III, he agreed, but limited the indulgence to just one day, August 2[20]. Francis’ preaching drew large crowds. People were “allured by the magic spell of
his presence, admiring crowds, unused for the rest to anything like popular
preaching in the vernacular, followed Francis from place to place hanging on
his lips . . . the extraordinary enthusiasm with which the saint was everywhere
welcomed was equaled only by the immediate and visible result of his preaching”[21]. Francis was very influential in the rise of
the vernacular, he preached in the vernacular and wrote in the vernacular, for
example his famous “Canticle of the Creatures” was written in his dialect.
The Third Order of Franciscans, the Brothers And Sisters of
Penance was founded somewhere around the year 1221 in Camara, a small village
near Assisi where the people were so moved by what Francis taught they wanted
to be part of his community. Third Order
Franciscans are not to “carry arms, or take oaths, or engage in lawsuits, etc.”[22] The event that symbolizes the culmination of
paralleling Francis’ life to Christ occurred in September of 1224; Francis
becomes the first person to receive the wounds of Christ, the stigmata. “The saints right side was described as
bearing an open wound which looked as if made by a lance, and while through his
hands and feet were black nails of flesh, the points of which were bent
backward.”[23] At the reception of the stigmata, Francis’
body was already weak and the pains that cause were tremendous. Two years later, when he felt death was near,
Francis asked to be taken to the Porziuncula, so that he might die in the place
he loved so much. Francis died October
3, 1226. After his death, his body was
taken by the church of San Damiano so that Clare and her sisters might say their
goodbyes and venerate the stigmata, and Francis’ body was buried in the church
of St. George in Assisi until the double Basilica of San Francesco could be
built. It is said that the saint wanted
to be buried on Colle d’Inferno, a hill west of Assisi that served as the
gallows[24],
and it is on that spot that the Basilica of San Francesco stands today.
The construction of the basilica
took twenty-seven years to build the entire complex, both upper and lower
church. Nevertheless, by the year 1230,
the lower church of the basilica was ready to receive the body of St. Francis,
and he is buried under the main altar in the lower church where in the
nineteenth century the crypt chapel was built around his tomb. Attached to the Basilica of San Francesco is
a convent for Franciscan friars, the entire complex of the churches and the convent
is thirteen stories tall. Between the
two levels, the basilica is decorated with the most frescoes in one location,
depicting scenes from the Old Testament, the Life of Jesus, the life of St.
Francis, and the virtues. Frescoes have
been nicknamed the poor man’s art, as they provide a good teaching tool for the
illiterate. At this time, the majority
of the world could not read so the churches were decorated with frescoes that
told the message the Church wanted taught.
One of the most famous fresco painters at the time the Basilica of San
Francesco was being decorated was Giotto di Bondone.
Giotto was born in 1266 in a village near Florence. He was a student of Cimabue. Around 1290, he began work on the upper bays
of the upper church at San Francesco and painted the St. Francis cycle from
1296 to 1299. Not all of the 28 frescoes
in this cycle can be attributed to Giotto; his school did some. Some consider Giotto the greatest gothic
painter because his style made the definitive break between the Byzantine and
Italian Gothic styles. Giotto began to
model his figures, making them appear to have three dimensions, and began to
create the illusion of space in his paintings.
Some think the images of St. Francis painted by Giotto in the upper
church bear the closet resemblance to the way the saint actually looked. The upper Church is the first time that the
life of a man was ever paralleled to the life of Christ.
The second painting in the cycle is of Francis giving his
cloak to a knight of noble birth who was very poor. As far as the paintings of Giotto go, this
was one of the first in the cycle he painted; his style is set and
distinguishable by this point. This
painting is stylistically set up to divine the religious and secular life, with
the town of Assisi on the left and the Abbey of San Benedetto on the right[25].
The next painting is the vision of the palace. This depicts Francis’ dream while on his way
to Apuila to become a knight of a building full of weapons. When he asks to whom they belong he is told
they are for him and his soldiers, he takes this to mean he is supposed to be a
knight. Until he is asked, “who is it
better to serve a servant or the master?” to which Francis replied, “the master
of course,” and the voice responds, “then why do you serve the servant?” It was then that Francis knew it was God and
the Lord and returned to Assisi to discover God’s plan for him[26].
This is followed by the miracle of the crucifix After his
dream, Francis was praying before the painted crucifix at the church of San
Damiano just outside the city of Assisi and from the crucifix, three times the
voice of Jesus told Francis to go and rebuild his Church. Which actually alluded to the Church of Rome,
but Francis set out to rebuild the church of San Damiano that had fallen into a
state of near ruin. He continued to
rebuild two other churches before he came to understand that he was being
called to rebuild the Body of Christ, not the church buildings[27]. Once he got the message, Francis made quite a
difference in the rebuilding of the Church.
The next fresco shows Francis disowning his father. At the top of the painting in the center
there is a hand with two fingers extended that lines up with Francis’
outstretched hand, as if to communicate God’s approval of Francis’ choice. In addition, in this painting the hand of
Francis’ father is being held to prevent him from hitting Francis. The bishop wrapping his cloak around Francis
symbolizes the Church accepting and embracing Francis’ mission[28].
After Francis had gathered some followers, he drafted up a
rule of life for them, and went to get the order approved by the pope at the
time, Innocent III. He would not see
him, until after one night when Innocent had a dream that a “miserable little
poor man” was holding up the Basilica of St. John Lateran, and he recognized
him as the beggar outside the church and asked to speak to him and the Friars
Minor were a recognized order.
The next painting in the cycle represents this. Following the Dream of Innocent III is the
painting of the Confirmation of the rule.
This painting shows Innocent III giving Francis verbal approval for his
order. Thus, Francis had authorization
to preach the Gospel[29].
Another important thing that Francis did was to create the
first nativity scene. Francis celebrated
creation in a time when most people saw all creation as evil, and the biggest
heresy of the time insisted that Jesus was not true man because humanity was
evil. So what did Francis do? He celebrated the humanity of Christ,
Christmas time, 1223; Francis sets up the first nativity scene to commemorate
the birth of Christ, a celebration of Christ humanity, which at the time flew
in the face of everything everyone believed in.
Francis not only celebrated the birth of Christ but also held very dear
the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, also emphasizing Christ humanity
because if Christ was not human he could not have suffered or died for our
sins. Francis was also greatly concerned
with the salvation of man, and Christ dying for the sins of man is very
important in that. This painting of the
crib at Greccio is very important because it shows Francis’ focus on the
humanity of Christ and in turn all creation.
The next painting in the cycle is the miracle of the spring,
when Francis was on his way to Mount La Verna and riding on the donkey of a
poor laborer because he was very weak and ill, and that laborer complained of
great thirst. Francis asked God for
assistance, and from a rock sprang water, where water had never before flown
and has never flown since. This painting
was largely done by one of the followers of Giotto, not Giotto himself[30].
The painting that truly emphasizes the parallel between
Francis and Christ is the one depicting the impression of the Stigmata. This is important because it shows that
Francis’ life was similar enough to Christ’s that he was worthy of suffering
the wounds of Christ. This painting
shows the six-winged seraph impressing on Francis the five wounds of Christ,
nails in the hands and feet and a wound on his side. The stigmata caused Francis’ already frail
body very much pain[31].
The cycle continues with a painting of Francis’ death. He died near the Porziuncula his beloved
chapel, in a hut that served as the infirmary.
This painting depicts the night of his passing with all the brothers,
and the ascension of his soul to heaven.
Francis considered the porziuncula the place where he had received true
life, and that is why he wanted to die near there. The spot where he died is now the Chapel of
the Transitus in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, located next to a
convent of Franciscan friars. It is said
that the brothers who were with Francis when he died witnessed his soul
ascending to heaven, received by a star[32].
The life of St. Francis was very influential in reforming
the religious life of the Church of the Middle Ages, as well as changing
Christian thinking and art. Francis
truly took the Lord’s command to him to “rebuild my Church” to heart, and he
accomplished his mission in two ways, he physically rebuilt three churches and
with the foundations of the Three orders of Franciscans, he was very
influential in the rebuilding of the Church as the Body of Christ. He chose to live a life of poverty at a time
when most members of the clergy and religious life were living lives of luxury
and wealth. Francis truly lived the
Gospel; it is no wonder that the saying, “Preach the Gospel, use words if
necessary” is attributed to him. He
truly lived the Gospel and saved his preaching for the times that his brothers
just did not get the message. Francis
truly was the great builder.
[1]
Although some believe that neither Giotto nor his school painted them
[2]
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Francis of Assisi
[3]
St Francis of Assisi Von Matt pg 3
[4]
Ibid. Pg 9
[5]
Ibid. Pg 11
[6]
Catholic Encyclopedia: St Francis of Assisi
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Ibid.
[9]
Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Clare of Assisi
[10]
Dictionary of Saints pg 148
[11]
Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Clare of Assisi
[12]
Ibid.
[13]
Ibid.
[14]
Ibid.
[15]
Catholic Encyclopedia: St Francis
[16]
Von Matt pg 31
[17]
Ibid. Pg 37
[18]
Ibid. Pg 45 and Dozzini pg 35
[19]
Catholic Encyclopedia: St Francis
[20]
Ibid.
[21]
Ibid.
[22]
Ibid.
[23]Ibid.
[24]
Ibid.
[25]
Dozzini Pg 11
[26]
Ibid. Pg 13
[27]
Ibid. Pg15
[28]
Ibid. Pg 17
[29]
Ibid. Pg 21
[30]
Ibid. Pg. 35
[31]
Ibid. Pg 45
[32]
Ibid. Pg 47
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