Christian Cyclopedia

(Giovanni Francesco Bernardone; ca. 1182–1226). B. Assisi, It.; resolved to imitate Christ's voluntary poverty ca. 1208; preached repentance and brotherly love; gathered followers; received papal approval; when the order was constituted in the technical sense, he resigned as minister-gen. 1221 and founded a tertiary order. Lover of nature; often pictured with birds. Regarded as one of the most lovable figures in the medieval ch. See also Aegidius of Assisi; Barefooted Monks; Clare of Assisi; Franciscans; Stigmatization; Tertiaries.

L. Salvatorelli, The Life of St. Francis of Assisi, tr. E. Sutton (New York, 1928); P. Sabatier, Life of St. Francis of Assisi, tr. L. S. Houghton (New York, 1894); O. Englebert, Saint Francis of Assisi, tr. E. M. Cooper, 2d Eng. ed. (Chicago, 1965); popular legends about Francis of Assisi are in Fioretti.*