Francis Of Assisi Chapter Summary

Francis of Assisi is a comprehensive biography of one of the most holy and influential saints in medieval times written by Andre Vauchez. The book gives us insight into the life of Francesco di Bernadone, known to the Catholic Church as St. Francis of Assisi and the founder of the Order of Friars Minor, and his charismatic effects on the church and medieval society. Vauchez paints an embellishing picture of the charismatic St. Francis being a revolutionary idealist born in 1181 or 1182 that challenged the corruption of the Catholic Church and the average medieval Catholic’s way of life. St. Francis poised Catholics, should they want to live without sin, to live in the footsteps of Jesus Christ as was written in scripture and brought with him an onslaught of followers that forced the medieval Catholic community to adapt, though, not without resistance. To
Jesus believed in equality amongst all peoples, to treat those that are outcasts, lepers, thieves, and sinners alike. No one person, no matter how important to a nation or church, was above another. Those within the church and within Italian society, like the northern communes which had a hierarchy of classes like the populo grasso, signori, contado, and populo minute, were all considered equal to the Friar Minors. St. Francis believed that even women, pagans, and the Saracens were all equal and deserved the same treatment as Catholic men. By a lone man and his fraternity, this posed a threat to the status quo of Italian society and the powers of the church at the time. In 1218, Honorius III led a Crusade against the Saracens, as his predecessor, Innocent III, called Muhammed, founder of Islam and religious figurehead of the Saracens, the devil, and in 1219, St. Francis arrived at Damietta where the battles were being held. There he crossed over to the Saracen’s side to talk to and try to convert the Sultan, al-Malik