Who Is Saint Francis Of Assisi?

Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Di Pietro Di Bernardone in Assisi, Italy in late 1181 was one of seven children born to Pietro Di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant and his wife Pica de Bourlemont who was a noblewoman. Pietro after returning from business in France gave his son the nickname Francesco ("the Frenchman") when he was an infant, this is why he is known as Francis not Giovanni. Francis was a wealthy young man of privilege who served in the military and at one point was a prisoner of war. Francis, who had partied and indulged in sinful behaviour as a young man had a dream/vision where God told him he needed to change his sinful ways. After this vision Francis began to spend more time in prayer. While on a pilgrimage to
Saint Francis' followers and teachings have since spread from Italy to reach many parts of the world, including Europe, The United Kingdom, The U.S. and Canada. Francis believed that nature itself was the mirror of God. He had great compassion for the vulnerable, especially poor people, sick people, and animals. He called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters,” and even preached to the birds and communicated with animals. It was this love and devotion to God's creatures as well as Francis' belief that man's duty was to protect nature that led him to be known as the patron saint of animals and
This first nativity was displayed in a cave near Greccio with real people and animals, a 'living' nativity. Francis' nativity scene was meant to place the importance of Christmas on Jesus rather than materialism and gift giving. Francis was inspired to create the nativity scene on a trip to the Holy Land where he visited Jesus's traditional birthplace. The scene's popularity inspired communities throughout Catholic countries to create similar scenes of their own. Within a hundred years every church in Italy was expected to have a nativity scene at Christmastime. Nowadays at Christmas we can see Saint Francis' nativity scenes all over the world, in churches, homes, shopping malls and even public places like parks and town squares. Today there are many sizes and varieties of nativity scenes, made from all kinds of materials, such as terracotta, paper, wood, wax, ivory and plastic and still many Christmas gatherings include 'living' nativities similar to Saint Francis' original