What did St. Francis of Assisi do that made him a saint?

Answer 1

His mission was to live a life of poverty, and to preach the Word of God which he did faithfully as long as he was able. With his community he was a major force in initiating a penitential movement in Italy. Francis saw many ups and downs in the development of his community, but he remained faithful to his call to poverty and preaching the Word of God.

He received the stigmata in 1224, the first case documented in the annals of history. (This rare phenomenon happens more often in western Catholicism than in the East; the person becomes like a living icon of the crucified Christ, bearing His five wounds on the hands, feet and side.) In his later years he was blind and seriously ill and died at Assisi on October 4, 1226.

Answer 2

At the end of this period (according to Jordanus, on February 24, 1209), a sermon which he heard on the Gospel of Matthew 10:9, where Christ tells his followers that they should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is upon them, and that they should take no money with them, that they should take no walking stick for the road, and that they should wear no shoes -- made such an impression on him that he decided to devote himself wholly to a life of apostolic poverty.

Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance. He was soon joined by his first follower, a prominent fellow townsman, the jurist Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work. Many other companions joined Francis, and reached the number of eleven within a year. In his humility Francis chose never to be ordained a priest, and the community lived as "fratres minores", in Latin, "lesser brothers". The Franciscans are sometimes called Friars Minor, a term derived from "fratres", in Latin, "brothers".

The brothers lived a simple life in the deserted lazar house of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression on their hearers by their earnest exhortations.

In 1209 Francis led his first 11 followers to Rome and asked the Pope's permission to found a new religious order and succeeded in gaining the approval of Pope Innocent III. At first his attempt to speak with the Pope was refused; but the following night, Innocent III saw in a dream the church was crumbling apart and a poor man appearing to hold it up. The next morning, recalling the poor man he had refused the day before, he recognized him as the man he saw in his dream, and decided to change his verdict the following day.

Answer 3

St. Francis lived a consecrated life, abandoning riches and social status in favour of a mystical union with God, even receiving the blessed stigmata. He founded the Fransiscans, or Friars Minor (in memory of what is written in Matthew 25:40-45), an order that is still strong today. His humility has been an example throughout the ages. His faith is best described in his own words:

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Answer 4

St. Francis founded the order of Franciscan monks, taking (& living) by the vows of poverty, chastity, and servitude. He is known for his love and care of animals, and the environment. Near the end of his life, his arms, feet, and side bore Christ's markings or a stigmata.

See the wonderful Zeffreli movie about his life: Brother Sun, Sister Moon.

Answer 5

It might also be noted that Francis came from one of the wealthiest families in Italy. He turned away from that wealth and inheritance, and accepted being disowned by his earthly father to serve his heavenly Fathwer, and to live as Jesus lived - literally, not just in the partial sense that most of us modern Christians do, trying to follow His teaching while living in relative luxury.

Francis and other great saints of the Church are clearly the products of Catholicism. They demonstrate what the Catholic Church possesses and offers to its members, when that limitless source of holiness and grace is actually accepted and lived. All too often people characterize Catholicism by those members of the Church who reject its teachings and turn away from the graces God pours out through it. Remember, you judge the value of a medicine by its effect on those who take it and use it faithfully, according to directions. If you judge its value by its effect on those who pour it down the sink, you will never have any real sense of the goodness or effectiveness of the medicine. Or God's Holy Church.

Answer 6

Opened-up a Hotel in San Fransico,,called it the St Francis