Francis of Assisi: From bon vivant to universal saint and holiday in Italy

There is hardly a figure in the history of Christianity in which contemporary witnesses and those born afterward recognized the revenant of Christ as reliably as in St. Francis of Assisi. He was born in 1181 or 1182 into a wealthy family of cloth merchants. At first he followed in his father's footsteps, showed off and took part in the skirmishes between his hometown and neighboring Perugia. There he was taken prisoner and languished in a dungeon for a year before, sick and emaciated, he was released after paying a ransom.

In 1205 he wanted to follow the Pope's call to crusade. But then, during night prayers in the half-ruined little church of San Damiano, the Savior himself appeared to him and said: “Go and rebuild my house.” The young Francesco soon understood that the call to renew the church was not meant literally, but figuratively. He threw all worldly splendor at the feet of his father, the bishop and the city leaders and spent the shorter second half of his life as a penniless itinerant preacher.

In his hermitage he spoke to the birds, tamed the wolves and prayed with the sun, moon and stars. The stigmata, the wounds of the crucified man, were also soon to appear on him.

Unusually quick canonization

In 1209, the charismatic man of God, who had quickly found followers, traveled with a few companions to Pope Innocent III. to Rome, where he actually gained the recognition of his community. The order of “Fratres Minores” (Brothers Minor) is the tribe from which the mendicant orders that still exist today grew, namely the Franciscan Order. Already in July 1228, less than two years after his death on the night of October 4, 1226, Francesco d'Assisi was crowned by Pope Gregory IX. canonized.

This unusually quick canonization was an early sign of the broad “connectivity” of the historical figure of Francis of Assisi, which continues to this day. The official Catholic church has benefited for centuries from the spiritual pop star, whose remains in the crypt of the basilica in Assisi attract up to five million pilgrims every year. Duce Mussolini adopted him in 1926 on the 700th anniversary of his death as a forerunner of the Brown Shirts who had shown fighting spirit, willingness to sacrifice and leadership.

The liberation theologians were inspired by the saint from Assisi, just as the secular-religious crusaders against man-made climate change pay homage to him today. Francis of Assisi has been the patron saint of Italy since 1939. According to a government decision, the anniversary of the death of the universal saint from Assisi will be celebrated as a public holiday again from this year - as it was from 1958 to 1977. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni justified the return to the custom by saying that Francis was a universally loved saint in whom the entire people recognized themselves. And the whole world too.