Saturday was the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. The story of St. Francis is more remarkable than I remember hearing growing up. So often we hear that he preached to the animals, loved nature, and things like that, but there is so much more to his life.
St. Francis grew up in a wealthy family. He was handsome and well-liked. Even though he was somewhat dissatisfied with his life of wealth, he didn’t give it up. That all changed in 1202, when a 21 year old Francis joined a military expedition to a nearby town in Italy and was taken prisoner for a year. During that year, he re-evaluated his life and things started to change. Over the next few years, he lost interest in the things of this world and sought out “Lady Poverty.” Some time after this, he had his famous vision in the San Damiano Church where God asked him to rebuild his Church.
This is where the accounts many of us know pick up. While the true story is a bit more complicated than is often depicted, St. Francis did abandon his inheritance and roam the countryside in poverty. He eventually started to gather his “brothers” around him, and began the Franciscan order. The full story quite literally fills entire books, so I’ll leave it there, because I’ve already mentioned the part that I find particularly inspiring about St. Francis.
He was decidedly not a saint at the beginning of his life. He needed to grow up and mature before he started to look like the beloved St. Francis we all know today. I find this inspiring, because it reminds me that no matter where I am in life, I can turn to the Lord and become a saint.