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" (Wolf 19) the author Kenneth Wolf in his work, the Poverty of Riches: St. Francis of Assisi Reconsidered, points out the irony that you had to be rich in the first place in order to truly choose to give away your worldly possessions. (20) in that sense, Francis' poverty was a "spiritually therapeutic exercise for men of means;" poor people were incapable of participating in this aspect fully because they could never really understand the "spiritual hardship" of giving up comfort. (Wolf 21)
For the children of wealthy families in thirteenth century Italy, Francis offered a path to meaning and purpose for lives filled with luxury. The conscious decision to give up the trappings of earthly pleasure was a very ostentatious and overt form of piety. In Rule VI of the final Rule of the Franciscan Order, it states:
This is that peak of the highest poverty which has made you, my dearest brothers, heirs and kings of the kingdom of heaven, poor in things but rich in virtues. Let this be your portion. It leads into the land of the living and, adhering totally to it, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ wish never to have anything else in this world, beloved brothers. (St. Francis)
By calling voluntary poverty the "highest" form, this message certainly...
Wolf argues that this kind of sanctity would certainly have struck a chord with his fellow privileged members of society, as Catholic dogma preached justification through works, and what better way to prove your piety than to attempt a complete emulation and replication of the life of Christ. (79)
Although Francis came from the ranks of the merchant classes, and his message of voluntary poverty was tailored to their circumstances, his message also held great promise to the poor themselves. By preaching about the nobility of poverty, his order, in essence, put the poor up on a spiritual pedestal; this certainly would have drawn the lower classes to Francis and made him a heroic figure. Not only was the message powerful, but Francis himself was incredibly charismatic and fully committed to his ideals. As Wolf points out, his ability to "personify" Christ was surely key to his popularity and influence. (39) "In all of Christian sanctity, the line between the imitation of Christ and actual identification had never been so thin. (Wolf 41) for an audience of the medieval poor, who were mostly illiterate and unlearned, Francis' form of worship was very visceral and easy to understand. It was incredibly
Saint Francis of Assisi was born at Assisi in Umbria in either 1181 or 1182, the exact year of his birth is uncertain, and died there October 3, 1226 (Saint pp). One of several children, he was born into a wealthy family (Saint pp). His father, Pietro Bernardone, was a successful cloth merchant and his mother, Pica is said to have come from a noble family of Provence (Saint pp).
Clare of Assisi Saint Clare of Assisi was not a feminist in the modern sense, but then again no such ideas existed at all in the 13th Century. By all accounts, though, she was a formidable and powerful woman who was the first in history to found a religious order. In the society in which she was born, women were politically, socially and economically powerless, and quite literally the property of
Folklore-St. Joseph's Table In an online article posted by St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, St. Joseph is described as: "...the husband of the Virgin Mary and the adoptive father of Jesus Christ. He is the Patron Saint of fathers, families, house hunters, carpenters, workers, of Canada, of Peru, of social justice and of a happy death." Joseph is also honored as the patron saint of the poor and desperate and
They also believe that criticizing people that are intolerant however, like people that are Conservative Catholics, does no good because it only perpetuates harsh feelings toward other which is sinful. However, there are other individuals like Amy that believe Conservative Catholics are good people because they follow the original doctrine as laid forth by Jesus and God in the Bible. Amy suggests that "it is not ok to let homeless
Hero and Saint An Analysis of the Hero and the Saint from St. Francis to Kierkegaard's Abraham Francis of Assisi is one of the most famous saints of the Church and Dante is one its most famous literary heroes. St. Francis received his vocation at the beginning of the 13th century, while Dante had his celestial vision roughly some hundred years later. One was a friar, the other a poet. Yet both
Also, according to Luke, the "poor" may fall under a spiritual category, referring to individuals who are committed and humble and depend solely on God (Bartholomew, Green and Thiselton). Because Jesus ministry had no boundaries, Luke wrote that the church should also have no boundaries and should include the rich and the poor. One of Luke's greatest desires may have been for the church to include the rich and the