ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI AS A MODEL
One of these illustrious men whose praise will not cease to be sung in the history of the Church is St. Francis of Assisi, a man who in his quest for greatness abandoned all he owned to follow Christ.
St. Francis of Assisi was born into the wealthy family of Peter Bernardone in 1182. As a growing young man, he loved to make merry and celebrate with other young people like him. And since he was from a rich family he took pleasure in spending his family money feasting his friends who at some point considered him king of the youths. During this time of his life, he had an ambition to become famous and a great person. He engaged himself in lots of adventures to attain this goal, but God was actually preparing him for a greater honour. It was in this search for greatness that the hands of God touch Francis through various signs and manifestations. This made him to search for God the great king instead of worldly greatness. So he spent time praying in lonely places and in one of these moments of prayer the Lord spoke to him from an old crucifix in the church of St. Damian to go and repair His church. The turning point in his life came after his encounter with a poor leper, a sight which before his conversion he would flee from.
In St. Francis, we see a real model life of a saint. After his conversion, he gradually began to model his life after that of the crucified Christ his master. He began to lose interest in the things of the world. Instead of the rich garments he was used to wearing, he began to dress himself in poor clothes, frequenting churches and giving alms to the poor. And in his zeal to help the poor, Francis sold some of his father’s property. Francis’ indifference to luxury life and his new behavior infuriated his truculent father, who locked him up in a room with the hope that he Francis will change his mind. But when he realized that Francis was adamant, he dragged Francis before the bishop of Assisi to denounce his son. Filled with inner joy at his father’s gesture, Francis stripped himself of his clothing, and handing them over to his father, and said: “until now, I have called you my father, but from now on I can say without reserve, ‘our Father who art in heaven’” (Bonaventure, Major Life of St. Francis). With these words, Francis left the world to live a life penance, after the manner of the crucified Christ.
Francis’ mission became clear to him when he heard the Lord’s words to his disciples urging them to preach the kingdom of God and penance. Taking these words as if addressed to him personally, Francis set out to preach penance both in words and indeed, begging alms and helping the poor and lepers. He preached to both Christians and Muslims alike.
Francis’ new way of life soon attracted great number of people, rich and poor, noble and ignoble, men first then women, young and old, single and married, who through the guidance of the Holy Spirit he lead to holiness of life and continues to lead them today. He founded three Orders: the first, Order of Friars Minor, the second, Order of Poor Clare Nuns, and Order of lay faithful (now known as Secular Franciscan Order), for all caliber of people, married and single.
Few years before his death, Francis popularized the use of Christmas crib in Greccio and he received the sacred stigmata, the marks of the wounds of Christ in his body. During his life time as well as after his death, the Lord worked many miracles through him. He was so much in unity with nature that creatures obeyed him; he preached to birds, and tamed the wolf of Gubbio. He was in love with the whole of creation. The sun was his brother while the moon was his sister. Indeed he regards all creatures as his brothers and sisters, and exhorts them to praise the Lord of creation. Death was a sister to him, and on his death bed he said: “welcome my sister death”. Before his death on 3th, October 1226, he was a deacon. He was canonized two years later.
Today, Francis is really a famous fellow known throughout the world, to Christians and Muslims, to Catholics and non Catholics. He was an ambassador of peace. He is the patron of ecology, and his feast day is celebrated on October 4th.
SAINT FRANCIS’ MESSAGE FOR OUR YOUTHS
I wish to conclude this essay by positing that there are a lot of lessons we can draw from the life of St. Francis which will be of great benefit for our youths. Our contemporary society is beleaguered by inordinate pursuit of material wealth, power and fame, a situation which has led most Nigerian youths to have recourse to violence, occultism just to mention but a few. Francis once found himself in a similar situation in his day. Faced with this challenge, Francis combated this malady from a different direction. He confronted this situation both by speech and action. Instead of joining in the crowd, he embraced the gospel life. He chose to live a life of poverty and of peace in order to become great to teach us that the path to greatness is not the one of violence but the one of peace; integrity and dignity (cf. Adolphus Nwandu (editor), The Capuchin Franciscans in Nigeria. (2009), p. 114).
FRIAR CORNELIUS LIVINGSTONE IGHOFOSE OFMCap
