Saint Francis of Assisi

Saint Francis of Assisi, was an Italian preacher, who founded the Franciscans. Born in Assisi, Italy and originally named Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, he appears to have received little formal education, even though his father was a wealthy merchant. He performed charities among the lepers and began working on the restoration of dilapidated churches. Francis?s change of character and his expenditures for charity angered his father, who legally disinherited him. Francis then discarded his rich …

…but it seems probable that they were knobby protuberances of the flesh, resembling the heads of nails. Francis was carried back to Assisi, where his remaining years were marked by physical pain and almost total blindness. He was canonized in 1228. In 1980, Pope John Paul II proclaimed him the patron saint of ecologists. In art, the emblems of St. Francis are the wolf, the lamb, the fish, birds, and the stigmata. His feast day is October 4.