Was Francis of Assisi born poor?

No — the opposite. He was born in 1181 to a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi and spent his youth enjoying the privileges of that wealth, before a serious illness and a period of imprisonment during a local war led him to reconsider his life entirely.

When did Francis found the Franciscan order?

In 1209, after gathering a small group of like-minded followers committed to living in poverty and preaching in the style of the Gospels, which grew rapidly into what became the Franciscan order.

What happened at La Verna in 1224?

During a forty-day fast on the mountain of La Verna, Francis reported a vision, after which he was found bearing the stigmata — wounds corresponding to the crucifixion of Christ, on his hands, feet, and side — one of the first widely documented cases in Christian history.

Why is Francis associated with animals and nature?

His "Canticle of the Sun," written near the end of his life, praises God through the created world — sun, moon, wind, water, and "Brother Fire" — and countless legends describe him preaching to birds and taming wild animals, cementing his reputation as a patron of ecology and animal welfare.

Saint Francis of Assisi

A wealthy son who chose to have nothing

Francis's early life gave no hint of what was coming. Born in 1181 to a prosperous cloth merchant, he grew up with money, and by most accounts enjoyed spending it — until a period of illness following military service and imprisonment left him reconsidering the direction of his life. The break, when it came, was total and public: Francis renounced his inheritance in the town square of Assisi, reportedly removing even the clothes his father had given him, choosing deliberate poverty over the comfortable future that had been laid out for him.

Paolo Veronese, "Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata," 16th century, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice — public domain.

Founding a movement built on having nothing

By 1209, Francis had gathered a small circle of followers committed to living out the Gospel as literally as possible — owning nothing, begging for what they needed, and preaching openly rather than staying cloistered. What began as a handful of men in patched robes grew, within Francis's own lifetime, into one of the largest religious orders in the Church, and the model he set — radical simplicity, direct engagement with ordinary people, a refusal to accumulate anything — became the defining character of the Franciscan movement that still carries his name today.

The stigmata at La Verna

Near the end of his life, in 1224, Francis retreated to Mount La Verna for a forty-day fast leading up to the feast of Saint Michael. During that retreat he reported an intense vision, and afterward was found bearing the stigmata — wounds mirroring the crucifixion, appearing on his hands, feet, and side. It stands as one of the earliest and most thoroughly documented cases of this phenomenon in Christian history, and it deepened, for his followers, an already-clear sense that Francis's identification with the suffering of Christ was not simply devotional language but something he carried, quite literally, in his own body.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Toward the end of his life, nearly blind and in poor health, Francis composed the "Canticle of the Sun" — a hymn praising God through the created world itself: the sun, the moon, wind, water, and what he called "Brother Fire." Paired with the many legends that grew up around him, including his famous sermon to the birds, this vision of creation as a family of siblings under one Creator is why Francis remains, centuries later, one of the Church's clearest patrons of the natural world — a man who gave up every material possession he had, and found, in exchange, a kinship with everything that was left.