St. Francis of Assisi The purpose of this resear

The purpose of this research is to construct a florilegium of the texts of St. Francis of Assisi. The plan of the research will be to set forth various texts relevant to the life, teachings, spirituality, and religious or secular convictions of St. Francis, whether from literary or autobiographical writings of his own, or from biographical sources treating of his life.

The impetus toward a florilegium of St. Francis (1182-1226 A.D.), plainly a medieval Christian with an insular world view, if the appellation The Age of Belief is to be taken as an appropriate description of the period not only before the Reformation but also just before the reduction and codification of orthodox Catholic theology by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), derives from the apparent philosophical anomaly between the persistent attractiveness of Francis to the popular mind amid the programmatic skepticism of the modern period that informs much of that mind. The simplicity of Francis's scheme of faith, both mystical and orthodox, and the survival of the Franciscan approach to Catholicism as a spiritual adumbration available despite the triumph of the orthodox canon in the institutional Church makes an exploration of Francis all the more a compelling subject for study. The resilience of Francis's peculiar brand of mysticism in a Church that by the end of the thirteenth century had become increasingly and militantly institutional has been noted in the past:

Two other great figures of the thirteenth ce

Related Essays

St. Augustine and St. Francis .... Francis of Assisi and The Soul's Journey into God. .... Although St. Francis may have stressed the importance of faith, still the clergy of the Church must do .... (2467 10 )

Conflict between Abelard and St. Bernard .... more different, perhaps, in both the way they arrived at their spirituality and in the way that they expressed them than Heloise and St. Francis of Assisi. .... (1805 7 )

Analysis & Definitions of Love .... Physical acts of love were taboo, except for ritualized expressions such as prayer and chanting. St. Francis of Assisi, by insisting on charitable acts .... (1821 7 )

Leadership .... organizations over time. In closing, someone asked St. Francis of Assisi, "Art thou St. Francis?" He answered, "Yes". And the man .... (3236 13 )

Ethical Dimensions of Leadership .... organizations over time. In closing, someone asked St. Francis of Assisi, "Art thou St. Francis?" He answered, "Yes". And the man .... (3236 13 )

cessfully begged for a meal. His fellow friar, Masseo, is unimpressed with the meager rations and the absence of eating implements; Francis calls the meal a treasure of which they are unworthy. He explains, And this is that which I esteem great treasure, where there is nothing prepared by human industry; but that which there is, is prepared by the Divine Providence, as may be manifestly seen in the bread which we have begged, in this beautiful table of rock and in this clear spring. Wherefore I will that we pray God that He make us to love with our whole heart the so noble treasure of holy Poverty, which hath God to servitor. . . . Companion mine, let us go to St. Peter and St. Paul and pray them that they will teach us and aid us to possess the immeasurable treasure of most holy Poverty; for she is a treasure so surpassing and so Divine that we are not worthy to possess it in our most vile vessels; for this is the celestial virtue whereby all earthly things and transitory are trodden under foot and every barrier is removed which might hinder the soul from freely uniting itself to the eternal God (Flowers 39-41). Whereupon Francis levitates his traveling companion and has the gift of a visitation from Saints Peter and Paul, who

Category: Philosophy - S