FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 2012

“Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.

Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation.

Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice.

Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.”

FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Giovanni di Bernardone 

1182-1226

Italian monk, founder of the mendicant Order of Friars.

The Franciscans preferred poverty as an imitation of Christ to renunciation of the world; love and help to the condemnation of the rich; obedience and respect to fighting priests; apostolic missionary work to hermitage; acceptance of nature to self-torture; mystical joy to gloomy severity; hymns to God and the world to book prayers. The main virtues are:

Compassion,

Sympathy for Christ,

Joy in Christ,

Holy Misery,

Holy Love.

The main principle that binds all virtues and most fully expresses the essence of Franciscanism is imitation of Christ.