born July 16, 1194, Assisi, duchy of Spoleto died Aug. 11, 1253, Assisi; canonized 1255; feast day August 11 Founder of the order of Poor Clares (Clarissines). Born to a noble family, she became devoted to her fellow Assisian St. Francis. She refused to marry and in 1212 fled to the Porziuncola Chapel, where St. Francis received her vows. She later became abbess of a female religious community that included her sister, St. Agnes, and her mother. Her order, the Second Order of St. Francis, or Poor Clares, adopted the absolute poverty of St. Francis but was strictly cloistered, unlike its counterpart, the Franciscans. Still allied with the Franciscans, the Poor Clares are noted for their poverty and their life of penitential prayer led for the good of church and society
{i} (c.1182-c.1226, born Giovanni di Bernardone) Italian monk who preached simplicity and poverty and humility before God, founder of the Franciscan order
orig. Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone born 1181/82, Assisi, duchy of Spoleto died Oct. 3, 1226, Assisi; canonized July 16, 1228; feast day October 4 Italian saint and founder of the Franciscan religious order. Born into a wealthy family, he was a soldier and prisoner of war before he experienced a conversion in his early 20s. He sold his property, gave the proceeds to the church, and began a life of poverty and devoutness. He soon attracted followers, whom he sent to preach throughout Europe, and in 1209 Innocent III gave approval for the Franciscan order. The Rule of St. Francis stressed the need to imitate the life of Jesus. In many ways a mystic, Francis viewed all nature as a mirror of God, calling all creatures his brothers and sisters. In 1212 he allowed formation of an order for women, called the Poor Clares. In 1219 he went to Egypt, preached to the sultan, and visited the holy places of Jerusalem. In 1224, after a vision, he became the first person to receive the stigmata. His influence helped restore popular faith in a church much corrupted by wealth and political aspirations
an Italian Christian leader who started the Franciscan order (=a group of religious men who live and pray together) . He is famous for his love of nature, and is often shown in pictures surrounded by birds and animals (1182-1226)