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Francis of Assisi
(718 words)

Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226), baptized Giovanni Bernardone, was the founder of the Franciscan Order. The son of a wealthy cloth merchant, Peter Bernardone, and his French wife, Pica, Francis experienced the kind of wild youth appropriate for a later saint. After participating in a war between his hometown Assisi and Perugia in 1202 and being held captive for a year, and after a lengthy illness, he underwent a conversion (§1) during the years 1204–7, the details of which are difficult to understand. In his testament Francis recounts an ascetically motivated en…

Cite this page
Löhr, Winrich A., “Francis of Assisi”, in: Encyclopedia of Christianity Online. Consulted online on 28 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2211-2685_eco_F189>
First published online: 2011
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004169678, 20080512



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