Saint Francis

Francis was born in Assisi, Umbria, in 1182. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant, and his mother, who belonged to a noble Provençal family, taught him from his tender childhood “the sweet speech of France.” Tradition holds that this was the reason his father, who had baptized him John, decided to henceforth call him Francesco, “the Frenchman.”
After a carefree youth, he converted and wished to renounce the goods of this world, embracing “Lady Poverty.” He soon had disciples and founded the Order of Friars Minor, the “Fraticelli.” Francis tirelessly preached the love of God: “Love is not loved,” he cried out as he walked the streets of Assisi, his eyes burning with tears. He also preached detachment from perishable goods, love for all people, forgiveness of offenses, mercy, peace, concord, and love for all creatures. His missionary fervor led him as far as the Holy Land and Egypt.
Two years before his death, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Christ granted him the stigmata of His Passion, in his hands, feet, and side. The Poverello was canonized by Pope Gregory X, barely two years after his death, in 1228.
On this icon, Saint Francis is depicted wearing the Franciscan habit, barefoot, blessing with his right hand, and holding in his left a unfurled phylactery inscribed with the first verse of his famous “Canticle of the Sun and Creatures” in Old Italian: « Laudato si mi Signore, cum tucte le tue creature… ».