{"id":"st-francis-assisi","name":"St. Francis of Assisi","title":"Founder of the Franciscan Order","knownFor":"Radical Poverty, Love for Creation, Stigmatist","feastDay":"October 4","lifespan":"c. 1181-1226","patronOf":"Animals, Ecology, Italy","shortBio":"The son of a wealthy merchant who renounced everything to follow Christ in absolute poverty. Founded the Franciscan Orders and received the stigmata, becoming the 'Mirror of Christ.'","fullBio":"Born Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone to a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, Francis lived a carefree youth filled with luxury and dreams of knighthood. Captured in battle and imprisoned in Perugia, he began to reconsider his life.\n\nAfter a vision at San Damiano where Christ told him to \"rebuild My church,\" Francis began physically repairing churches. His dramatic public renunciation of his father and inheritance marked his complete conversion. He embraced \"Lady Poverty\" and began attracting followers.\n\nIn 1209, he received papal approval for his new religious order. Francis created the first Christmas nativity scene in Greccio and composed the Canticle of the Sun. His profound love for all creation made him speak to animals as brothers and sisters.\n\nIn 1224, while in prayer on Mount La Verna, he received the stigmata - the wounds of Christ - becoming the first recorded person to bear these marks. He died in 1226 at the Portiuncula, the little chapel he had restored.","miracles":["Received the stigmata - the five wounds of Christ","Tamed the Wolf of Gubbio through peaceful negotiation","Preached to the birds who listened attentively","Multiplied food for his friars","Appeared in visions to save ships from storms"],"imageUrl":"https://page.gensparksite.com/v1/base64_upload/9820802aca447fe4412f2ede2e238c58","imageAttribution":"Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1633). Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium. Oil on canvas","orderByDate":1226}