Francis Of Assisi Analysis

Francis of Assisi, occasionally regarded as the “hippie of the saints” and the lover of animals, lived from 1181-1226. At the beginning of his life, he lived a rather well-to-do lifestyle, with a carefree view on life. He partied, got drunk, and hung out with friends- Francis was your average medieval teenager, who had a generally happy view on life. In young adulthood, though, Francis was enlisted in a feud with a neighboring city, and was captured. There, he became ill and, once released, went home to recover. It was at this point in his life that he turned to the Church for guidance, and became a religious man. Years after he turned to God, Francis has was worshiping on a mountainside, when he had vision of a divine figure, and woke up with the markings of Christ’s stigmata on his hands, feet, and side. It is in this paper that I observe multiple views various historians have of Francis’s
I have a natural tendency to take a strictly observational approach when learning about or studying anything having to do with religion, but this approach also makes me slightly skeptical of all of the religious stories I read or learn about. Of the various views of Francis’s stigmata that were presented in this paper, I find myself siding with Spoto. I like the fact that he looks at any possible historical influences that occur when people of the time tried to give a description of Francis’s stigmata, and approve of and agree with his suggestion that Francis’ saw his suffering from illness as a parallel to Jesus’ suffering on the Cross, and saw his physical marks from his illness as something similar to Jesus’ Stigmata. It was this intensity that Francis had with his worship of God that allowed him and his followers to honestly believe that Francis had been blessed with the