Life and Works of Francis of Assisi

Life and Works of Francis of Assisi

Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Order of the Friars Minor, which is also known as the Franciscan Order. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church. His teachings about living in poverty and humility were taken as an example by many people. Saint Francis’s important acts and experiences are described in the codex about his life and work. The work is adorned with 30 illustrations of charming simplicity.

Who was Francis of Assisi?

Numerous legends exist about the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, the veracity of which is not always verifiable. According to these legends, Francis lead a dissolute life in his youth, with his father’s money he treated his peers at feasts and often was the focus of these celebrations. In November of 1202, Francis is supposed to have gone off with soldiers from his hometown of Assisi to war against the neighboring city of Perugia, where Assisi was defeated. Francis and his fellow soldiers were taken into captivity as prisoners of war in Perugia. His came to question his reckless life through the experience of the war and was sick and shaken to the core when he was released. Francis increasingly withdrew from his circle of friends in this period and sought solitude.

God’s Call

He undertook a pilgrimage to Rome in 1205 and 1206, on which he, according to legend, traded clothes with a beggar in order to “try out” life in complete poverty. He began to live as a hermit. He went begging house to house for food. His referred to his voluntary poverty – in reference to chivalric ideas and courtly love songs – as his “mistress”. Francis lived according to the word of the Gospels, not only in a metaphorical sense. He understood the biblical texts as a call to thus live and act as did the twelve young men sent out by Jesus, the Apostles, namely to live in poverty and proclaim the Gospels. Based on the Gospels, Francis clothed himself from then on in a simple habit, which is held with a rope, strictly rejected possessions and even contact with money, and went barefoot when possible. His lifestyle came across scorn and mockery, but on the other hand, acted as a stimulus for numerous others of like mind. From the growing number of his followers arose the Order of the Friars Minor.

Modest Book Decoration

In keeping with the life of St. Francis of Assisi, the codex was furnished to tell the stories of his deeds and virtues. The work contains 30 miniatures, which are painted in light water colors and are contoured with ink. The pictures are modest and yet of high artistic quality. With few materials, the stories and experiences that are portrayed in the text are vividly depicted visually. Not all images were colored. In some places the text is adorned with colorful initials. The manuscript invites consideration and meditation about life in the Middle Ages, secluded from the influences of our modern time.