Saint Francis of Assisi

Who is This Francis of Assisi?

Founder of the Franciscan Order

Saint Francis was born in either 1181 or 1182
in the Italian hill town of Assisi.

His parents, Pietro and Pica, were members of the rather well to do merchant class of Assisi.
Pietro was away in France when his son was born.
Pica had the infant saint baptized Giovanni Bernadone. Upon his return, Pietro
had the boy's name changed from Giovanni to Francesco ("the Little Frenchman" perhaps
a tribute to France, a country he loved and from which his wife's family came).

Of the youth of Francis we know very little.
He probably received a bit of schooling from the priests of his parish church
of San Giorgio. He spoke and sang in French, a language he probably
learned at home. He had a ready wit, sang merrily,
delighted in fine clothes and showy display. Handsome, gay, gallant, and
courteous, he soon became the prime favourite among the young nobles of
Assisi, the foremost in every feat of arms, the leader of the civil revels, the very
king of frolic. But even at this time Francis showed an instinctive sympathy with
the poor, and though he spent money lavishly, it still flowed in such channels as
to attest a princely magnanimity of spirit.

When about twenty, Francis went out with the townsmen to fight the Perugians
in one of the petty skirmishes so frequent at that time between the rival cities.
The Assisians were defeated on this occasion, and Francis, being among those
taken prisoners, was held captive for more than a year in Perugia. A low fever
which he there contracted appears to have turned his thoughts to the things of
eternity; at least the emptiness of the life he had been leading came to him
during that long illness. With returning health, however, Francis's eagerness after
glory reawakened and his fancy wandered in search of victories; at length he
 resolved to embrace a military career, and circumstances seemed to favour his
aspirations. A knight of Assisi was about to join "the gentle count", Walter of
Brienne, who was then in arms in the Neapolitan States against the
emperor, and Francis arranged to accompany him. His biographers tell us that
the night before Francis set forth he had a strange dream, in which he saw a vast
hall hung with armour all marked with the Cross. "These", said a voice, "are for
you and your soldiers." "I know I shall be a great prince", exclaimed Francis
exultingly, as he started for Apulia. But a second illness arrested his course at
Spoleto. There, we are told, Francis had another dream in which the same voice
bade him turn back to Assisi. He did so at once. This was in 1205.

Although Francis still joined at times in the noisy revels of his former comrades,
his changed demeanour plainly showed that his heart was no longer with them; a
yearning for the life of the spirit had already possessed it. His companions
twitted Francis on his absent-mindedness and asked if he were minded to be
married. "Yes", he replied, "I am about to take a wife of surpassing fairness."
She was no other than Lady Poverty whom Dante and Giotto have wedded to his
name, and whom even now he had begun to love. After a short period of
uncertainty he began to seek in prayer and solitude the answer to his call; he
had already given up his gay attire and wasteful ways. One day, while crossing
  the Umbrian plain on horseback, Francis unexpectedly drew near a poor leper.
The sudden appearance of this repulsive object filled him with disgust and he
instinctively retreated, but presently controlling his natural aversion he
dismounted, embraced the unfortunate man, and gave him all the money he had.
 About the same time Francis made a pilgrimage to Rome. Pained at the miserly
offerings he saw at the tomb of St. Peter, he emptied his purse thereon. Then, as
if to put his fastidious nature to the test, he exchanged clothes with a tattered
mendicant and stood for the rest of the day fasting among the horde of beggars
 at the door of the basilica.

Not long after his return to Assisi, whilst Francis was praying before an ancient
crucifix in the forsaken wayside chapel of San Damiano (a tumbledown and nearly abandoned church
below the town ) he heard a voice saying:
"Go, Francis, and repair my house, which as you see is falling
into ruin." Taking this behest literally, as referring to the ruinous church wherein
he knelt, Francis went to his father's shop, impulsively bundled together a load of
 coloured drapery, and mounting his horse hastened to Foligno, then a mart of
some importance, and there sold both horse and stuff to procure the money
needful for the restoration of a tumbledown and nearly abandoned church called San Damiano.
In obedience with the voice he heard in the church, Francis began to lierally
"rebuild the church". With his own hands he began to rebuild the walls of San Damiano.

Pietro may have been indulgent of Francis' adolescent recklessness and frivolity,
but he was outraged by Francis' generosity to the poor and leprous of the city.
Francis was dragged home by his father,
 beaten, bound, and imprisoned in the family cellar.

Freed by his mother during Bernardone's absence, Francis returned at once to
San Damiano, where he found a shelter with the officiating priest, but he was
soon cited before the city consuls by his father. Not content with
   having recovered the scattered gold from San Damiano, Pietro sought also to force his
son to forego his inheritance. This Francis was only too eager to do; he declared,
however, that since he had entered the service of God he was no longer under
civil jurisdiction. Having therefore been taken before the bishop, Francis stripped
himself of the very clothes he wore, and gave them to his father, saying: "Hitherto
 I have called you my father on earth; henceforth I desire to say only 'Our Father
who art in Heaven.'" Then and there, as Dante sings, were solemnized Francis's
nuptials with his beloved spouse, the Lady Poverty, under which name, in the
mystical language afterwards so familiar to him, he comprehended the total
 surrender of all worldly goods, honours, and privileges. And now Francis
wandered forth into the hills behind Assisi, improvising hymns of praise as he
went. "I am the herald of the great King", he declared in answer to some robbers,
who thereupon despoiled him of all he had and threw him scornfully in a snow
drift. Naked and half frozen, Francis crawled to a neighbouring monastery and
there worked for a time as a scullion. At Gubbio, whither he went next, Francis
obtained from a friend the cloak, girdle, and staff of a pilgrim as an alms.
Returning to Assisi, he traversed the city begging stones for the restoration of St.
Damian's. These he carried to the old chapel, set in place himself, and so at
length rebuilt it. In the same way Francis afterwards restored two other deserted
 chapels, St. Peter's, some distance from the city, and St. Mary of the Angels, in
the plain below it, at a spot called the Porziuncola. Meantime he redoubled his
 zeal in works of charity, more especially in nursing the lepers.

On a certain morning in 1208, probably 24 February, Francis was hearing Mass
     in the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, near which he had then built himself a
  hut; the Gospel of the day told how the disciples of Christ were to possess
   neither gold nor silver, nor scrip for their journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a
staff, and that they were to exhort sinners to repentance and announce the
 Kingdom of God. Francis took these words as if spoken directly to himself, and
so soon as Mass was over threw away the poor fragment left him of the world's
 goods, his shoes, cloak, pilgrim staff, and empty wallet. At last he had found his
vocation. Having obtained a coarse woolen tunic of "beast colour", the dress then
worn by the poorest Umbrian peasants, and tied it round him with a knotted rope,
 Francis went forth at once exhorting the people of the country-side to penance,
brotherly love, and peace.  The little band divided and
went about, two and two, making such an impression by their words and
behaviour that before long several other disciples grouped themselves round
 Francis eager to share his poverty.

Francis, realizing the need for approval of the Church to carry out his work,
wrote down his simple Rule of Life ( based on the three vows of
            obedience, poverty, and chastity, special stress however being laid on poverty,
    which Francis sought to make the special characteristic of his order ), and set out with his band to the Holy See. Pope Innocent, moved it is said by a dream in which he
beheld the Poor Man of Assisi upholding the tottering Lateran, gave a verbal
sanction to the rule submitted by Francis and granted the saint and his
      companions leave to preach repentance everywhere. Before leaving Rome they
all received the ecclesiastical tonsure, Francis himself being ordained deacon later on.

The Benedictines of Monte Subasio gave them the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels or the
Porziuncola. Adjoining this humble sanctuary, already dear to Francis, the first
Franciscan convent was formed by the erection of a few small huts or cells of
wattle, straw, and mud, and enclosed by a hedge. From this settlement, which
became the cradle of the Franciscan Order (Caput et Mater Ordinis) and the
central spot in the life of St. Francis, the Friars Minor went forth two by two
 exhorting the people of the surrounding country. Like children "careless of the
 day", they wandered from place to place singing in their joy, and calling
themselves the Lord's minstrels. The wide world was their cloister; sleeping in
haylofts, grottos, or church porches, they toiled with the labourers in the fields,
and when none gave them work they would beg. In a short while Francis and his
companions gained an immense influence, and men of different grades of life and
ways of thought flocked to the order.

During the Lent of 1212, a new joy, great as it was unexpected, came to Francis.
Clare, a young heiress of Assisi, moved by the saint's preaching at the church of
St. George, sought him out, and begged to be allowed to embrace the new
manner of life he had founded. By his advice, Clare, who was then but eighteen,
secretly left her father's house on the night following Palm Sunday, and with two
companions went to the Porziuncola, where the friars met her in procession,
carrying lighted torches. Then Francis, having cut off her hair, clothed her in the
Minorite habit and thus received her to a life of poverty, penance, and seclusion.
Clare stayed provisionally with some Benedictine nuns near Assisi, until Francis
 could provide a suitable retreat for her, and for St. Agnes, her sister, and the
other pious maidens who had joined her. He eventually established them at St.
Damian's, in a dwelling adjoining the chapel he had rebuilt with his own hands,
which was now given to the saint by the Benedictines as domicile for his spiritual
daughters, and which thus became the first monastery of the Second Franciscan
Order of Poor Ladies, now known as Poor Clares.

When St. Francis was in Assisi, he often visited Saint Clare.
The two saints shared a deep bond in their spiritual love for the Lord.

Very early in the pontificate of Honorius III, is placed the concession of the famous Porziuncola
Indulgence. It is related that once, while Francis was praying at the Porziuncola,
Christ appeared to him and offered him whatever favour he might desire.The
salvation of souls was ever the burden of Francis's prayers,and wishing moreover,
to make his beloved Porziuncola a sanctuary where many might be saved, he
 begged a plenary Indulgence for all who, having confessed their sins, should visit
the little chapel. Our Lord acceded to this request on condition that the pope
should ratify the Indulgence. Francis thereupon set out for Perugia, with Brother
 Masseo, to find Honorius III. The latter, notwithstanding some opposition from the
Curia at such an unheard-of favour, granted the Indulgence, restricting it,
however, to one day yearly. He subsequently fixed 2 August in perpetuity, as the
day for gaining this Porziuncola Indulgence, commonly known in Italy as
il perdono d'Assisi.

The extraordinary enthusiasm with which the saint was everywhere
welcomed was equalled only by the immediate and visible result of his preaching.
His exhortations of the people, for sermons they can hardly be called, short,
homely, affectionate, and pathetic, touched even the hardest and most frivolous,
and Francis became in sooth a very conqueror of souls. Thus it happened, on
one occasion, while the saint was preaching at Camara, a small village near
Assisi, that the whole congregation were so moved by his "words of spirit and
life" that they presented themselves to him in a body and begged to be admitted
 into his order. It was to accede, so far as might be, to like requests that Francis
devised his Third Order, as it is now called, of the Brothers and Sisters of
Penance, which he intended as a sort of middle state between the world and the
cloister for those who could not leave their home or desert their vocations in order to enter
either the First Order of Friars Minor or
the Second Order of Poor Ladies.

It was during Christmastide of this year (1223) that the saint conceived the idea
of celebrating the Nativity "in a new manner", by reproducing in a church at
Greccio the praesepio of Bethlehem, and he has thus come to be regarded as
having inaugurated the population devotion of the Crib. Christmas appears indeed
to have been the favourite feast of Francis, and he wished to persuade the
emperor to make a special law that men should then provide well for the birds
and the beasts, as well as for the poor, so that all might have occasion to
rejoice in the Lord.

Early in August, 1224, Francis retired with three companions to "that rugged rock
'twixt Tiber and Arno", as Dante called La Verna, there to keep a forty days fast
in preparation for Michaelmas. During this retreat the sufferings of Christ became
more than ever the burden of his meditations; into few souls, perhaps, had the full
 meaning of the Passion so deeply entered. It was on or about the feast of the
Exaltation of the Cross (14 September) while praying on the mountainside, that
he beheld the marvellous vision of the seraph, as a sequel of which there
appeared on his body the visible marks of the five wounds of the Crucified which,
says an early writer, had long since been impressed upon his heart. Brother Leo,
who was with St. Francis when he received the stigmata, has left us in his note
to the saint's autograph blessing, preserved at Assisi, a clear and simple
account of the miracle, which for the rest is better attested than many another
historical fact. The saint's right side is described as bearing on open wound
which looked as if made by a lance, while through his hands and feet were black
nails of flesh, the points of which were bent backward. After the reception of the
stigmata, Francis suffered increasing pains throughout his frail body.

In the early autumn of 1226, Francis, feeling the hand of death upon him, was
  carried to his beloved Porziuncola, that he might breathe his last sigh where his
vocation had been revealed to him and whence his order had struggled into sight.
On the way thither he asked to be set down, and with painful effort he invoked a
beautiful blessing on Assisi, which, however, his eyes could no longer discern.
The saint's last days were passed at the Porziuncola in a tiny hut, near the
chapel, that served as an infirmary.

On the eve of his death,
the saint, in imitation of his Divine Master,
had bread brought to him and broken.
This he distributed among those present, blessing Bernard of Quintaville, his first
companion, Elias, his vicar, and all the others in order. "I have done my part," he
said next, "may Christ teach you to do yours." Then wishing to give a last token
of detachment and to show he no longer had anything in common with the world,
 Francis removed his poor habit and lay down on the bare ground, covered with a
borrowed cloth, rejoicing that he was able to keep faith with his Lady Poverty to
the end. After a while he asked to have read to him the Passion according to St.
 John, and then in faltering tones he himself intoned Psalm cxli. At the concluding
verse, "Bring my soul out of prison", Francis was led away from earth by "Sister
Death", in whose praise he had shortly before added a new strophe to his
"Canticle of the Sun". It was October 3, 1226, Francis being
then in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the twentieth from his perfect conversion
to Christ.

His body was, on 4 October, borne in triumphant
procession to the city, a halt being made at St. Damian's, that St. Clare and her
companions might venerate the sacred stigmata now visible to all, and it was
 placed provisionally in the church of St. George (now within the enclosure of the
monastery of St. Clare), where the saint had learned to read and had first
preached. Many miracles are recorded to have taken place at his tomb. Francis
was canonized at St. George's by Gregory IX, 16 July, 1228. On that day
following the pope laid the first stone of the great double church of St. Francis,
erected in honour of the new saint, and thither on 25 May, 1230, Francis's
remains were secretly transferred by Brother Elias and buried far down under the
 high altar in the lower church. Here, after lying hidden for six centuries, like that
 of St. Clare's, Francis's coffin was found, 12 December, 1818, as a result of a
 toilsome search lasting fifty-two nights. This discovery of the saint's body is
 commemorated in the order by a special office on 12 December, and that of his
translation by another on 25 May. His feast is kept throughout the Church on 4
October, and the impression of the stigmata on his body is celebrated on 17 September.
 
 
 

Prayers of Saint Francis:

Prayer for Peace:

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
     where there is hatred, let me sow love;
     where there is injury, pardon;
     where there is doubt, faith;
     where there is despair, hope;
     where there is darkness, light;
     and where there is sadness, joy.

     O Divine Master,
     grant that I may not so much seek
     to be consoled as to console;
     to be understood as to understand;
     to be loved, as to love;
     for it is in giving that we receive,
     it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
     and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
 

St. Francis of Assisi's vocation prayer:

 Most High, Glorious God,
 enlighten the darkness of our minds.
 Give us a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity,
 so that we may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will. Amen.

 The Meditation Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

 My God and My All!

 St. Francis of Assisi's prayer in praise of God given to Brother Leo:

 You are holy, Lord, the only God,
 and Your deeds are wonderful.
 You are strong.
 You are great.
 You are the Most High.
 You are Almighty.
 You, Holy Father are King of heaven and earth.
 You are Three and One, Lord God, all Good.
 You are Good, all Good, supreme Good,
 Lord God, living and true.
 You are love. You are wisdom.
 You are humility. You are endurance.
 You are rest. You are peace.
 You are joy and gladness.
 You are justice and moderation.
 You are all our riches, and You suffice for us.
 You are beauty.
 You are gentleness.
 You are our protector.
 You are our guardian and defender.
 You are our courage. You are our haven and our hope.
 You are our faith, our great consolation.
 You are our eternal life, Great and Wonderful Lord,
 God Almighty, Merciful Saviour.

 The Blessing of St. Francis of Assisi to Brother Leo:

 The Lord bless you and keep you.
 May He show His face to you and have mercy.
 May He turn His countenance to you and give you peace.
 The Lord bless you!

 Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi before the Blessed Sacrament:

 We adore You, O Lord Jesus Christ, in this Church and all the Churches of the world, and we bless You, because, by
 Your holy Cross You have redeemed the world.

 Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon of St. Francis of Assisi:

 Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
 All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.
 To you alone, Most High, do they belong,
 and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

 Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
 especially Sir Brother Sun,
 Who is the day through whom You give us light.
 And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
 Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

 Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
 In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

 Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
 And fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
 by which You cherish all that You have made.

 Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
 So useful, humble, precious and pure.

 Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,
 through whom You light the night
 and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

 Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
 Mother Earth
 who sustains and governs us,
 producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
 Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon
 for love of You and bear sickness and trial.
 Blessed are those who endure in peace,
 By You Most High, they will be crowned.

 Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
 from whom no-one living can escape.
 Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
 Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
 No second death can do them harm.
 Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
 And serve Him with great humility.

 St. Francis of Assisi's prayer praising Mary the Mother of Jesus:

 Hail, holy Lady, most holy Queen,
 Mary, Mother of God, ever Virgin.
 You were chosen by the Most High Father in heaven,
 consecrated by Him, with His most Holy Beloved Son
 and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

 On you descended and still remains all the fullness of grace and every good.
 Hail, His Palace.
 Hail His Tabernacle.
 Hail His Robe.
 Hail His Handmaid.
 Hail, His Mother.
 and Hail, all holy Virtues, who, by grace and inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
 are poured into the hearts of the faithful
 so that from their faithless state,
 they may be made faithful servants of God through you.

 Two greetings of St. Francis of Assisi:

 Good Morning, Good People!

 Peace and all Good!

St. Francis - Sermon to the Birds

My little sisters, the birds, much bounden are ye unto God, your creator, and always in every
     place ought ye to praise him, for that he hath given you liberty to fly about everywhere, and
     hath also given you double and triple rainment; moreover he preserved your seed in the ark of
     Noah that your race might not perish out of the world; still more are ye beholden to him for
     the element of the air which he hath appointed for you; beyond all this, ye sow not, neither do you reap; and God feedeth you, and giveth you the streams and fountains for your drink;
     the mountains and valleys for your refuge and the high trees whereon to make your nests; and because ye know not how to spin or sow, God clotheth you, you and your children;
      wherefore your creator loveth you much, seeing that he hath bestowed on you so many benefits; and therefore, my little sisters, beware of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praises unto God.

     Saint Francis of Assisi - c 1220

Stories of St. Francis and the Animals:

Stories abound of how St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
could communicate with animals and felt at one with all
 creation. Here are a few of the stories that were first
recorded by Thomas of Celano during the 13th century.
—retold by John Bookser Feister

St. Francis Preaches to the Birds

Father Francis and his companions were making a trip
through the Spoleto Valley near the town of Bevagna.
Suddenly, Francis spotted a great number of birds of all
varieties. There were doves, crows and all sorts of birds.
Swept up in the moment, Francis left his friends in the
road and ran after the birds, who patiently waited for
him. He greeted them in his usual way, expecting them to
scurry off into the air as he spoke. But they moved not.

Filled with awe, he asked them if they would stay awhile
and listen to the Word of God. He said to them: “My
brother and sister birds, you should praise your Creator
and always love him: He gave you feathers for clothes,
wings to fly and all other things that you need. It is God
who made you noble among all creatures, making your
home in thin, pure air. Without sowing or reaping, you
receive God’s guidance and protection.”

At this the birds began to spread their wings, stretch their
necks and gaze at Francis, rejoicing and praising God in a
wonderful way according to their nature. Francis then
walked right through the middle of them, turned around
and came back, touching their heads and bodies with his
tunic.

Then he gave them his blessing, making the sign of the
cross over them. At that they flew off and Francis,
rejoicing and giving thanks to God, went on his way.

Later, Francis wondered aloud to his companions why he
had never preached to birds before. And from that day
on, Francis made it his habit to solicitously invoke all
birds, all animals and reptiles to praise and love their
Creator. And many times during Francis’ life there were
remarkable events of Francis speaking to the animals.
There was even a time when St. Francis quieted a flock of
noisy birds that were interrupting a religious ceremony!
Much to the wonder of all present, the birds remained
quiet until Francis’ sermon was complete.

St. Francis, Rabbits and Fish

One day a brother brought a rabbit who had been caught
in a trap to St. Francis. Francis advised the rabbit to be
more alert in the future, then released the rabbit from the
trap and set it on the ground to go its way. But the rabbit
hopped back up onto Francis’ lap, desiring to be close to
the saint.

Francis took the rabbit a few steps into the woods and set
it down. But it followed Francis back to his seat and
hopped on his lap again! Finally Francis asked one of his
fellow friars to take the rabbit far into the woods and let it
go. That worked. This type of thing happened repeatedly
to Francis—which he saw as an opportunity to praise the
glory of God. If the simplest creatures could be so
endowed with God’s wonder, how much the more so we
humans!

Fish were also known to obey Francis. Whenever a fish
was caught and Francis was nearby, he would return the
fish to the water, warning it not to be caught again. On
boat, listening to Francis preach, until he gave them
permission to leave. Then they would swim off. In every
work of art, as St. Francis called all creation, he would
praise the artist, our loving Creator.

St. Francis and the Wolf

Perhaps the most famous story of St. Francis is when he
tamed the wolf that was terrorizing the people of Gubbio.
While Francis was staying in that town he learned of a
wolf so ravenous that it was not only killing and eating
 animals, but people, too. The people took up arms and
went after it, but those who encountered the wolf
perished at its sharp teeth. Villagers became afraid to
leave the city walls.

Francis had pity on the people and decided to go out and
meet the wolf. He was desperately warned by the people,
but he insisted that God would take care of him. A brave
friar and several peasants accompanied Francis outside
the city gate. But soon the peasants lost heart and said
they would go no farther.

Francis and his companion began to walk on. Suddenly
the wolf, jaws agape, charged out of the woods at the
 couple. Francis made the Sign of the Cross toward it. The
power of God caused the wolf to slow down and to close
its mouth.

Then Francis called out to the creature: “Come to me,
 Brother Wolf. In the name of Christ, I order you not to
hurt anyone.” At that moment the wolf lowered its head
and lay down at St. Francis’ feet, meek as a lamb.

St. Francis explained to the wolf that he had been
terrorizing the people, killing not only animals, but
humans who are made in the image of God. “Brother
Wolf,” said Francis, “I want to make peace between you
and the people of Gubbio. They will harm you no more
and you must no longer harm them. All past crimes are to
be forgiven.”

The wolf showed its assent by moving its body and
nodding its head. Then to the absolute surprise of the
gathering crowd, Francis asked the wolf to make a pledge.
As St. Francis extended his hand to receive the pledge, so
 the wolf extended its front paw and placed it into the
 saint’s hand. Then Francis commanded the wolf to follow
him into town to make a peace pact with the
townspeople. The wolf meekly followed St. Francis.

By the time they got to the town square, everyone was
there to witness the miracle. With the wolf at his side,
Francis gave the town a sermon on the wondrous and
fearful love of God, calling them to repent from all their
sins. Then he offered the townspeople peace, on behalf of
the wolf. The townspeople promised in a loud voice to
feed the wolf. Then Francis asked the wolf if he would live
in peace under those terms. He bowed his head and
twisted his body in a way that convinced everyone he
accepted the pact. Then once again the wolf placed its
 paw in Francis’ hand as a sign of the pact.

From that day on the people kept the pact they had made.
The wolf lived for two years among the townspeople,
going from door to door for food. It hurt no one and no
one hurt it. Even the dogs did not bark at it. When the
wolf finally died of old age, the people of Gubbio were
sad. The wolf’s peaceful ways had been a living reminder
to them of the wonders, patience, virtues and holiness of
 St. Francis. It had been a living symbol of the power and
 providence of the living God.

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