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Assisi
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Francis of Assisi

Assisi

Francis · Italy

Francis was a rich cloth merchant's son who gave everything away, even the clothes he wore, to live in poverty. In the run-down chapel of San Damiano he heard: 'Francis, go and repair my house.' He began with stones and ended up renewing the church with a movement of poor brothers who preached joy, peace and care for all creation. Today he lies buried in the crypt of the Basilica of San Francesco, which was begun two years after his death.

Did you know?

In 1223 Francis made the first living nativity scene, in the village of Greccio.

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An inspiring story

The kiss for the leper

What if the thing you find most repulsive is exactly where God waits for you?

Young Francis, the rich son of a cloth merchant, was disgusted by lepers; he held his nose and looked away. One day, riding near Assisi, he met a leper on the road. Something made him get off his horse. He gave the man money and kissed his hand. Why? He had been praying to know what God wanted, and he sensed that the answer was standing right in front of him. Not long after he went to live among the lepers and cared for them.

At the end of his life Francis wrote that this was where everything changed: what had seemed bitter to him turned into sweetness.

What had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body.Francis of Assisi, Testament (1226)

Sources

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