st. francis of assisi

• The Cross is a live-action historical drama TV series about the Crusades created by Real Crusades History.
• Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and all the glory of the Crusades era are depicted in an historically accurate TV series.
• St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order, was born in Assisi, Italy in 1181 A.D.
• St. Francis' father, Petrio, returned from a trip to France to find his wife had given birth to a son, whom he renamed Francesco, the equivalent of calling him the Frenchman.
• St. Francis enjoyed a rich, easy life growing up due to his father's wealth and the permissiveness of the times.
• From the beginning, everyone loved St. Francis due to his happy, charming, and born leadership.
• St. Francis led a crowd of young people who spent their nights in wild parties.
• St. Francis fulfilled every hope of his father, even falling in love with France.
• St. Francis was a good businessman but wanted more than wealth but not holiness.
• St. Francis wanted to be a noble, a knight, and battle was the best place to win the glory and prestige he longed for.
• St. Francis got his first chance to be a knight when Assisi declared war on their longtime enemy, the nearby town of Pergia.
• Most of the troops from Assisi were butchered in the fight, only those wealthy enough to expect to be ransomed were taken prisoner.
• St. Francis was among the nobility, like he always wanted to be, but was chained in a harsh, dark dungeon.
• After a year in the dungeon, St. Francis was ransomed.
• A call for knights for the Fourth Crusade gave St. Francis a chance for his dream but before he left, he had to have a suit of armor and a horse.
• St. Francis never got farther than one day's ride from Assisi, but had a dream in which God told him he had it all wrong and to return home.
• St. Francis started to spend more time in prayer and went off to a cave to weep for his sins.
• Francis was dragged before the bishop and in front of the whole town, demanding that Francis return the money and renounce all rights as his error.
• Francis returned the money and stripped off his clothes, wearing only a hair shirt in front of the crowd.
• Francis went back to what he considered God's call, begging for stones and rebuilding the San Damiano church with his own hands.
• Francis intervened when the town wanted to kill the wolf that had been eating humans, talking the wolf into never killing again.
• Francis preached about returning to God in obedience to the church.
• Francis never wanted to found a religious order, thinking that sounded too military.
• Francis took the command to the rich young man to sell all his goods and give to the poor, the order to the apostles to take nothing on their journey, and the demand to take up their cross daily as his rule.
• The bishop was very kind to Francis, telling him to return the money and saying that God would provide.
• Francis's disinterest in money, waste of money, and growing dislike for money made him seem more like a madman than his son.
• Francis must have known about the decay in the church but showed the church and its people his utmost respect.
• Francis lived by the gospel, making one brother run after the thief who stole his hood and offered him his robe.
• Francis was not a reformer, preaching about returning to God in obedience to the church.
• Francis was in acting again, selling fabric from his father's shop to repair the church, which his father saw as an act of theft.
• Francis's relationship with nature was deeper than just admiring its beauty, feeling that all of God's creations were part of his brotherhood.
• Francis practiced true equality by showing honor, respect, and love to every person, whether they were beggars or pope.
• Francis preached to hundreds of birds about being thankful to God for their wonderful clothes, independence, and for God's care.
• Francis and his companions went out to preach two by two, first being met with hostility but soon being greeted with bells and smiles.
• While riding through the countryside, St. Francis, who loved beauty, came face to face with a leopard, which he kissed, and was filled with joy.
• St. Francis repaired the ancient church at San Damiano while he was praying there, hearing Christ on the crucifix speak to him, "Repair my church."
• When Francis wanted approval for his brotherhood, he went straight to Rome to see Pope Innocent III.
• Possessing something was the death of love for Francis.
• Francis decided to go to Syria to convert the Muslims while the Fifth Crusade was being fought in the middle of the battle.
• Francis's dream of radical poverty was too harsh, people said, and he gave up authority in his order but remained a brother like he'd always wanted.