Reluctant saint : the life of Francis of Assisi / Donald Spoto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spoto, Donald, 1941-2023.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Francis, of Assisi, Saint, 1182-1226.

Francis.

Christian saints--Italy--Assisi--Biography.

Christian saints.

Italy--Assisi.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 256 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Viking Compass, 2002.

Summary:

Wealthy adventurer, wayward son, rebel, soldier, itinerant preacher, defender of the poor, mystic, environmentalist before his time, friend of animals -- for nearly a century, no other saint has presented as compelling a figure to the world as Francis of Assisi. For many the very idea of "saint" is epitomized by the gaunt, ascetic preacher, dressed in a simple brown habit, conversing with the birds or taming a wild wolf. Yet much of what we have come to know of Francis is in fact the product of legends and the accumulation of hundreds of years of pious iconography, so much so that this remarkable man has become obscured by his image. In Reluctant Saint Donald Spoto, author of the acclaimed The Hidden Jesus, casts a new light on Francis, placing him within the context of the ecclesiastical, political, and social forces of medieval Italy in all its violence, color, and mystery. It was, like our own era, a time of crisis with a craving for reform and for a deeper, simpler, more personal faith, even while concern for the common good, the poor, and the sick was virtually unknown. Francis insisted that this concern lay at the heart of the Gospel, and he dedicated his life to reinstating it, in the process pioneering a new social movement, one that ultimately and tragically slipped from his grasp. "Don't make a saint of me," Francis once told a friend, even as his charisma and holiness were dazzling his contemporaries. Donald Spoto honors that injunction, drawing on unprecedented access to unexplored archives in Rome, Assisi, Grecchio, and Florence, as well as on Francis' own letters, to offer the most nuanced and fully drawn portrait of a man whose life's struggle was to follow humbly in the footsteps of Christ. From his spiritual epiphany before a crucifix in a small rural church in Umbria to the failures and bitter disappointments of his later years, Reluctant Saint is a landmark biography of a man who can genuinely be said to have changed the course of history.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [243]-247) and index.

ISBN:

0670031283

OCLC:

50671901