By M.C. Holbrook, Catholic Exchange, 03 Oct 2025
Author’s Note: Excerpt from: The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home (Ordinary Time Weeks 22-28). To purchase, visit Amazon or The Catholic Company, where all other volumes currently in print are also available.
Much like St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis of Assisi lived a life of worldliness and frivolity before his conversion. Although he was not seriously wounded in battle as was Ignatius, Francis became critically ill following his release as a prisoner of war, and both men, during their recuperation, became profoundly aware of the wanton, meaningless lifestyles which they had been living before the time of their affliction.
From the moment of their awareness, both men radically changed their ways. In Francis’ case, he decisively cut ties with his family and adopted a new course of life, one of extreme penance and poverty. So radical was Francis’ conversion that friends and family were convinced that he had gone mad.
Many of us know the rest of his story: how he traveled through the countryside in tattered clothes preaching repentance (even preaching to the animals), how he heard the call from Jesus to “rebuild His church,” and how his radical, joyful way of life attracted so many followers that the order he established—the Order of Friars Minor and the Poor Clares—grew by leaps and bounds. ….
