Saint Francis Of Assisi Feast Day - 4 October

Quoted from Britannica [1]:

St. Francis of Assisi, Italian San Francesco d’Assisi, baptized Giovanni, renamed Francesco, in full Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone, (born 1181/82, Assisi, duchy of Spoleto [Italy]—died October 3, 1226, Assisi; canonized July 16, 1228; feast day October 4).

Quoted from Britannica [2]:

In the summer of 1224, Francis went to the mountain retreat of La Verna (Alvernia), not far from Assisi, to celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15) and to prepare for St. Michael’s Day (September 29) by fasting for 40 days. He prayed that he might know how best to please God; opening the Gospels for the answer, he came upon references to the Passion of Christ three times. As he prayed during the morning of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14), he beheld a figure coming toward him from the heavens. St. Bonaventure, minister-general of the Franciscans from 1257 to 1274 and a leading thinker of the 13th century, wrote:

As it stood above him, he saw that it was a man and yet a Seraph with six wings; his arms were extended and his feet conjoined, and his body was fixed to a cross. Two wings were raised above his head, two were extended as in flight, and two covered the whole body. The face was beautiful beyond all earthly beauty, and it smiled gently upon Francis. Conflicting emotions filled his heart, for though the vision brought great joy, the sight of the suffering and crucified figure stirred him to deepest sorrow. Pondering what this vision might mean, he finally understood that by God’s providence he would be made like to the crucified Christ not by a bodily martyrdom but by conformity in mind and heart. Then as the vision disappeared, it left not only a greater ardour of love in the inner man but no less marvelously marked him outwardly with the stigmata of the Crucified.

For the remainder of his life, Francis took the greatest care to hide the stigmata (marks resembling the wounds on the crucified body of Jesus Christ). After the death of Francis, Brother Elias announced the stigmata to the order by a circular letter. Later, Brother Leo, the confessor and intimate companion of the saint who also left a written testimony of the event, said that in death Francis seemed like one just taken down from the cross.

Francis lived two years longer, in constant pain and almost totally blind (he had contracted an eye disease while proselytizing in the East in 1219). Medical treatment at Rieti was unsuccessful, and after a stay at Siena, he was brought back to Assisi, where he died at the Porziuncola. He was buried temporarily in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi. On July 15, 1228, concluding a process of unprecedented speed, Francis was canonized by his former protector, Pope Gregory IX. On the following day, the pope laid the foundation stone for the basilica that Brother Elias would build in Francis’s memory, and in 1230 the saint’s body was transferred to the lower church of the basilica.

The First Life of St. Francis  by Thomas of Celano can be read at: https://dmdhist.sitehost.iu.edu/francis.htm.  It is also available at Franciscan Seculars:

https://franciscanseculars.com/thomas-celano-first-life-of-francis/

Chapter 3 of The First Life of St. Francis  states: "6. Being therefore changed (but in mind, not in body) he now refused to go to Apulia."  Several other sources state that he did go, this is one of them: "In 1202, Francis fought in a war between Perugia and Assisi. The enemy captured him and held him as a prisoner for a year. After his release, he fell gravely ill. Once he recovered, Francis attempted to join Count Gentile’s papal forces in 1205 against Emperor Frederick II in Apulia. During his journey, Francis had a vision that he should return home to Assisi and wait for a sign to create a new form of knighthood. He then dedicated his life to regular prayer, seeking God’s plan for him." [3]

This inconsistency may be explained by this paragraph quoted from The First Life of St. Francis  (see first link above):

About the author: Thomas of Celano was around Francis's age, and he joined the Franciscan order around 1215, or shortly after its founding. He was one of the brothers chosen to establish the order in Germany in 1221, but he returned to Italy a few years later. Thomas was asked by Pope Gregory IX (the bishop of Ostia mentioned in the biography) to write a biography of Francis, perhaps at the time of Francis's canonization in 1228. The life was completed in 1229. This is, therefore, the earliest view of Francis, one that would be subsequently revised. Thomas composed a second, revised life of Francis around 1246. [Bold type original.]

On YouTube, there is a Saint Francis of Assisi movie, based on a novel by Louis de Wohl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM4PtT0rJp0

On Internet Archive there is another Saint Francis of Assisi movie by Franco Zeffirelli entitled Brother Sun, Sister Moon: https://archive.org/details/brother-sun-sister-moon-1972rom.sub.

[1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Francis-of-Assisi, quoted without bold type.

[2[ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Francis-of-Assisi/Franciss-vision-and-the-stigmata-of-the-Crucified, quoted without hyperlinks, italics original.

[3] https://catholicworldmission.org/who-is-saint-francis/