Section 1 - About Francis and Clare

Francis’ early years were not especially religious. He was a leader among the young men of Assisi, enjoying a good social life, singing and partying. His first biographer, Thomas of Celano, describes him as quite short, with black eyes, hair and beard; he had a long face, with a straight nose and small, upright ears. His arms were short, but his hands and fingers slender and long. He had a strong, clear, sweet voice. Francis didn’t want to follow his father into the cloth trade; he wanted to be a knight. So at the age of twenty he joined the forces of Assisi in a minor skirmish with the neighbouring city of Perugia. He was captured and spent a year in a Perugian jail, until his father ransomed him. This became the first of a series of experiences through which God called Francis to the life which he finally embraced. Click here to learn more about these experiences.

One of these experiences, at San Damiano, led to a rift with his father. Francis, in response to a voice from the crucifx in this tiny ruined church, began to rebuild churches; when he ran out of money he took cloth from his father’s shop and sold it. His father disowned him before the bishop of Assisi, and Francis in his turn stripped off his clothes, returning to his father everything he had received from him, and promising that in future he would call only God his Father.

Francis now begged on the streets of Assisi for money to repair churches; after a further experience of God’s call he began also to preach. Men came to join him in his life of poverty, prayer and preaching, and he always saw them as God’s gift to him, writing ‘when the Lord gave me brothers’. As numbers grew the brothers spread out beyond Assisi to other parts of Italy, then to other European countries, including England, and before Francis’ death brothers had travelled to North Africa, where the first Franciscan martyrs died in Morocco in 1220. Francis himself travelled to the Holy Land, and met the Sultan of Egypt, a meeting which has become a template for dialogue between Christians and Muslims, especially among Franciscans of today.

Francis first wrote a very brief Rule for his brothers in 1209, and this was approved by the Church. It was superseded in 1223 by a fuller Rule, which has continued to shape the lives of Franciscan brothers over the centuries. Francis spent most of his life on the move, though he interspersed his preaching with periods of withdrawal for prayer. It was during one of these times of retreat that he received the Stigmata - the marks of the crucified Christ in his own body.

For the final two years of his life he suffered constant pain. He died in 1226, and as he died blessed his beloved city of Assisi. He was buried in what became the great Basilica of St Francis, and declared a saint by the church in 1228.

On Palm Sunday 1212 she left her parents’ house secretly. She had already sold her dowry and given the money to the poor. At the little church of St Mary of the Angels, just below Assisi she met Francis and a few of his brothers. She changed her dress for a simple habit, and took off her jewellery. Francis cut her hair, and she made a vow of obedience to him.

At first she lived with a Benedictine community of nuns, doing simple menial tasks. Her family were appalled at her choice and sent armed men to bring her back. But they were unsuccessful. When Clare’s younger sister, Catherine, followed her only a fortnight later, the family made even more violent attempts to force her to return home. They were in fact carrying her off physically, but Clare prayed, and Catherine became so heavy that they could not lift her. Defeated, they returned home.

Francis received Catherine too as a sister, and gave her the name Agnes. Then Clare and Agnes moved to San Damiano, the church where Francis had heard the crucifix speak to him. Here the first community of Poor Clares came into being. It grew rapidly, and in 1215, very much against her will, Clare was made Abbess. She held this position until her death in 1253. Two years after she was declared a saint by the church.

In the early days of the Franciscan life Francis visited Clare often, but as his own community grew his visits decreased and she had to find within herself the inspiration she had received from him. Their relationship grew more equal, and Francis would consult her on important decisions. In his last illness he came to San Damiano and Clare cared for him. Although she called herself ‘the little plant of Francis’ she was in fact a powerful and innovative woman, the first woman to write a Rule for a religious community. She struggled with the church for most of her life, as Popes and Cardinals sought to draw her away from the poverty which was at the heart of her following Jesus, but she remained firm and her Rule was finally approved just a few days before her death. By that time there were more than 150 communities which followed her way of life, mainly in Italy, southern France and Spain, but spreading as far east as Prague, and as far west as Bruges.

Francis and Clare, the first two Franciscans, came from the two parts of society which were at the heart of the changing picture of life in thirteenth century Italy.

Francis was the son of a successful cloth merchant. Trade spread throughout Europe at this time; and new towns and cities came into being as merchants settled near ports or at the crossroads of the new network of roads. The balance of the population shifted from rural to urban areas, and this led to a shift in the balance of power too.

Previously the feudal system had been paramount, with everyone accountable to their lord - a great landowner, bishop or abbot. Clare’s father was one of the powerful nobles of Assisi. They collected taxes and tolls, gave permission to travel, and ran the courts. But in the towns merchants and craftsmen banded together into associations, called in Italy communes, which challenged the power of the traditional rural ruling classes. The feudal system began to break down, and with it the whole structure of society changed. The vertical relationships of inferiors and superiors of the feudal system, changed into the horizontal relationships of the new urban centres. From a society of masters and servants, overlords and vassals, it became one, ideally, of brothers. Francis called his community the Lesser Brothers, reflecting this new social reality.

Of course inequality still existed, but it was based now not on the accident of birth into a powerful or powerless family, but on wealth. Initially this was in the form of land and possessions, but money came increasingly to be used, and to replace barter in trade. For Francis money was an innovation, and one which pointed up inequalities, and perhaps this lies at the heart of his rejection of it as part of his wider commitment to poverty.

All of these changes did not take place peacefully. The landowners, who saw their power threatened, fought with the emerging middle class of merchants and craftsmen. The new cities fought with each other. And on a wider canvas there were tensions between the Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire and successive popes, and between Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land.

The church too was in a time of change. The turning of the first millennium in 1000 had sparked off a desire for reform, and there had been a number of important meetings, called Councils, in the twelfth century, culminating in the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. This had a particular effect on Francis, and its decrees and reforms are reflected in his writings.

Francis and Clare lived in times of great change, and in their lives sought to respond to the needs of the day, and the concerns of those around them.

Many pilgrims make the journey to Assisi every year, but despite the crowds it is possible to have a real sense of the city which Francis and Clare knew, especially away from the main streets and squares.

Both Francis and Clare are buried in Assisi, Francis in the Basilica of San Francesco at one end of the city, and Clare in the Basilica of Santa Chiara at the other. In Santa Chiara it is also possible to pray in front of the crucifix which spoke to Francis in San Damiano.

San Damiano itself is also a very evocative place. It is a short walk outside the city, through olive groves, and maintains the sense of a peaceful and prayerful place. Friars now live where Clare’s community lived, but you can still visit the dormitory where Clare slept, and see the tiny chapel where the sisters prayed. Many people come to join the friars in prayer, especially for Vespers, the evening service, which takes place in the original church which Francis restored.

At San Francesco there are wonderful frescoes of the life of St Francis in both the upper and lower churches. Descending below both of these one comes to the tomb of Francis himself; four of his early brothers are buried near him. Elsewhere in the Basilica, as at Santa Chiara, can be seen various relics of the saints.

Below the city itself stands the baroque church of St Mary of the Angels. Within this church is still preserved the Portiuncula, one of the small churches which Francis repaired, and where he and his brothers lived in the early days of his community. The chapter meetings of the brothers took place here - although the community rapidly grew so large that huts of branches had to be built to house them all. The most famous Chapter was the Chapter of the Mats, in 1217 or 1219, to which about 5,000 friars came.

In contrast to these huge numbers are the hermitages of the Carceri, above Assisi, where Francis and his early brothers went to pray in solitude, living in caves or huts. With more time it is possible also to visit San Rufino, the cathedral of Assisi, where Clare certainly and Francis probably were baptised. Clare’s family home doesn’t survive, but there are two buildings associated with Francis’ family, the Chiesa Nuova, and San Francesco Piccolo. And further afield, there is La Verna, where Francis received the Stigmata, the Rieti Valley, with a number of places which feature in Francis’ story, including Greccio, where the first Christmas crib was made; and Fonte Colombo where Francis composed the Rule which the church approved for his community.

Francis and Clare began the Franciscan story, but it has continued to inspire many to follow Christ through the centuries. And the tradition itself has grown, developed and changed, through the lives and writings of Franciscans of all sorts.

Bonaventure (d. 1274) would have known some of Francis’ early companions. He became Minister General of the brothers in 1257; and in addition was a theologian, diplomat, bishop and cardinal. He wrote an important biography of Francis, and a classical work of mystical theology, The Soul’s Journey into God. In his theology, creation becomes a mean towards discovering Christ.

John Duns Scotus (d. 1308) continued this theme with his theological reflections on the incarnation. He stressed the incarnation as God’s greatest expression of love, and not simply a response to the problem of human sin. And each human person is a living image of the incarnate Word.

Angela of Foligno (d. 1309) was an early member of the Order of Penance (The Third Order). After a profound religious conversion in her early forties she sold her possessions, gave the proceeds to the poor, and began to live a life of penitence, prayer and service to the sick She wrote a spiritual autobiography (the Memorial), and also the Instructions, teaching on various aspects of the Christian life, especially prayer. Her disciples included friars, and her influence on them earned her the title of Teacher of Theologians. Her spirituality is very incarnational, and she describes her experiences in prayer in physical and sensual language.

Franciscans continued to write about prayer, and one of them, Francisco de Osuna (d. c.1540) influenced the great Carmelite mystic, Teresa of Avila. His book, The Third Spiritual Alphabet, in which he taught the prayer of recollection, leading to a simple loving gaze towards God, influenced her own contemplative prayer. Osuna belonged to one of the reform movements among Franciscan brothers, one which emphasized a return to the more contemplative style of life practised in the early Franciscan hermitages.

It is popularly said that only the Holy Spirit knows how many Franciscans there are, and certainly the range of ways of being a Franciscan is extraordinary. Today in the Catholic Church there are tens of thousands of men, lay and ordained, in the three major branches of the Friars Minor, tracing their history back to Francis. There are hundreds of Poor Clare communities, tracing their history back to Clare. There are hundreds of thousands of women and men in hundreds of Third Order Regular communities, inspired by the Order of Penance founded by Francis, but living in community and under the same vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as the friars and Poor Clares. And there are millions in the Secular Franciscan Order, the direct descendants of the Order of Penance, living their lives of Franciscan witness in secular work and family life.

And then of course there are those inspired by Francis in other churches; the Anglican Franciscan communities of which the Society of St Francis is the largest, and others in the Lutheran and other Protestant churches. And there are those who join no community, and perhaps even no church, but who are nevertheless inspired in their journey of faith by Francis and Clare.

Once when Francis had been praying in the woods near the brothers’ house of the Portiuncula, Brother Masseo came out to meet him, and half jokingly asked him ‘Why after you? Why does everyone run after you, want to see you and hear you and obey you? After all, you are not handsome, or learned, or wise, or rich. So why is all the world running after you?’

Francis was very moved, and prayed for a long time. Then he replied to Masseo, that God had chosen him, Francis, because he was foolish and sinful, since, ‘God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world ... to reduce to nothing things that are ...’ (1 Corinthians 1:27 – 28), so that all the honour and glory might be God’s.’ (Little Flowers of St Francis 10)

Despite his desire for obscurity Francis remains today one of the best known and best loved of saints, and an increasing number of people are coming to value Clare in the same way. Below, a few present day members of CSF and SSF explain why they are drawn to follow Christ in the way of Francis and Clare.

Elizabeth CSF 

Elizabeth joined the Community of St. Francis in 1955 after university and a few years working in a hospital laboratory.  She made Life Vows in 1960, before CSF moved to Somerset and having lived in most of the houses for a time, now lives in Plaistow.

I believe firmly that the initiative for our lives is with God who leaves us to respond or not.   At fourteen I suddenly knew that God had a claim on my life and whatever it was I would have to try it.   My Christian upbringing in middle-of-the-way Church of England did not prepare me for a religious order and like St. Francis, I had neither desire nor intention to join one.  

A mission to my parish roused my curiosity and I went home for a weekend, surprised by the friars I met.   Further contacts came, I began to read about Francis, and joined the Third Order.   Life was open before me; I could only pray, “Tell me what You want me to do and I’ll do it!”

In the end it was as though I had no choice, and after brief visits, I joined CSF.   The Community was small and elderly, but simply and utterly Franciscan.   I somehow knew that if I was faithful, God would do great things.  He did.  CSF changed and grew,   especially after the move to Somerset.

Several things about Francis have always remained in my mind as hallmarks:  Francis wanted, quite simply, to be like Jesus, who was ’obedient unto death’   God calls us to the best in us and fulfils our deepest longings.   Francis had no blueprint.  Obedience cannot be just to heavy authority, nor to a plethora of regulations, but to the responsible following of the gospel and to what we understand of God’s will through constant listening to others and to God.

Then too, Francis loved all people and all things, calling each ‘brother’ or ’sister’.  Life in community cannot be easy, and to love others with the love of God doesn’t come naturally.   But Francis also respected others and often asked their advice.  Clare, too, shared with her Sisters in decision-making, allowing others to be themselves.   This kind of group living gives freedom in God and openness in the group; and so assists good relationships.

Further, Francis was both temperamental and emotional, with what has been called ‘the gift of tears’.   In spite of the many occasions for grief in his life, he never ceased to praise God, as in his beautiful Canticle of the Creatures.  That kind of deep joy and contentment  is friendly and contagious.  The world needs it.

Francis left few writings and more about obedience than of poverty, but demonstrated it in his life-style and service of lepers.   He called his followers ‘lesser brethren’, refuting status and wealth.  Though we are not able to live as he did, there are many ways to express poverty.  I particularly value the life and prayer of our Poor Clare Sisters or any work we may do with the disadvantaged and marginalised and their carers.

 Maureen CSF came from New Zealand to join CSF in 1981; she has since lived in various parts of the UK, back in New Zealand for a time, and is now living in Birmingham where she combines part time work as a nurse with voluntary work and the life of the sisters’ house there.

Francis and Clare provide models of Christian discipleship for me. Although I do not aspire to follow them literally, their example constantly stretches me to allow God to take up more of my life: to give more time to prayer and to stillness, to gaze upon the Lord (though I fail miserably in achieving these goals); to bring a greater element of praise and thankfulness into my relationship with God and people; and to serve others with love and compassion, valuing their gifts and being less judgmental of their faith.

As I learn more about Clare, I value her wisdom for living in community and a practical concern for the needs of her sisters while avoiding unnecessary distinctions of status. Both Francis and Clare constantly challenge me by their poverty and determined lack of security in possessions of any kind, whereas I am inclined to want, not only a ‘backstop’ but a backstop for the backstop!

Francis and Clare in thirteenth century Italy lived in an environment which in many ways was very different from mine in twenty-first century Britain, and while allowances need to be made for this, the way they lived is still surprisingly relevant to following Christ today. Perhaps some of their relevance is because they always point beyond themselves to God, Jesus Christ as God’s son and love incarnate, and the Holy Spirit as the essential foundation for a life of Christian faith.

Yet Francis and Clare are for me a way of saying that it is possible to give more of myself to God, to live ‘in penance’, loving God and my neighbour, as a fulfilment of my own personhood and to God’s glory.

Martin SSF

Martin became a Novice in the Community in January 1949, and he made his Profession in December 1951. He was ordained priest in 1958.  He has lived and worked in several of our Franciscan houses, and he spent 23 years in Cambridge. He now lives at Saint Mary’s, Plaistow, and he assists in the parish of Saint Peter’s, London Docks.

When I first went to stay as a guest at Hilfield Friary in 1947, I knew very little about Saint Francis, apart from the frequently repeated legends about his love for God’s creation. But at Hilfield I had my first encounter with his mid-20th century disciples, and I was filled with admiration for them, because of their real sense of dedication and their genuine love of Jesus. I then read G.K.Chesterton’s book on Saint Francis, and I began to be attracted to ‘the little poor man of Assisi’.  Although it was never my intention to join the Community when I first set foot in the Friary, I soon came to realise that God was calling me to do so. 

I was very greatly influenced by our joint founders, Brothers Douglas and Algy. Douglas was at that time working in Germany, but whenever he came to England he breathed a spirit of deep holiness, with a very great concern for the marginalised in society. Algy was Guardian at Hilfield, and he was clearly a man of great devotion, with a transparent love of the Scriptures and the ability to expound them. 

I turned to other books on Saint Francis, and I soon began to discover that he was (to use a comparatively modern term) an Evangelical Catholic. Francis was Evangelical because he loved the Scriptures and wanted to share his faith with others. He was Catholic because he loved the Church. In his day there were various reform movements which broke away from the Catholic Church, but Francis always remained a loyal member, and he insisted that his Brothers should always be true Catholics.

This Catholic/ Evangelical stance resonated with me, and I found that it was reflected in the life of the Brothers. From the beginning I was completely at home in the Community, and I count myself privileged to have been called to this life.

After more than sixty years as a Friar, and over fifty years as a priest, I know that I am still learning, and even now I have much to learn. As I look back, it is with gratitude for a very full life. I know that there have been many failures and disappointments, but throughout there has always been a prevailing sense of happiness and joy. I thank God that it is Saint Francis who has brought me closer to Jesus.

Brother Samuel SSF  is currently the Minister Provincial for the European Provinceand based at Hilfield Friary  in Dorset.

I was scared stiff the first time I met Franciscan friars; their way of life seemed to me as an outsider to be extreme, foreign, just so different from everything else I had ever known, but perhaps even then I had a hidden sense that the Lord might be tugging me this way. However much I tried to avoid the issue, Franciscans kept crossing my path - a friend taking me to the friary at Plaistow for supper where there clearly wasn't enough to eat - a Franciscan mission organized in the Liverpool parish where I was a curate - then the opening of a friary in the same city and games of squash with Br Bruce - a meeting with Br Edward at Alnmouth who told me five minutes after I came through the door that my life and ministry would end up on the rocks unless I joined SSF - my first visit to Hilfield on a glorious midsummer day when the whole Dorset countryside seemed to be in bloom. Gradually there came the dawning of an awareness that God might really be calling me to follow in the way of Blessed Francis - the friendship of the brothers whom I got to know better - the desire for regular prayer with others - the excitement of risking everything for the Lord - oh yes, and the Little Poor Man of Assisi himself who became an attractive and inspiring figure rather than just a crazy Italian romantic. Finally, one blustery November day, I turned up at Hilfield Friary wondering whether this wasn't all some terrible mistake. I can't say that I've never looked back, but after 37 + years I'm still here and want to continue the journey.