St Francis of Assisi at 800: The Man, the Myths

St Francis of Assisi at 800: The Man, the Myths and Why a Medieval Friar Still Matters

Eight hundred years ago this month, a small, worn-out man died on the floor of a humble chapel in Umbria. He had no wealth, no title worth mentioning, and no army. Yet today Italy has declared a national day in his honour, popes quote him, and people from every Christian tradition, and many outside it, still know his name.

That man was Francis of Assisi. On 3 October 1226, he died in Assisi, and this year Italy has marked the eighth centenary of his death with bells, processions, speeches and a restored national holiday. A recent commentary by Rod Lampard on The Daily Declaration reports on those celebrations, including remarks from the Italian Prime Minister, the President and the Pope.

This post uses the anniversary to look at who Francis really was, what he actually did and said, which popular stories about him are myths, what Italy’s leaders have said about his legacy, and what Christians of any tradition can learn from him.

How Italy Marked the 800th

According to the report, the celebrations included:

• A national day of celebration. The official patron saint’s day, 4 October, was established in 1958, cancelled in 1977, and reinstated as a national event in January 2026 after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government passed a bill in 2025. The anniversary is the final event in a four-year series of commemorations that began in 2023.
• Remarks from the Prime Minister. Meloni described Francis as a man who left everything in order to find everything, and as an Italian who shaped the identity of a whole people.
• A message from the President. President Sergio Mattarella said Italian society has been deeply shaped by Francis, and used his example to speak about war. He said that in a time of terrible conflicts, and with weapons and armies sometimes being placed under religious symbols, Francis teaches that there is no greater sin than killing in the name of God. He didn’t name any particular country or conflict, so interpretations of his target vary.
• A devotion from Pope Leo XIV on 4 October. The Pope focused more on the gospel than on Francis himself, reflecting on how God turns rejection and evil into redemption and recalling that Jesus asked Francis to repair his Church. He said Francis built his life on Christ, shared in his poverty, joy and sufferings, and “repaired the Church” through faith and fraternal love.
• Public events. Church bells in Assisi rang at midnight to announce a thanksgiving service. Around 3,000 people joined a candlelit “Walk with Saint Francis,” retracing the route taken by his coffin in 1226 from Santa Maria degli Angeli to the Basilica of St Francis.

The report adds that, outside Italy, the anniversary has gone largely unnoticed. It also quotes G. K. Chesterton’s 1923 biography, which described Francis as a man who “walked the world like the Pardon of God,” whose function was to tell people to start afresh.

Francis in Brief

Francis was born around 1181 or 1182 in Assisi, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant named Pietro di Bernardone. As a young man he dreamed of knightly glory, enjoyed the pleasures of a well-off youth, and went to war against the neighbouring city of Perugia, where he was captured and held prisoner for a time. A period of illness and spiritual searching followed.

The key moments in his story are:

• The cross at San Damiano. While praying in a ruined chapel outside Assisi, Francis heard Christ speak to him from the crucifix, asking him to repair his house. He first took this literally and began rebuilding the chapel’s walls. Only later did he come to see it as a call to renew the whole Church.
• Renouncing his inheritance. After a dramatic conflict with his father, Francis publicly gave up his wealth, even his clothes, in front of the bishop of Assisi, and chose a life of radical poverty.
• Founding a brotherhood. Others joined him, and around 1209 or 1210 Pope Innocent III approved their simple rule. Clare of Assisi founded a parallel community of women, the Poor Clares.
• The Christmas crib. In 1223, at Greccio, Francis arranged a living nativity scene, a practice that helped make the manger a beloved part of Christmas devotion.
• The Canticle of the Creatures. Near the end of his life, Francis composed a song of praise to God for sun, moon, wind, water, fire and earth, which is one of the earliest great poems in the Italian language.
• The stigmata. According to the Franciscan tradition, in 1224 at La Verna, Francis received the wounds of Christ in his body. Believers hold this to be a remarkable sign of his union with the crucified Lord.
• Death and canonisation. He died on 3 October 1226 and was declared a saint by Pope Gregory IX in 1228, less than two years later.

The Day Francis Met the Sultan

One of the most remarkable episodes in his life is rarely told in popular tributes. In 1219, during the Fifth Crusade, Francis travelled to Egypt with the Crusader armies besieging Damietta. During a lull in the fighting, he crossed the lines to meet Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, nephew of Saladin.

Accounts differ in the details, but the main points are consistent. Francis and a companion were seized, beaten and eventually brought to the Sultan. Francis greeted him with a blessing of peace and, according to early sources, preached the gospel to him. The Sultan received him courteously, listened, and let him leave safely, offering gifts that Francis refused apart from, it seems, an ivory horn that is still displayed in Assisi.

It’s a striking story, and historians read it in different ways. Some see it as an example of courageous, respectful witness across religious lines. Others emphasise that Francis went to convert the Sultan, not to affirm his religion, and that he reportedly tried to dissuade the Crusaders from an assault they went ahead with anyway. Both elements are worth keeping in view.

Myths About St Francis

Because Francis is so beloved, many things have been attached to his name that he didn’t say or do.

Myth 1: He wrote the “Peace Prayer.” The popular prayer beginning “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace” is often called the Prayer of Saint Francis. Historians have shown that it’s a modern prayer, first published in French around 1912 in a small spiritual magazine, and that it became associated with Francis later. It’s a beautiful prayer, and the Franciscans use it, but it isn’t medieval.

Myth 2: He said “Preach the gospel at all times, and use words if necessary.” There’s no evidence that Francis ever said this, and it doesn’t fit his life. He was a passionate preacher who sent his brothers out to proclaim the gospel in word as well as in deed. The saying is a good reminder that actions matter, but it shouldn’t be used to excuse silence.

Myth 3: He was a gentle nature-lover who rebelled against the Church. The sentimental image of a bird-bath saint hides a much tougher figure. Francis embraced extreme poverty, suffered illness and criticism, and called people to repentance. He was also deeply loyal to the Church and its sacraments, and he remained obedient to the pope and to priests, even when they were flawed.

Myth 4: He was a modern environmentalist or a pacifist in the political sense. Francis saw creation as a gift from a good Father and as a family of creatures that praise God together. That’s different from a modern political ideology. Similarly, he was committed to peace, but his peace was rooted in the gospel and the Lord’s greeting, not in a specific programme.

Francis, Peace and War

The Italian President’s remarks have drawn attention to Francis as a witness against religious violence. It’s worth being careful and balanced here.

• What can be said confidently. Francis’ own greeting was, “The Lord give you peace.” He asked his friars to be gentle and not to dispute, and the Sultan story shows he was willing to risk his life to speak to someone considered an enemy.
• What shouldn’t be overstated. Francis lived in an age of crusades and didn’t leave a systematic teaching on war. Christians in different traditions, including those who hold to just war theory and those who hold to pacifism, each find resources in the Scriptures and in saints like Francis. His example doesn’t settle the argument by itself.
• The target of the President’s message. Because Mattarella didn’t name anyone, commentators have interpreted his words in different ways, including as a reference to modern wars, and to the use of religion to justify violence. It’s wise to avoid reading too much into an unspecified remark.

What’s beyond dispute is that killing in the name of God is a grave sin, and that Christians should be the first to say so.

Repairing the Church

Pope Leo XIV highlighted Francis’ call to “repair my Church,” and linked it with the image of labourers in the Lord’s vineyard.

It’s worth noticing how Francis went about it. He didn’t write polemics, start a protest movement, or seek power. He started by rebuilding a ruined chapel with his own hands, then by changing his own life, and then by living the gospel with a handful of companions. The reform came through humility, poverty, prayer and love, and it spread because people saw something real.

For Christians of any denomination, that’s a challenge. When the church looks damaged, the first place to begin repairs is in our own lives.

Our Take

Here’s where we’d like to add some commentary.

1. Francis points to Christ, not to himself.

The Pope’s emphasis on the gospel over the man is the right instinct. Francis would have been appalled to be a celebrity. Everything about his life pointed toward the crucified and risen Lord.

2. Be wary of using saints as political props.

Francis has been claimed by many movements: nationalists, environmentalists, pacifists, traditionalists and progressives. The temptation is to turn him into a symbol of whatever we already believe. A better approach is to let him challenge us. When governments invoke a saint for national identity, that can be a sincere acknowledgement of cultural heritage, and it can also risk using faith as a badge. Francis’ message was universal, not national.

3. His simplicity speaks to a consumer age.

Francis chose poverty not out of hatred of the material world but out of freedom from its grip. In a culture driven by acquisition and comparison, his example prompts the question: what do I own that owns me?

4. Care for creation, with the right foundation.

Francis loved creation because it came from God, not because creation itself was divine. That’s a helpful guide for Christians who want to care for the environment without drifting into either neglect or nature worship.

5. Peace begins with truth and humility.

Francis’ willingness to cross enemy lines is inspiring, but so is his willingness to speak about Christ. A Christian vision of peace doesn’t hide the gospel, and it doesn’t use it as a weapon either.

6. Protestants and others can learn from him too.

Christians in the Protestant and Reformed traditions will differ from Catholics about many things, including the veneration of saints, but many have long admired Francis’ devotion to Christ, his love of Scripture and his care for the poor. We can honour what is good without needing to agree on every doctrine.

The Other Side of the Conversation

In fairness, here are some other views worth hearing:

• Some historians argue that popular images of Francis are heavily romanticised, and that after his death his order quickly became institutionalised, leading to bitter disputes over poverty between stricter “Spirituals” and others.
• Some Protestant critics have concerns about the way saints are venerated and about elements of medieval Catholic piety, including some of the miracle accounts connected with Francis.
• Some secular voices see the celebration as a reminder of Italy’s cultural heritage, and don’t see religious meaning in it. Others criticise governments for using religious symbols for political ends.
• Some commentators question whether the President’s remarks, or the Pope’s, are being used to advance particular political positions, particularly about contemporary wars, and caution against over-interpreting them.
• Some believers see the anniversary as an opportunity for deeper conversion and fresh commitment to the poor, while others worry that a focus on festivals and commemoration can distract from real renewal.

Each of these deserves a fair hearing, and none of them cancels out the testimony of Francis’ life.

How to Mark the Anniversary

You don’t have to be in Assisi to learn from Francis. A few practical ideas:

• Read the Scriptures that shaped him. Matthew 10, Luke 9 and Matthew 19:21 were key passages for Francis’ vocation.
• Pray for the Church’s renewal, starting with your own heart and community.
• Practise simplicity. Choose one area, such as spending, possessions or time, where you could loosen your grip.
• Serve someone in need. Francis’ turning point involved embracing a leper. Who is the neglected person near you?
• Learn his real words. Read a trustworthy biography or translation of his writings, rather than relying on the quotations that circulate online.
• Care for creation as a form of gratitude to the Creator.
• Pursue peace in your own relationships, starting with someone you’ve fallen out with.

Questions to Reflect On

• What image of Francis have I carried, and how much of it comes from the real sources?
• What “ruined chapel” is God asking me to repair, in my own life or community?
• What would it look like for me to hold my possessions more lightly?
• How can I pursue peace and still speak honestly about my faith?
• Who is the “leper” in my life that I’ve been avoiding?

A Short Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, you called Francis to follow you in poverty, joy and love. Strengthen your church, and begin the repairs in us. Free us from the grip of possessions and pride. Teach us to praise you through creation, to serve the poor, and to speak your peace to friend and enemy alike. Keep us from using your name to justify violence, and make us people who tell the truth in love. For your glory and the good of all. Amen.