In September of the year 1224 a historically documented event occurred in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi that has been the source of thousands of artistic representations. Not a thousand, but in all amazement: thousands. 2024 as the 800th anniversary of the event is also a mirror year of days of the calendar and days of the week with 1224 . The reader can know whether the events in this story happened on a Sunday or a Friday or a Monday. Over the last eight centuries the significance of the event that inspired thousands of artists was blurred. Yet, it was this event that defined the small man of voluntary poverty from an agricultural town of a few thousand far more than renouncing his father's inheritance, kissing a leper, taming a wolf, preaching to birds, creating the first Christmas manger or even changing the lives of a quarter million followers within a few decades of life as a mendicant and shoeless preacher. The event was so controversial it was at first concealed. It remained so controversial after his death that in 1237 Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull to admonish Bishop Robert of the See of Olomouc in Bohemia who criticized any belief in it. Pope Gregory warned, "You have opened your mouth against Heaven" and a few years later Bishop Robert of Olomouc resigned. This historical novel covering six months of 1224 uses primarily the documents of those that personally knew Saint Francis and his own writings as the historical source. A glance back eight centuries helps us understand the profound humility and the deepest desire of a man who only wanted to live as Christ had asked him to live and only wanted to love as Christ had asked him to love. A man that was honored by God in a way no Christian would ever expect, and more than likely - if we are honest - never desire.
In September of the year 1224 a historically documented event occurred in the life of Saint Francis of Assisi that has been the source of thousands of artistic representations. Not a thousand, but in all amazement: thousands. 2024 as the 800th anniversary of the event is also a mirror year of days of the calendar and days of the week with 1224 . The reader can know whether the events in this story happened on a Sunday or a Friday or a Monday. Over the last eight centuries the significance of the event that inspired thousands of artists was blurred. Yet, it was this event that defined the small man of voluntary poverty from an agricultural town of a few thousand far more than renouncing his father's inheritance, kissing a leper, taming a wolf, preaching to birds, creating the first Christmas manger or even changing the lives of a quarter million followers within a few decades of life as a mendicant and shoeless preacher. The event was so controversial it was at first concealed. It remained so controversial after his death that in 1237 Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull to admonish Bishop Robert of the See of Olomouc in Bohemia who criticized any belief in it. Pope Gregory warned, "You have opened your mouth against Heaven" and a few years later Bishop Robert of Olomouc resigned. This historical novel covering six months of 1224 uses primarily the documents of those that personally knew Saint Francis and his own writings as the historical source. A glance back eight centuries helps us understand the profound humility and the deepest desire of a man who only wanted to live as Christ had asked him to live and only wanted to love as Christ had asked him to love. A man that was honored by God in a way no Christian would ever expect, and more than likely - if we are honest - never desire.
