After the Virgin Mary, St. Francis of Assisi is probably
Catholicism's most popular saint. Sure, other saints do more practical
things: St. Anthony can help you find lost car keys, and St. Joseph can
help you sell your house. St. Sebastian stuck full of arrows, shaggy
wild man John the Baptist, or a barely clothed Mary Magdalene might be
the most visually interesting.
But can anyone really match the array of settings in which we
find the Poor Man of Assisi? Name another saint whose likeness exists in
media as varied as frescos, film, graphic novels, and urns for cremated
pet remains. Every diocese has a parish named for him. Any museum with a
medieval art collection has a St. Francis tucked away somewhere.
Several saints may have hospitals named after them, but Francis is
likely the only one to be the patron of hospitals for both humans and
animals. Francis' Italian hometown draws tourists and world leaders. In
the United States San Francisco is named for him. Further down the
California coast the city of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de la Porciuncula
is named for the first Franciscan church and the place where Francis
died in 1226. That, however, is a lot to fit on city letterhead, so for
simplicity's sake we call it Los Angeles.
When I
teach History 101 to college freshmen, St. Francis of Assisi has a
starring role in our lecture about medieval religious life. His costar
is the lesser-known religious reformer, Peter Waldo.
The
outlines of the two men's lives are remarkably similar. Both were born
in the 12th century, about a generation apart. Waldo was French; Francis
was Italian. Each was a wealthy cloth merchant. As young professionals,
both men had spiritual epiphanies that prompted them to renounce all
their possessions. Taking as their lodestar the poverty and simplicity
of Christ, each preached a message that was sharply at odds with the
opulence and arcana of medieval liturgy. Each man's ministry faced
scrutiny from church authorities leery of religious upstarts.
Francis
went on to found a successful religious order. Waldo was
excommunicated, several of his followers were executed, and the exact
circumstances of his death are a matter of historical speculation. For
two men with such similar origins and messages, what caused their paths
to diverge so dramatically?
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