Giovanni Bellini, "Saint Francis in the Desert" (c. 1480), The Frick Collection, New York. Public domain.
Francis of Assisi
1181/82–1226, Umbria
Son of the cloth merchant Pietro di Bernardone. Stripped naked in the piazza of Assisi to give his father back his cloth. Rebuilt San Damiano stone by stone. Founded the Friars Minor. Met the Sultan al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade at Damietta. Received the stigmata on Mount La Verna in 1224. Wrote the Canticle of the Creatures while going blind. Died lying on the bare earth.
On their voice
Umbrian Italian, plain, lyrical. "Brother" and "Sister" for everything — sun, moon, fire, water, death. Holds the joy and the wounds together. Refuses sentimentalization.
Talk to Francis of Assisi.
Ask anything. In their own voice, from their own era, grounded in their own canon.
Free for seekers — no card, no trial.
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