Altogether Francis’s life and his relationship with the world—including animals, the elements, the poor and sick, women as well as men, princes, prelates, and even the sultan of Egypt, represented the breakthrough of a new model of human and cosmic community.
But ultimately, Francis attempted to do no more than to live out the teachings of Christ and the spirit of the Gospel. His identification with Christ was so intense that in 1224, while praying in his hermitage, he received the “stigmata,” the physical marks of Christ’s passion, on his hands and feet. His last years were marked at once by excruciating physical suffering and spiritual joy. “Welcome, Sister Death!” he exclaimed at last. At his request, he was laid naked on the bare ground. As the friars gathered around him, he gave each his blessing in turn: “I have done my part,” he said. “May Christ teach you to do yours.”
—from the book The Franciscan Saints
by Robert Ellsberg
