Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco, was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. He later became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of 4 October. According to Christian tradition, in 1224 he received the stigmata during the apparition of Seraphic angels in a religious ecstasy making him the first recorded person in Christian history to bear the wounds of Christ’s Passion.
Start By Doing What's Necessary; Then Do What's Possible; And Suddenly You Are Doing The Impossible.
Above All The Grace And The Gifts That Christ Gives To His Beloved Is That Of Overcoming Self.
Lord, Grant That I Might Not So Much Seek To Be Loved As To Love.
Grant Me The Treasure Of Sublime Poverty: Permit The Distinctive Sign Of Our Order To Be That It Does Not Possess Anything Of Its Own Beneath The Sun, For The Glory Of Your Name, And That It Have No Other Patrimony Than Begging.
We Should Never Desire To Be Over Others. Instead, We Ought To Be Servants Who Are Submissive To Every Human Being For God's Sake.
If You Have Men Who Will Exclude Any Of God's Creatures From The Shelter Of Compassion And Pity, You Will Have Men Who Will Deal Likewise With Their Fellow Men.
It Is In Pardoning That We Are Pardoned.
It Is Not Fitting, When One Is In God's Service, To Have A Gloomy Face Or A Chilling Look.
If A Superior Give Any Order To One Who Is Under Him Which Is Against That Man's Conscience, Although He Do Not Obey It Yet He Shall Not Be Dismissed.
Where There Is Injury Let Me Sow Pardon.
Lord, Make Me An Instrument Of Thy Peace. Where There Is Hatred, Let Me Sow Love.
We Must Not Be Wise And Prudent According To The Flesh. Rather, We Must Be Simple, Humble And Pure.
Praised Be You, My Lord, Through Brother Fire, Through Whom You Light The Night, And He Is Beautiful And Playful And Robust And Strong.
Men Lose All The Material Things They Leave Behind Them In This World, But They Carry With Them The Reward Of Their Charity And The Alms They Give. For These, They Will Receive From The Lord The Reward And Recompense They Deserve.
Great And Glorious God, And Thou Lord Jesus, I Pray You Shed Abroad Your Light In The Darkness Of My Mind. Be Found Of Me, Lord, So That In All Things I May Act Only In Accordance With Thy Holy Will.
Praised Be You, My Lord, Through Our Sister, Mother Earth, Who Sustains And Governs Us, Producing Varied Fruits With Coloured Flowers And Herbs.
Holy Wisdom Confounds Satan And All His Wickednesses.
Holy Charity Confounds All Diabolical And Fleshly Temptations And All Fleshly Fears.
Praised Be You, My Lord, Through Sister Moon And The Stars; In The Heavens, You Have Made Them Bright, Precious And Fair.
I Am The Herald Of The Great King.
Pure, Holy Simplicity Confounds All The Wisdom Of This World And The Wisdom Of The Flesh.
Holy Poverty Confounds Cupidity And Avarice And The Cares Of This World.
Where There Is Charity And Wisdom, There Is Neither Fear Nor Ignorance.
Holy Humility Confounds Pride And All The Men Of This World And All Things That Are In The World.
Woe To Those Who Die In Mortal Sin!
Praised Be You, My Lord, With All Your Creatures, Especially Sir Brother Sun, Who Is The Day Through Whom You Give Us Light. And He Is Beautiful And Radiant With Great Splendour; Of You, Most High, He Bears The Likeness.
The Father Willed That His Blessed And Glorious Son, Whom He Gave To Us And Who Was Born For Us, Should Through His Own Blood Offer Himself As A Sacrificial Victim On The Altar Of The Cross. This Was To Be Done Not For Himself Through Whom All Things Were Made, But For Our Sins.
If God Can Work Through Me, He Can Work Through Anyone.
A Single Sunbeam Is Enough To Drive Away Many Shadows.
It Is No Use Walking Anywhere To Preach Unless Our Walking Is Our Preaching.
While You Are Proclaiming Peace With Your Lips, Be Careful To Have It Even More Fully In Your Heart.
For It Is In Giving That We Receive.
No One Is To Be Called An Enemy, All Are Your Benefactors, And No One Does You Harm. You Have No Enemy Except Yourselves.