SAINT OF ASSISI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19455, 11 October 1926, Page 12

SAINT OF ASSISI.

1 ATTACK BY A BISHOP. I 1 EXTRAORDINARY STATEMENTS. A. and N.Z. LONDON. Oct. 8. The Bishop of Birmingham, Dr. E. W. Barnes, made an amazing attack on St. Francis of Assisi in the Birmingham Cathedral to-day. The bishop said the anniversary at Assisi was widely used for religious propaganda. Personally, however, ho was distressed and repelled by it. Harsh truth was a good tonic for the. soul. " The examination of the probabilities about St. Francis involves somewhat rei pulsive medicaj details," said the speaker. ' "He wore no linen and ho never washed. ; His attitude toward the body and toward j vermin was not ours. He sometimes begged his friends to scratch him. A modern nurse would have used water mixed with an antiseptic. " In his last illness St. Francis was in , a state of semi-ecstasy and semi-delirium. If the poverty which St. Francis commanded were really the Christian ideal wo should rapidly degenerate into barbarism." St. Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Franciscan Order. He was born in 1181 or 1182 at Assisi, one of the independent municipal towns of Umbria. His father belonged to the upper middle class. He was Pietro Bernardone, a merchant. The son received only slight education. He was always conspicuous for his charity to the poor. He fought at the age of 20 against the rival city of Perugia, and was taken prisoner. When he was released at the end of a year he returned to Assisi. Soon a prolonged and serious illness fell upon him and he engaged in self-introspection, as a result of which he become dissatisfied with his mode of life. On his recovery he set out on a military expedition, hut agsin became ill. There followed another spiritual crisis. One day he gave a banquet to his friends, after which thev sallied forth with torches, singing througl) the streets, Francis being crowned with garlands as king of the revellers. After a time his friends missed him. They found him in a trance or reverie, a permanently nltered man. After that Francis devoted himself to solitude, prayer, and the service of the poo?, and before long went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He changed clothes with a beggar outside St..Peter's,and spent the day in begging among .the rest. The determining episode of his life followed soon after his return to Assisi. As he was riding he met ti leper who begged an alms. Francis had always had a special horror of lepers and he tnrneel awuy and rode on. But immediately an act of self-conquest was wrought in him. Returning, he dismounted, gave the leper all the money lie had, and kissed his hand. From that day he gave himself up to the service of the lepers and the hospitals. To the confusion of his father and brothers he went about in rags, so that his old companions pelted him with mud. He quarrelled with his family over his benefactions to the poor. ! The Bishop of Assisi gave him a iloak as he had, discarded his clothes. Francis went off into the woods of. Subnsio singing a French song. He spent the" next few vears in abject poverty and want. Then he the Order of Franciscans with eleven disciples. < < ' After many activities and strange adventures Francis died in October, 1226, »t the ago of 45. Two years later he was canonised bv Gregory IX., whom, as Cardinal Hugolino,, of Ostia. lie had chosen to be the protector of his rtrder.