St. Francis of Assisi
On The Grapevine 41
I didn't get this week's Grapevine sketched in time to scan it into the computer on Thursday, so I drew it on cardstock with black paint, took a picture, and uploaded it onto the computer.
St. Francis was the impetuous son of a wealthy merchant. As a young man, he began to be torn between a love of beauty, comfort, gaiety and personal glory, and a desire for the noble and holy. He began to fall in love with God and spent more and more time in prayer. While praying in front of a crucifix, he heard Christ say "Francis, repair My Church." Francis took this literally at first. He sold fabric from his father's shop for money to repair the local church.
His father did not want a religious man for a son. He wanted a business man who would love finery and the things he himself loved. He was dismayed at what he saw as Francis' inexplicably strange behavior and lack of interest in money, and this was apparently the last straw. Francis' father brought him in front of the bishop and demanded that Francis return the money and renounce his rights as heir. Francis not only returned the money, but also the very clothes he was wearing! He declared, "Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father. From now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'"
He embraced poverty with humility and drew many to him. Eventually the order of Franciscans was born. They sold their goods, gave to the poor, took nothing, begged, preached the love of God and took up their cross daily. You can read more about him HERE and see our other St. Francis of Assisi comic HERE.
- Meagan
St. Francis was the impetuous son of a wealthy merchant. As a young man, he began to be torn between a love of beauty, comfort, gaiety and personal glory, and a desire for the noble and holy. He began to fall in love with God and spent more and more time in prayer. While praying in front of a crucifix, he heard Christ say "Francis, repair My Church." Francis took this literally at first. He sold fabric from his father's shop for money to repair the local church.
His father did not want a religious man for a son. He wanted a business man who would love finery and the things he himself loved. He was dismayed at what he saw as Francis' inexplicably strange behavior and lack of interest in money, and this was apparently the last straw. Francis' father brought him in front of the bishop and demanded that Francis return the money and renounce his rights as heir. Francis not only returned the money, but also the very clothes he was wearing! He declared, "Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father. From now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'"
He embraced poverty with humility and drew many to him. Eventually the order of Franciscans was born. They sold their goods, gave to the poor, took nothing, begged, preached the love of God and took up their cross daily. You can read more about him HERE and see our other St. Francis of Assisi comic HERE.
- Meagan