St. Francis is one of the most attractive figures in all
history. Perhaps no other man has ever tried so seriously to imitate in his own
life the life of Christ. St. Francis went about doing good. He resembled, in
some respects, the social workers and revivalist preachers of to-day. In other
respects he was a true child of the Middle Ages. An ascetic, he fasted, wore a
hair-cloth shirt, mixed ashes with his food to make it disagreeable, wept
daily, so that his eyesight was nearly destroyed, and every night flogged
himself with iron chains. A mystic, he lived so close to God and nature that he
could include within the bonds of his love not only men and women, but also
animals, trees, and flowers. He preached a sermon to the birds and once wrote a
hymn to praise God for his "brothers," sun, wind, and fire, and for
his "sisters," moon, water, and earth. When told that he had but a
short time to live, he exclaimed, "Welcome, Sister Death!" He died at
the age of forty-five, worn out by his exertions and self-denial. Two years
later the pope made him a saint.
ST. DOMINIC, 1170-1221 A.D.
St. Dominic, unlike St. Francis, was a clergyman and a
student of theology. After being ordained he went to southern France and
labored there for ten years among a heretical sect known as the Albigenses. The
order of Dominicans grew out of the little band of volunteers who assisted him
in the mission. St. Dominic sent his followers—at first only sixteen in
number—out into the world to combat heresy. They met with great success, and at
the founder's death the Dominicans had as many as sixty friaries in various
European cities.
