St. Francis espoused a simple spirituality that attracted a wide following. He organized the men who followed him into the Order of Friars Minor (the "Franciscans"); he also helped Clare of Assisi to form an order for women now known as the Poor Clares. The numerous convents, churches, schools, and hospitals founded by these orders are the source of many thousands of images of St. Francis and Franciscan saints.
The latter are portrayed tonsured like their founder in the familiar brown (originally gray) habit with a white cord knotted three times to symbolize their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience (see altarpiece at left).
Iconographically, what distinguishes St. Francis from his followers are the stigmata visible on his hands and feet. Some images also show the wound in the saint's side, exposed by a rip in his habit (example). The stigmata were said to have been conferred on the saint in a mystical experience of the crucified Christ, appearing to him on Mount La Verna with the wings of a seraph, as in the upper left of the altarpiece shown here. Often the rip in the saint's habit is already visible in representations of the event (see examples by Giotto and another Italian painter).
In one unusual Crucifixion painting by Jacopino da Reggio, St. Francis hugs the base of the cross in an emotional attitude similar to that of St. Mary Magdalene in many Crucifixions of the era (late 13th century, possibly circa 1285). The painting, tempera on wood with gold ground, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
He often also holds a book.
Feast day: October 4
At left, Berlinghierri's 1235 altarpiece (larger version).
Other images:
Mexican santo
Martín Pinario painting
Painting
in the Lateran Basilica
Cross
with Francis & the StigmataHagiography:
Thomas
of Celano's official 1230 biography
(cached)
Ugolino of Montegiorgio, Fioretto di Santo Francesco
Golden Legend # 149: html or pdf
Ugolino of Montegiorgio, Fioretto di Santo Francesco
Golden Legend # 149: html or pdf
Also see:
St.
Clare
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