FRANCIA 



3308 



FRANCIS OF ASSIS1 



Francia were associated in an altar- 

 piece for the Church of the Miseri- 

 cordia, Bologna, Francia's earliest 

 dated work. Though at first he 

 followed Costa's style he quickly 

 surpassed that master in power of 

 conception and colour. The Ma- 

 donna and Saints, with S. Anne en- 

 throned, in the National Gallery, 

 London, is one of his masterpieces, 

 but he is best studied at Bologna. 



His famous Baptism of Christ is 

 at Dresden. Among his portraits 

 are those of Bartolommeo Bian- 

 chini (Salting collection), The 

 Marchese Bovio (Lichtenstein Gal- 

 lery, Vienna), Prince Federigo Gon- 

 zaga (Leatham collection). In 

 fresco two episodes from the life of 

 S. Cecilia survive in the chapel of 

 that saint at Bologna. He died 

 at Bologna, Jan. 6, 1517. See Life, 

 G. C. Williamson, 1901. 



Fraucia, Jos GASPAR RODRI- 

 GUEZ (1757-1840). Dictator of 

 Paraguay. Born at Asuncion, of 

 Portuguese origin, and educated at 

 the university of Cordoba de Tucu- 

 man, he first studied theology, but 

 after taking his degree practised 

 law. In 1811 Paraguay declared 

 itself independent of Spain, and 

 Francia, the ablest of its revolu- 



tionary leaders, became secretary 

 of the national junta, joint dicta- 

 tor, 1813, joint dictator for three 

 years, 1814, and sole dictator for 

 life, 1816. In 1816 he dissolved con- 

 gress, and for the rest of his life ruled 

 tyranically but beneficially. His 

 vigorous opposition to intercourse 

 with other countries resulted in 

 the development of Paraguay's re- 

 sources. He died Sept. 20, 1840. 



Franciade. Name given to each 

 period of four years in the new 

 calendar set up by the authors of 

 the French Revolution in 1793. 

 The idea and form of the word were 

 derived from the Greek Olympiad. 

 See Calendar. 



Francis. Christian name, used 

 by both males and females. It is 

 derived from the word frank, free, 

 and was first used in France in the 

 form Fran9ois. It passed over to 

 England about the time of Henry 

 VIII, in the form of Francis. 

 In the 18th century the form 

 Frances began to be used for girls. 

 Frank is a variant. The German 

 equivalent is Franz, a popular name 

 in that country, and the Italian 

 is Francesco. Francesca is the 

 Italian feminine, and Franziska 

 the German. 



FRANCIS: THE SAINT OF ASSISI 



Cr. G. Coulton, Author of From St. Francis to Dante 



The life and work of this saint is a necessary introduction to the 

 articles on Monasticism ; Franciscans; and on the other religious orders 



Francis of Assisi was born in or 

 about the year 1182. His father, 

 Pietro di Bernardone, was a cloth 

 merchant, and belonged to the 

 commercial aristocracy of Assisi. 

 Pietro was travelling in France 

 when the son was born to whom 

 on his return he gave the then 

 unusual name of Francesco. The 

 saint's youth was marked by a 

 love of pleasure, society, and song ; 

 all his life he retained a strong 

 affection for the French language 

 then the literary language of 

 Europe though he could never 

 speak it well. As he grew up he 

 began to repent of his irregularities, 

 which had always been those of a 

 generous and refined nature. 



In 1202 Francis was taken pri- 

 soner in battle against the Peru- 

 gians, and remained in captivity 

 for a year, during which he was 

 noted for his gaiety and his for- 

 bearance towards his fellow -pri- 

 soners. Returning to his former 

 dissipations, he fell seriously ill, 

 and, in a. moment of convalescence, 

 gazing out upon the landscape 

 beneath the walls of Assisi, he 

 found that "neither the beauty of 

 the fields, the pleasantness of the 

 vineyards, nor anything that is 



sort to hold in contempt what he 

 had admired and loved before ; 

 yet not altogether, for he had not 

 yet been loosed from the bonds 

 of vanity." He dreamed of mili- 

 tary fame, and had actually started 

 on an expedition to Apulia when 

 a vision recalled him. His gaiety 

 now became more fitful ; he was 

 penetrated with a deeper pity for 

 the poor, and especially for lepers ; 

 the self-conquest which first en- 

 abled him to kiss a leper marked a 

 fresh step in his spiritual life. 



A Religious Knight-errant 

 Francis now spent much time 

 in solitary prayer, and at one of 

 these moments, in the little half- 

 ruined church of S. Damiano, the 

 crucifix seemed to speak to him 

 with an articulate voice : " Fran- 

 cis, go repair My House, which as 

 thou seest is wholly falling into 

 ruin." Taking these words too 

 literally, he sought to assist the 

 reparation of S. Damiano by 

 selling one of his father's horses 

 with a load of valuable cloth. The 

 result was a complete rupture 

 between him and his father, and 

 the saint went forth naked into 

 the world. " Henceforth I may 

 say freely ' Our Father which art 



fair to see could in any t wise delight in heaven,' and no longer ' father 



him. . . . And from that day he be- Pietro di Bernardone.' " 



gan to despise himself, and in some This was in 1207. Francis then 



began a life of religious vaga- 

 bondage or rather, knight-er- 

 rantry. We find him repairing S. 

 Damiano with his own hands, tend- 

 ing the lepers and living among 

 them, preaching in the streets and 

 public squares, and often treated 

 as a madman. At last, apparently 

 on Feb. 24, 1209, the gospel for the 

 day suggested a more definite rule 

 of life (Matt, x, 7-10). Thence- 

 forward he took as his ideal the 

 literal imitation of Christ, and 

 became perhaps the most Christ- 

 like of all the figures in Church 

 history. 



Foundation of His Order 



At the end of 1209, or more prob- 

 ably in 1210, having already a 

 small group of disciples, he went to 

 Rome and begged Innocent III to 

 confirm a brief rule which he had 

 drawn up, and thus to authorise 

 a new religious order. The monks 

 were individually poor, but held 

 corporate endowments. The friar 

 was to be moneyless, not only in- 

 dividually but also in the mass ; 

 he was to live by the labour of his 

 hands if possible, and, where that 

 failed, by begging. The pope, 

 after some natural hesitation, 

 consented. The new order multi- 

 plied rapidly, thanks to the per- 

 sonal influence of Francis and to 

 the crying need of the times. 



Many reformers, in the latter half 

 of the 12th century, had aimed at 

 a return to apostolic life ; but, 

 sooner or later, all of these came 

 into conflict with the Church. 

 S. Francis combined the most ex- 

 traordinary religious zeal and 

 charity with a spirit of complete 

 devotion to the hierarchy, and 

 was thus able to renew religious 

 life in Europe without breaking 

 with the Church. There can be 

 little doubt that he and his fol- 

 lowers postponed the religious 

 revolution of the 16th century by 

 several generations. Yet this re- 

 conciliation was not effected with- 

 out considerable sacrifices of ideal. 

 Suffering and Self-Sacrifice 



As time went on S. Francis rose 

 to even greater heights of suffering 

 and self-sacrifice, but he lacked 

 the more ordinary qualities re- 

 quired in the general of a religious 

 order. Here his zeal for conver- 

 sions actually stood in his way. 

 Apart from his frequent mission- 

 ary journeys in Italy, he planned 

 others abroad. In 1212 he started 

 for Palestine, but was driven by 

 storms to the N.E. coast of the 

 Adriatic. In 1214 he went to 

 preach in Spain; in 1217 he was 

 with difficulty restrained from a 

 similar journey to France. In 1219 

 he at last found his way to Syria 

 and Palestine, and was away more 

 than a year. 



