St. Francis of Assisi

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By Listen TheBook Posted on May 31, 2023

In Category - Biography & Autobiography, Christianity - Biographies

Authors: G. K. Chesterton In Year : 1923

Book Language: English

Audiobook: St. Francis of Assisi

The Problem of St. Francis
The World of St. Francis
Francis the Fighter
Francis the Builder
Le Jongleur de Dieu
The Little Poor Man
The Three Orders
The Mirror of Christ
Miracles and Death
The Testament of St. Francis

For Chesterton, Francis of Assisi is a great paradoxical figure, a man who loved women but vowed himself to chastity; an artist who loved the pleasures of the natural world as few have loved them, but vowed himself to the most austere poverty, stripping himself naked in the public square so all could see that he had renounced his worldly goods; a clown who stood on his head in order to see the world aright. Chesterton gives us Francis in his world-the riotously colorful world of the High Middle Ages, a world with more pageantry and romance than we have seen before or since. Here is the Francis who tried to end the Crusades by talking to the Saracens, and who interceded with the emperor on behalf of the birds. Here is the Francis who inspired a revolution in art that began with Giotto and a revolution in poetry that began with Dante. Here is the Francis who prayed and danced with pagan abandon, who talked to animals, who invented the creche. I read this book as a young man and not only did it introduce me to the amazing world of Chesterton, but it was a revelation of how an entire culture could be captured in a slim volume. (summary by Phil Chenevert, Wikipedia and various other PD sources)