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Christian Encounters Series
Saint Francis: A Biography of a Man from Assisi Who Embraced Simplicity, Poverty, and Devotion to God
Christian Encounters, a series of biographies from Thomas Nelson Publishers, highlights historical Christians who've made an impact on their world. Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests. Winston Churchill, for example, is one, as is J.R.R.Tolkien. But all, through their relationships, struggles, prayers, and desires, uniquely illuminate our shared experience.
He's more than just a statue of the saint in the neighbor's garden surrounded by adoring animals. As a wealthy young man, Francis was a member of the "brat pack" of his day, wearing bright clothing, hanging out with rich friends, engaging in street brawls, and partying. After a dream in which God called him into service, Francis abandoned all his rights and possessions and began preaching simplicity and poverty, relying on God's providence rather than worldly goods. In this Christian Encounters biography, read about this patron saint of animals who so delighted in God's works that he once preached a sermon to a flock of birds.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2010
22 people are currently reading
244 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 13, 2017
Just wonderful! This was a model biography for a teen readership (meaning good for adults too). Not watered down, but accessible. Filled with fascinating information, and he has a great balance between telling a good story, bringing in the broad historical perspective, and analyzing his character. I wish this guy would write some other biographies.
May 29, 2018
Good short bio. it is a life wroth knowing about in Christian History. I particularly like the conclusion that includes some things that the author saw as good take aways.
September 27, 2011
St. Paul, on the road to Damascus, and having persecuted the new sect of Christians, was struck by a blinding Light and called to a new Life. Our Hero in this story, St. Francis of Assisi, on the road to Pelugia from Assisi to make war with the nobility and as a member of the mercantile class, was halted by a still quiet Voice.
I'm beginning to see a pattern here, methinks!
Radically different in their missions, the one to preach to the Gentiles, our Hero to eventually preach to the birds and minister to the poor, both seem to strike uncanny resemblances with one another in that they are leading a life, however unconsciously, that will take a radical shift in focus after a Salvific experience.
St. Francis, the author makes no bones about it, was quite the party boy. As the head dissolute youth of a band of epicurean to say the least, if not all out debauched crowd called the Sons of Babylon, and son of a wealthy fine cloth merchant, leads a proverbial life of the party existence. As the bankroller for one drinking party after another, he gains fame as a rounder and makes a name for himself among the hangers on who surround him.
With dreams of becoming a Knight that the troubadours sang of, St. Francis is taken captive and held in prison for a little over a year and of course falls ill as a result. In his dark hour, he is known to sing and make light of the situation, seeing beyond the bounds of an early medieval thirteenth century prison camp.
Upon being ransomed by his father, although he returns to the wild life of his youth for a few stints, St. Francis soon trades his chivalric cloaks and ornaments for the clothing of a beggar. Having dreamed he was in a palace and wed to a beautiful bride, our hero works out the betrothed is Poverty herself and soon finds himself making a pilgrimage to Rome in the garb of an impoverished monk.
I will leave off here, as the rest of the story is most widely known and appreciated by folks of many different faiths.
Wonderful portrait of a man who's destiny was to become a Saint.
I'm beginning to see a pattern here, methinks!
Radically different in their missions, the one to preach to the Gentiles, our Hero to eventually preach to the birds and minister to the poor, both seem to strike uncanny resemblances with one another in that they are leading a life, however unconsciously, that will take a radical shift in focus after a Salvific experience.
St. Francis, the author makes no bones about it, was quite the party boy. As the head dissolute youth of a band of epicurean to say the least, if not all out debauched crowd called the Sons of Babylon, and son of a wealthy fine cloth merchant, leads a proverbial life of the party existence. As the bankroller for one drinking party after another, he gains fame as a rounder and makes a name for himself among the hangers on who surround him.
With dreams of becoming a Knight that the troubadours sang of, St. Francis is taken captive and held in prison for a little over a year and of course falls ill as a result. In his dark hour, he is known to sing and make light of the situation, seeing beyond the bounds of an early medieval thirteenth century prison camp.
Upon being ransomed by his father, although he returns to the wild life of his youth for a few stints, St. Francis soon trades his chivalric cloaks and ornaments for the clothing of a beggar. Having dreamed he was in a palace and wed to a beautiful bride, our hero works out the betrothed is Poverty herself and soon finds himself making a pilgrimage to Rome in the garb of an impoverished monk.
I will leave off here, as the rest of the story is most widely known and appreciated by folks of many different faiths.
Wonderful portrait of a man who's destiny was to become a Saint.
December 28, 2010
Christian Encounters: Saint Francis by Robert West is a look at the saint best known for his love of animals. West retells the well-known story of how the son of a wealthy merchant in the small Italian town of Assisi went from a party animal to the founder of a monastic order known for its poverty. Francis was raised with all of the comforts of wealth and enjoyed lavishing gifts on his friends, but when God touched his heart, he became deeply changed and grew to hate his former pleasures. Francis' order of monks was known for the requirement to donate all possessions upon entrance, and for their desire to live without any possessions. West brings to life the tumultuous time Francis lived during, with wars between cities, troubles in the Church, and Crusades; he helps readers to understand how Francis fit into this time period, as well as how he impacted it. While Francis has become well known for his affinity to animals, West brings other less known information to readers, about his miracles, stigmata (the first in Church history), and his ecstatic reveries that occasionally sent him running through the snow clothed only in a tunic. West helps bring to light this famous saint and give readers fresh perspective on his life.
May 5, 2017
There was certainly more to St. Francis than his love for animals.
October 5, 2010
Why did I select this book from those available to read and review? I’m not Catholic, and so reading about a Saint may seem an unusual choice. I have always heard of Saint Francis being referred to as the “Patron Saint of Animals”. I am an admitted animal lover, and this is where my interest in this man was piqued. As I read pages and pages about this man’s life, I began to despair of learning why he is called the Patron Saint of Animals. Finally near the end of the book, this aspect of the man is addressed on a few pages.
Much of what West writes in this biography is conjecture or story-has-it type of things rather than confirmed fact. This is because of necessity due to the fact that Francis lived in the late 1100’s to 1226. It would be impossible to write about a person living that long ago and have documented facts to support the writing. The author did a good job of informing the reader when actual fact is being written and when possible facts are used. Still, it remains a question of whether this book should be considered a non-fictional or fictional recounting of this life.
Saint Francis was born to an affluent family of that time. He wore the best of clothes, partied and indulged in many of the worldly pleasures of that time. At about the age of 20, he was imprisoned during battle and fell deathly ill. It was miraculous that he survived. This seems to be the turning point in his life.
After this time, he forsook his life of ease and gaiety to embrace a life of continual poverty. Some may say that he was “touched by God” while others will declare that the illness had left him “touched” in the head. Yet, miracles happened that attest to the divinity of his actions. Either way, I admire this about the man: he didn’t just talk the talk, but in every aspect of his life, he walked the walk. He was apparently a very humble man, albeit he was a founder and leader of his followers known as the Franciscans. All who followed him were expected to give up their riches and embrace a simple and impoverished life. After a time, there were many who did become followers and members of the Franciscans. For some it was too much to ask that they abandon every comfort in life to become penniless beggars and live a life of abject poverty. Speaking for myself, I can say that if Saint Francis’ chosen path of poverty is the key to the heavenly gates, I’m not sure I could obtain said key. Would I give up my laptop, my shower, my assured daily bread and go out and live as a beggar, not knowing from where my next meal would come? I don’t know that I could do that, even if I believed with all my heart that I was called of God to do so. Indeed, some would say it would be a crazy choice, yet, I admire that St. Francis felt called to do this and so did it. No questions…no turning back. Could I follow his lead?…no. Do I admire his ability to do this?…absolutely.
Was this book worth reading? Yes. I am glad I learned more about this amazing man, even though I would probably dub him the Patron Saint of the Poor rather than the Patron Saint of Animals, at least based on this book.
Much of what West writes in this biography is conjecture or story-has-it type of things rather than confirmed fact. This is because of necessity due to the fact that Francis lived in the late 1100’s to 1226. It would be impossible to write about a person living that long ago and have documented facts to support the writing. The author did a good job of informing the reader when actual fact is being written and when possible facts are used. Still, it remains a question of whether this book should be considered a non-fictional or fictional recounting of this life.
Saint Francis was born to an affluent family of that time. He wore the best of clothes, partied and indulged in many of the worldly pleasures of that time. At about the age of 20, he was imprisoned during battle and fell deathly ill. It was miraculous that he survived. This seems to be the turning point in his life.
After this time, he forsook his life of ease and gaiety to embrace a life of continual poverty. Some may say that he was “touched by God” while others will declare that the illness had left him “touched” in the head. Yet, miracles happened that attest to the divinity of his actions. Either way, I admire this about the man: he didn’t just talk the talk, but in every aspect of his life, he walked the walk. He was apparently a very humble man, albeit he was a founder and leader of his followers known as the Franciscans. All who followed him were expected to give up their riches and embrace a simple and impoverished life. After a time, there were many who did become followers and members of the Franciscans. For some it was too much to ask that they abandon every comfort in life to become penniless beggars and live a life of abject poverty. Speaking for myself, I can say that if Saint Francis’ chosen path of poverty is the key to the heavenly gates, I’m not sure I could obtain said key. Would I give up my laptop, my shower, my assured daily bread and go out and live as a beggar, not knowing from where my next meal would come? I don’t know that I could do that, even if I believed with all my heart that I was called of God to do so. Indeed, some would say it would be a crazy choice, yet, I admire that St. Francis felt called to do this and so did it. No questions…no turning back. Could I follow his lead?…no. Do I admire his ability to do this?…absolutely.
Was this book worth reading? Yes. I am glad I learned more about this amazing man, even though I would probably dub him the Patron Saint of the Poor rather than the Patron Saint of Animals, at least based on this book.
September 17, 2010
The book, Saint Francis by Robert West is a quick and easy read. It is a high level view of the man's life with moments where the reader dives in for a little detail and then back to the stratosphere again for a while. It is not a bad book. Unfortunately it is hard to call it a good book. Part of the Christian Encounters series being published by Thomas Nelson it is a low-cost paperback with fairly flimsy glue binding that threatened to come apart as I was reading it. What saves the book is the subject matter. With so much source material and additional biographical detail already written on Saint Francis it is hard to create a completely awful text.
The biggest failing in the book is the author's tendancy to speculate and hypothesize about what "may have happened' and what 'could have occured' etc. It is no exageration to suggest that nearly every page of the book has some form of ungrounded, unreferenced speculation. For a biography this is simply unacceptable and makes one feel that the book is partly fictional.
At the end of the day though it has some worthy gems that the reader will appreciate but it is not a great book. I suggest if you have read nothing about Saint Francis before the least this book will do for you is offer some bibliographic direction to some other, truly outstanding works already published and referenced by West as source material.
The biggest failing in the book is the author's tendancy to speculate and hypothesize about what "may have happened' and what 'could have occured' etc. It is no exageration to suggest that nearly every page of the book has some form of ungrounded, unreferenced speculation. For a biography this is simply unacceptable and makes one feel that the book is partly fictional.
At the end of the day though it has some worthy gems that the reader will appreciate but it is not a great book. I suggest if you have read nothing about Saint Francis before the least this book will do for you is offer some bibliographic direction to some other, truly outstanding works already published and referenced by West as source material.
July 1, 2011
I absolutely enjoyed reading the story of Saint Francis. I found it intriguing and thought provoking. This biography is written in chronological order. It is also not a lofty book, but written for the lay person. I enjoyed both the story and tone of the book.
I did not enjoy the writing itself. It flipped back and forth between a typical biographical view, citing previous biographers, and a narrative voice, which was much more readable and better for the target audience of this book.
I do find this book to be a good addition to my library. I am happy to have it and have read it. It could have been done better, but I can appreciate it as is because of the story it tells.
I did not enjoy the writing itself. It flipped back and forth between a typical biographical view, citing previous biographers, and a narrative voice, which was much more readable and better for the target audience of this book.
I do find this book to be a good addition to my library. I am happy to have it and have read it. It could have been done better, but I can appreciate it as is because of the story it tells.
August 1, 2012
Not a bad book at all. I've read a number of books about St. Francis and this one gave some information that I'd never heard. It also offered a less romanticized version of so many of the stories of St. Francis, which makes him much more human.
November 23, 2022
Excellent book!!!
September 10, 2012
A little too "adoring" at times, but good.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews