Francis made self-sacrifice into performance art. He had a mania for giving clothing away to the poor and going naked. A monastery built a special cell for him to stay in during a visit but it was too well-constructed, so he requested that it be smudged with dirt and leaves before he slept there—only then could he be comfortably uncomfortable. Rocks and pieces of wood were his pillows. To prove their piety his followers kept starving themselves to the point that Francis had to eat with them so that they didn’t die.
