Description

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The familiar Francis of Assisi of popular anecdote does not begin to take into account the complexity of the real person. Why? Because St. Bonaventure, a successor of Francis who never knew him personally, put forward his own view of Francis and spread that image far and wide. Italian historian Chiara Mercuri takes the reader back in time to the real Francis. From years of research and reconstruction, Mercuri reveals the complex dynamics of the Church of the Middle Ages, the origins of the Franciscan order, and the concentric circles of those friends who knew and wrote about St. Francis from firsthand knowledge.
 

About the Author

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Robert J. Edmonson, CJ, holds a certificate in French from the University of Montpellier (France) and degrees in French from the University of Miami and Middlebury College. His translations—including one of the world's best-selling English-language editions of The Story of a Soul—have sold 100,000 copies.

Praise For…

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“This biography will blow the doors off the box holding a pious, mystical, aloof St. Francis. Chiara Mercuri, in Robert J. Edmonson’s lively translation, reveals a man who is no less saintly than the legends have it, but who in his humanness is more relevant than ever.” —Jon M. Sweeney, editor of The Road to Assisi by Paul Sabatier, and author of The Enthusiast: How the Best Friend of Francis of Assisi Almost Destroyed What He Started