02Knights Templar - Julian Emperor

SAINTS
1210.The Franciscan brothers lived simple austere lives without
great wealth, fine buildings or comforts.
St Francis became a popular figure in Italy through his sermons
but soon he was no longer content simply to preach in
his own country. In 1211, St Francis boarded a ship to travel
to Jerusalem but the journey ended in disaster when he was
shipwrecked on the coast of Dalmatia. Three years later, another
attempt to preach abroad failed when he became very ill
en route to Morocco. He was forced to return to Italy.
However, in 1219, St Francis and twelve friars sailed for the
Holy Land. Upon arrival he was greatly disappointed by the
behaviour and attitude of the crusader soldiers that he met.
Incredibly, he decided to travel from the safety of the
Christian-held territories to meet Sultan Melek-el-Kamel in
an attempt to convert him and his followers to Christianity.
The sultan is said to have received him with courtesy and was
impressed by the sermons of St Francis. However, they failed
to convert the sultan and St Francis returned to the lands held
by the Christians.
One of the most important events in the life of St Francis
occurred whilst he was praying on Mount La Verna in 1224.
He undertook a period of fasting that lasted for forty days and
was intended to be a preparation for celebrating Michaelmas.
He is said to have experienced a vision on 14 September and
dramatically underwent the Impression of the Stigmata.
During this experience he manifested the five wounds that
Christ received on the cross when nails were driven through
his hands and feet and his side was pierced by the spear of the
Roman legionary Longinus.This is thought to be the earliest
authentic account of an individual displaying stigmata, a phenomenon
considered, particularly within the Roman Catholic
Church, to be an indication of the holiness of the individual
•74•