"In this fresh new introduction to Francis's life, Adrian House...reveals a Francis who is both medieval and modern and who speaks to readers of any faith or none."
—Karen Armstrong, author of The Battle for God and A History of God
THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN FOR READERS OF ANY FAITH OR NONE. Although the whole of Francis's life was based on his belief in God, he was the least dogmatic of saints, seeing himself as God's troubadour or fool. It is unnecessary to share his faith in order to appreciate his soaring achievements.
His life (1182-1226) was rich in its succession of dramas. After his debauchery as a young playboy, merchant and soldier he stripped naked in court, abandoned everything he owned and devoted his life to the poorest and sick. The all-embracing relationship between him and Clare enriched each as man and woman. On his missions he walked over the Pyrenees barefoot, was shipwrecked and crossed the lines during the Fifth Crusade to parley with the sultan in Egypt. In 1224 marks similar to Christ's wounds appeared on his hands, feet and side, the first recorded case of the stigmata.
His feelings for creation, epitomized in his sermon to the birds, stimulated the realism of the Italian Renaissance artists; his vernacular poems inclined Dante to write The Divine Comedy in Italian, not Latin. The first religious order he founded, for men, had a radical effect on social justice and the developing universities in Europe; his second order, the Poor Clares, soon numbered hundreds, including royalty and half a dozen saints; his third, for laity sworn to peace, helped destroy the military power of feudalism. Men like Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Cervantes and Galileo allegedly joined the Third Order. But, above all, it is through his universal love that he has influenced the world for nearly eight centuries, drawing more than three million people every year to his tomb in Assisi.
ADRIAN HOUSE read medieval and modern history at New College, Oxford, and was for many years a publisher with William Collins (now HarperCollins) in London. He has spent four years researching and writing this book, living for six months in Assisi and visiting Franciscan sites, communities and libraries in the United States, Britain, Italy, Spain and Egypt.
PRAISE FOR FRANIS OF ASSISI AND ADRIAN HOUSE
"The four years House devoted to writing about and researching the life of Francis were clearly well spent; his book is not only comprehensive in treatment but superbly written. He draws the reader into the saint's life with ease of a master storyteller who has organized the details so skillfully as to allow them to do the work of spinning the tale. His method of setting Francis in the context of the times that shaped him is especially effective....By writing for those of any or no faith, the author has given aficionados of Francis and Clare as well as the merely curious much to savor."
—Publishers Weekly
"An admiring biography of the medieval Italian saint....A labor of love..."
—Kirkus Reviews
"...highly readable...Francis does come very much alive here, and his evolution is fascinating to watch....this vivid account should find a place on most public library religion shelves." —Booklist
"House has provided a sizzling tale of adventure and spirituality within the format of a biography of St. Francis....Acknowledging that he is not a historian, House is still able to produce a work that makes creative use of both historical and legendary material while always being conscious of the historical roots....His description of events at the end of Francis's life are especially interesting. What results is not a spare presentation of historical facts but a vivid, interesting and readable extended historical presentation on Francis of Assisi."
—Library Journal
"Adrian House succeeds beautifully in reinterpreting the medieval vitae of an official saint as records of the life of a man full of contradictions, and in giving his readers an inkling of life in 13th-century Italy."
—The Financial Times
"A fascinating, exceptionally well-written evocation of the life and times of St Francis...an altogether splendid book."
—Eric Newby, author of Love and War in the Apennines
"A fresh look not only at Francis, but at the world he inhabited and was to sanctify. A most valuable and needed book."
—Paul Wilkes, author of Beyond the Walls: Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Life
"In a biography as good as this it is difficult to know what to praise most: the engaging clarity of the style, the compelling narrative of a dramatic career, the vivid re-creation of everyday life in the period or the deftly interwoven power struggles of pope and emperor in the background."
—The Sunday Times (London)
"A book to be grateful for. It is a beautifully clear exposition of a life that is worth emulating."
—Ann Wroe, author of Pontius Pilate
"House offers an...immensely elegant account of a remarkable life...and a freshness and vitality that grows out of the observations made while House followed in Francis's footsteps around the shores of the Mediterranean."
—Peter Stanford, author of The Legend of Pope Joan
"Adrian House has managed to perform a rare feat—to write a new biography of Francis of Assisi that is both readable and accurate to the sources."
—Bernard McGinn, University of Chicago
"A dense forest of legend and hagiography began to obscure Francis long before he died. Adrian House restores him for us here in a clear historical context, without reasoning away his mysticism, 1 the great saint's soul-mate, Clare, the deeper attention she deserves."
—Michael Wolfe, author of The Hadj: An American's Pilgrimage to Mecca
"Adrian House's intelligent new biography...reveals a Francis who is both medieval and modern...a cool hero for our own time."
—The Independent on Sunday (London)
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