Roger Bacon High School - Troubadour Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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contest between the spiritual and the sensual. Bitterly these two elements waged their conflict in the soul of the young adventurer. Gradually by heroic spiritual efforts, he drew toward his religious vocation, until he was in a pnsition to throw aside his frivolous inclinations and to embrace the service of God, his natural position in life. From the acceptance by Francis of a religious calling in his twenty-fifth year until his death in his forty-fourth year was a period in which F'rancis laid the foundation for the Order whose activities were to revivify the Catholic Church in Europe. He was occupied constantly throughout these years by the affairs of his newly-found Order and by missionary activities. In 1223 the First Order received the approval of Pope Innocent III, Which recognition was an immense pleasure to Francis. By this time, tooa the success of the Second and Third Orders, the Poor Clares and the Tertiaries, was becoming rapid and widespread. Also to these years of his life is ascribed iiThe Canticle 0f the Sm?9 a sublime expression of the Jonglc-ufs lofty conception of nature. During the later years of his life, the holy man of Assisi was especially distinguished by God through his re- ception of the Stigma. During the early part of the year 1226, Francis found that his health was becoming ever worse. Desiring that he should 01106 more see Assisi and his beloved Portiuncula, he asked that he he brought to Assisi. Here he was kept at the Bishopis palace5 but he was not satisfied and demanded to he allowed to go to his little chapel, Portiuncula. So it happened that it was here on October third in the year 1226 with all of his dearest Friars gathered about him that St. Francis of Assisi passed quietly from this life. Thus ended the mortal life of this individual, who, in accomplishing so much that had brought and was to bring him worldly praise and respect, had forgotten about himself entirely and had been occupied only with the welfare of his fellow heings and with his Eternal Master. h28h

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Giovanni Bernardone, more com- monly known as F rancis of Assisi, was born in the year 1182. His mother, Lady Pica, was of noble birth and 0f Provencal origin, while his father was a wealthy merchant of ASSisi. It is probable that partly on account of his mother's nationality and partly on account of the fact that his father was in France at the time of the childis birth, the young Bernardone early in life acquired the name, ggFrancesco 0r ' thc Frenchman? Despite the contentions of some of his hiographers, the common opinion seems to he that the Assisian possessed from early youth an unsullied moral purity. Another trait which the Happy Troubadour seems to have possessed even in his adolescent years is a dis- regard for wealth. When Francis was about nineteen years of age, he came under the spell of troubadours from farther north on the European conti- nent who invaded the Italian peninsula. Their tales of romantic adventures gripped the imagination of the young man. and the daring life which their stories of war presented appealed to his ambitious and lively nature. Natur- ally very gay and joyous, he was very much pleased hy the happy note of these ballads. AS the young man listened to the songs of the troubadours, a desire for mundane glory, tempered only by a sense of chivalry, surged forth in his heart. While we tind that St. Francis eventually freed himself of these earthly ambitions imparted by the Trouhadours, he never seems to have IFE OF ST. FRANCIS 0F ASSISI lost his buoyant, chivalrous attitude toward life. At this point of his life, he is described as being slender, somewhat helow middle height, and of a dark complexion. His features bordered on being delicate e thin sensitive lips, a straight well-shapen nose, smooth hmw1 and dark piercing eyes. His posture was straight, and his move ments were brisk. He. dressed with a splendor that showed a delight in color. Coarseness of any kind nause- ated him, and his taste for foods, at this time, can best he described as dainty. 50011 an opportunity for Francis to exercise his chivalrous nature pre- sented itself. Assisi became involved in war with a neighboring town. At the battle of San Giovanni, the Assi- sians were defeated and Francis and many of his comrades were thrown into prison. During this continement his gallant display of good cheer made him appear almost ridiculous to his fellow prisoners. The harsh treatment which the young noble received in prison weak- ened his physical constitution, for after his release he spent a year ill in hed. The noticeable effect of this sickness was an increasing seriousness and a lessening of his appetite for war. He tried to donate his services whole- heartedly to a campaign being waged on behalf of the Pope against the Emperor, but he found that the clash of arms had lost its attraction. At this point, Francis experienced the great conflict of his life, the hzqh

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Boole II Graduates