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St. Francis of Assisi

G. K. Chesterton · 1874–1936

  • 10 chapters
  • 3 hr 39 min read
  • Moderate Reading difficulty

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The Problem of St. Francis

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About this book

A life of St. Francis, Chesterton says, can be written as if he were only a lover of nature and a friend of the birds, or only a saint of the stained-glass window; he sets out to do something harder, and to show a modern reader why the man did what he did. Beginning with the dark world Francis was born into, he follows the young soldier of Assisi through his conversion, the rebuilding of the ruined church, the leper he ran to embrace and the joyful poverty of the friars, to the stigmata and his death, and finds the secret of it all in one thing: that Francis was a lover, a lover of God and of men.

A sketch of St. Francis of Assisi in modern English may be written in one of three ways. Between these the writer must make his selection; and the third way, which is adopted here, is in some respects the most difficult of all. At least, it would be the most difficult if the other two were not impossible.
From The Problem of St. Francis

Contents · 10 chapters · 3 hr 39 min read

  1. 1 The Problem of St. Francis 14 min
  2. 2 The World St. Francis Found 27 min
  3. 3 Francis the Fighter 22 min
  4. 4 Francis the Builder 19 min
  5. 5 Le Jongleur de Dieu 25 min
  6. 6 The Little Poor Man 24 min
  7. 7 The Three Orders 25 min
  8. 8 The Mirror of Christ 24 min
  9. 9 Miracles and Death 22 min
  10. 10 The Testament of St. Francis 16 min

About the author

G. K. Chesterton

1874 1936

St. Francis of Assisi · 1923

More by G. K. Chesterton

Public domain. Source text from the original edition.

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MLA
Chesterton, G. K. St. Francis of Assisi. 1923. Ochorus, https://ochorus.com/books/st-francis-of-assisi/.
Chicago
Chesterton, G. K. St. Francis of Assisi. 1923. Reprint, Ochorus. https://ochorus.com/books/st-francis-of-assisi/.
Chicago footnote
G. K. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi (1923; repr., Ochorus), https://ochorus.com/books/st-francis-of-assisi/.
BibTeX
@book{chesterton1923francis, author = {Chesterton, G. K.}, title = {{St. Francis of Assisi}}, year = {1923}, publisher = {Ochorus}, url = {https://ochorus.com/books/st-francis-of-assisi/} }