From Francis to Francis to Franciscans

Thomas of Celano, the first biographer of Saint Francis, called him vir alterius saeculi, man of the future world, when he saw Francis immersed among people of every kind and social extraction. From the beginning of his conversion, the Poverello had crossed the very line that separated him from others, especially from lepers: from the other as stranger to the other as brother and neighbour. And in this truly paschal passage, Francis transitions from his “I” to the “you that becomes us”; from frightened distance to trusting proximity. And it is precisely this kind of passage that allows the young Francis to take a new look at the face of the San Damiano Cross, and likewise, reciprocally, this look at the Crucifix will allow him a new look at the face of the other. The journey to discover the other as neighbour and brother opens a new ...