First Encounter With Francis of Assisi

by Damian Vorreaux, translated by Jean-Francois Godet Calogeras

Publication Year: 2012

First Encounter with Francis of Assisi: Damien Vorreux, who died in 1988, was a French scholar who began to publish French translations of the early Franciscan documents in the early 1950s. His deep knowledge of those documents and his understanding of Francis were the inspiration for this classic presentation of Francis of Assisi. Published in French in 1973 and first offered in English by Franciscan Press in 1979, Jean-François Godet-Calogeras – who worked with Vorreux – combines the latest scholarship and the most current English translation of the Early Documents with his own translation of the writings of Francis in offering this new edition of First Encounter with Francis of Assisi. This short text is an excellent introduction to Francis and the world in which he lived.

Published by: Franciscan Institute Publications

Contents
Search Inside This Book
Book Details

First Encounter with Francis of Assisi was first published in its original French language in 1973. The author, Friar Damien Vorreux, who died in 1998, began to publish French translations of the early Franciscan documents in the early 1950s. A couple of decades later, he had certainly...

Preface: Why You?

pdf icon Download PDF (38.2 KB)
pp. 9-10

In the thirteenth century the arrival of Saint Francis in the smallest village provoked the enthusiastic and spontaneous outpouring of a kind of popular celebration of the word of God. “Ecco il santo!” “Behold the holy man!” Suddenly bells rang, shops emptied, and street people...

I. The Century before the Outbreak

pdf icon Download PDF (65.9 KB)
pp. 11-20

1180-1226: These two dates marking the beginning and end of Francis’s life might in themselves seem insignificant, in the real sense of the term. They need only be resituated in their historical context in order to see how a providential mission was prepared and how...

II. “I was seized by Christ”

pdf icon Download PDF (108.6 KB)
pp. 21-47

The legendary details of Saint Francis’s life are familiar to everyone; the Fioretti has for quite some time been considered one of the classics of Christianity and it has its place alongside the Bible, the Missal, and the Imitation of Christ on family bookshelves. So we won’t repeat all those stories...

III. The Spiritual Universe of Saint Francis

pdf icon Download PDF (108.9 KB)
pp. 49-72

One feels hesitant about setting a sacrilegious hand to the Writings of Saint Francis when analyzing them; their overall harmony and coherence is so perfect. It is something like the shudder one might feel at performing an autopsy on a living body or shredding to pieces the canvas...

Chronological Table of the Life of Saint Francis

pdf icon Download PDF (52.3 KB)
pp. 106-111

E-ISBN-13: 9781576593516
E-ISBN-10: 1576593517
Print-ISBN-13: 9781576593370
Print-ISBN-10: 1576593371

Page Count: 100
Publication Year: 2012

Edition: Second