St Francis of Assisi - 1. The Second Christ
For the feast day of St Francis on the 4 October, I am beginning a series of blogs on the life of St Francis of Assisi. In 1209 St Francis of Assisi who the medievals called The Second Christ presented his first rule, totally based on the Gospel, to the great Pope Innocent III in Rome. No saint has ever had such an impact on the history of Christian Spirituality. He was born towards the end of 1181 or at the beginning of 1182. The date might mean little, so let me put it in the context of English History. Henry II was on the throne of England with his equally famous or infamous wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. He is remembered by most of us from our school days for three things. Firstly, he was the first of the Plantagenets. Secondly he was the first to set up law courts or assizes for all. Thirdly he was the first to have a blazing row with the church that culminated in the famous murder, when Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury, was savagely cut to pieces by three knights in
