Francis was born in the Italian town of Assisi over eight hundred years ago. His father was a rich cloth merchant and Francis had everything money could buy.

Francis trained as a soldier. In one battle he was captured and held in a prison for a year.

When he returned to Assisi, all of Francis' family and friends noticed that he had changed. He didn't seem to enjoy things like he used to. Instead, Francis began to spend a lot of time praying in a quiet little crumbling church.

One day when Francis was praying in this church, he heard God say to him, "Repair my church."

To carry out the repairs, Francis used all of his own money and sold some of his father's cloth. His father was so angry with Francis that he took him to court. Francis was ordered to pay his father back. But the only things which Francis now owned were his clothes. So there in front of everyone in the court, Francis took off all his clothes and threw them at his father's feet. From then on, he wore a rough brown robe with a white cross on it.

Francis began travelling around Italy, repairing churches, caring for the sick, and telling everybody and everything including animals and birds, flowers and rocks, how much Jesus loved them. Francis loved all God's creatures and called them his brothers and sisters.

Even though he had no home, no possessions and had to beg for his food, Francis was always very happy. He loved to dance and sing praise to God. Francis walked to Rome to dance and sing for the Pope. He also travelled to Jerusalem to stop the fighting between Christians and Muslims.

Francis became famous across Europe and more and more people came to see him and here what he had to say. Many people changed their lives to live more like Jesus. Some decided to do what Francis had done. They gave up all the things they owned and spent their time helping the sick and telling people about Jesus. Others stayed at home, living simply, loving greatly, and making their world more gentle and lovely. Because they did what Francis did, they are called Franciscans. Today, there are Franciscans all over the world.