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Who Was St. Francis?

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Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), Basilique Assise, Legend of St Francis, Confirmation of the Rule by Innocentius III.
Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), Basilique Assise, Legend of St Francis, Confirmation of the Rule by Innocentius III.

The pope has taken the name Francis, the first ever to do so. We take a look at one of the most important saints in Christianity.

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Lawrence Cunningham, professor emeritus in the theology department at Notre Dame. He's the author of numerous books on the life of St. Francis.

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The New Yorker "Francis accepted all this serenely, and the qualities that at the beginning had marked him as an eccentric eventually made him seem holy. His words, one writer said, were “soothing, burning, and penetrating.” He had a way of “making his whole body a tongue.” Now, when he arrived in a town, church bells rang. People stole the water in which he had washed his feet; it was said to cure sick cows."

Slate "When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires—but perhaps more significantly for Jesuits, the former novice director, director of studies, and regional superior for the Jesuits in Argentina—took the name “Francis,” I was caught off guard. “Why not Ignatius?” the founder of our order, I thought."

This segment aired on March 19, 2013.

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