Life of St. Francis of Assisi

by Paul Sabatier, Louise Seymour Houghton (Translator)

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Christianity, Biography, Religion, Nonfiction, Historical, Biography Memoir, Catholic

586 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

This is the theologian. For the chemist, see Paul Sabatier.

Charles Paul Marie Sabatier was a French clergyman and historian, best known for writing the first modern biography of St. Francis of Assisi, La vie de St. François d’Assise (1893). Educated at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris, he served briefly as vicar in Strasbourg before devoting himself to scholarship. His influential biography, later translated into English, revolutionized Franciscan studies though it was placed on the Catholic Church’s Index of Forbidden Books. Sabatier also published widely on church-state relations and modernist thought, delivering the Jowett Lectures in London in 1908. Nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, he became professor of Church history at the University of Strasbourg in 1919.

Reviews

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A devout and determined man Saint Francis is a gem on the history of the church. A great read for all.

[Amy Looney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let it serve as a warning that this book was written in the nineteenth century. The author writes a very thorough biography of St. Francis. At times the author is critical of the Catholic Church's treatment of St. Francis, and an extensive review of the sources at the end of the work (some 15% of the work if you read it on a Kindle), becomes a bit burdensome if you continue to read. I would recommend the book if you want a basic overview of the life of St. Francis.

[Robert Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay in parts

This is an older book, but was free so I got it. I felt like the author wrote well in some parts of the book, but seemed to drone on forever in other parts, making it hard to follow what was going on.

[Patricia L. Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book, and very well written. Captured things about his personal life that makes him real; shows what a unique and amazing man of God this man really was, and how selfless he was, because of his love for the Lord! This book captures what a truly amazing man he was!

[Jennifer Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight

I have seen a life study on st. Francis on YouTube. I like it, but I wanted know more. This book was a great addition.

[Alberto Lagomarsini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente libro. De los mejores libros de franciscanismo. Está entre los top 5 sobre el tema.

[Mullinax56 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the scholarship here. It is good to read someone who stays close to the original sources. The almost hagiographic style, however, makes this a single-chapter-a-day slog.

[Peggy Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about St. Francis, how his writings came about, etc.

[Carol B Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scholar

This book was too involved. Felt like it was not a scholar not just a simple person like me who had hoped to learn a.little about st. Francis.

[Frank G. Testa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can't understand most of the words


Not for me

You. Need a dictionary next to you in order to understand any sentence.
Sorry but thank you very much .