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Francis of Assisi: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint
In this towering work, André Vauchez draws on the vast body of scholarship on Francis of Assisi produced over the past forty years as well on as his own expertise in medieval hagiography to tell the most comprehensive and authoritative version of Francis’s life and afterlife published in the past half century.
After a detailed and yet engaging reconstruction of Francis's life and work, Vauchez focuses on the myriad texts—hagiographies, chronicles, sermons, personal testimonies, etc.—of writers who recorded aspects of Francis's life and movement as they remembered them, and used those remembrances to construct a portrait of Francis relevant to their concerns. We see varying versions of his life reflected in the work of Machiavelli, Luther, Voltaire, German and English romantics, pre-Raphaelites, Italian nationalists, and Mussolini, and discover how peace activists, ecologists, or interreligious dialogists have used his example to promote their various causes. Particularly noteworthy is the attention Vauchez pays to Francis’s own writings, which strangely enough have been largely overlooked by later interpreters.
The product of a lifetime of study, this book reveals a historian at the height of his powers.
After a detailed and yet engaging reconstruction of Francis's life and work, Vauchez focuses on the myriad texts—hagiographies, chronicles, sermons, personal testimonies, etc.—of writers who recorded aspects of Francis's life and movement as they remembered them, and used those remembrances to construct a portrait of Francis relevant to their concerns. We see varying versions of his life reflected in the work of Machiavelli, Luther, Voltaire, German and English romantics, pre-Raphaelites, Italian nationalists, and Mussolini, and discover how peace activists, ecologists, or interreligious dialogists have used his example to promote their various causes. Particularly noteworthy is the attention Vauchez pays to Francis’s own writings, which strangely enough have been largely overlooked by later interpreters.
The product of a lifetime of study, this book reveals a historian at the height of his powers.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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308 people want to read
About the author
André Vauchez
56 books7 followersAndré Vauchez is professor emeritus, University of Paris X.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 30, 2019
Caught myself just skimming about halfway through ... just hoping to find something, anything, that was interesting, novel, or added to the understanding of the subject.
The author himself notes in the intro that there are so very many works on the subject ... and yet he unwittingly seems to have churned out just another entry in that canon with no real incremental value that I can see.
The author himself notes in the intro that there are so very many works on the subject ... and yet he unwittingly seems to have churned out just another entry in that canon with no real incremental value that I can see.
June 12, 2019
I was looking for some good reads about St. Francis, so I went to the best academic source I know, Fr. Dan Horan, who recommended this book to me. And let me tell you, when I say "academic source" that's what this book is. Which is why it took me so long to read. It's detailed and nuanced and approaches the life of St. Francis as a historian. I learned a lot. But it took some time! Which in turn was deliberate because I wanted to make the most out of my reading, even though I had to have my good old-fashioned dictionary nearby for the more academic terms.
(OK. You got me. I just googled them.)
What I find fascinating about St. Francis is how he gave up leadership of his movement well before his death and how he seemingly struggled with the formal organization of it all. In some ways, that violated the spirit of what he wanted, but in other ways it was needed in order to continue his way of life, even if it was a different form.
No one is immune from having their dream distorted by the powers that be. Not even a saint.
On poverty:
"What does he dislike about money? It both stirs up an evil desire in individuals and distorts relationships between human beings by conferring on those who possess it an illusory security."
On being yourself:
"Francis is aware that there is no one single way to follow Christ and that it is incumbent upon each one to find his or her way, even within the fraternity and within the framework of the rule."
Standardization:
"The pressure exerted by the Holy See to standardize and centralize the new religious experiences was so strong at the beginning of the thirteenth century that the founders, in seeing them evolve in a rather different direction from the one that they wanted, were sometimes led to take some distance from their orders."
The public
"His primary aim was to connect with "simple people" in their own cultural world, where gestures, images, and song were more important than speeches or writing. The more the public whom he addressed was of a modest social level, the more his interventions resembled religious spectacle."
"The Poverello often spoke to people and groups situated at the margins of well-to-do and cultured society: the poor, the humble, the unlearned who had neither the opportunity nor the means to express themselves. He offered them a way of redemption in a style accessible to all."
(OK. You got me. I just googled them.)
What I find fascinating about St. Francis is how he gave up leadership of his movement well before his death and how he seemingly struggled with the formal organization of it all. In some ways, that violated the spirit of what he wanted, but in other ways it was needed in order to continue his way of life, even if it was a different form.
No one is immune from having their dream distorted by the powers that be. Not even a saint.
On poverty:
"What does he dislike about money? It both stirs up an evil desire in individuals and distorts relationships between human beings by conferring on those who possess it an illusory security."
On being yourself:
"Francis is aware that there is no one single way to follow Christ and that it is incumbent upon each one to find his or her way, even within the fraternity and within the framework of the rule."
Standardization:
"The pressure exerted by the Holy See to standardize and centralize the new religious experiences was so strong at the beginning of the thirteenth century that the founders, in seeing them evolve in a rather different direction from the one that they wanted, were sometimes led to take some distance from their orders."
The public
"His primary aim was to connect with "simple people" in their own cultural world, where gestures, images, and song were more important than speeches or writing. The more the public whom he addressed was of a modest social level, the more his interventions resembled religious spectacle."
"The Poverello often spoke to people and groups situated at the margins of well-to-do and cultured society: the poor, the humble, the unlearned who had neither the opportunity nor the means to express themselves. He offered them a way of redemption in a style accessible to all."
July 20, 2021
Saint Francis at his best
I probably had heard of Saint Francis as I was growing up, but even after I was baptized into the Catholic Church I had very little information on the Poor Man of Assisi. I bought the Kindle version of the biography by Andre Vauchez because 1) it was cheap and 2) it became available after a mention of Saint Francis on a rerun of a TV show. It is one of the best investments I have ever made. The life of any historical figure (let alone one from the Middle Ages) can be hard to discern but Andre Vauchez does a masterful job of separating the man from the myth. It is an inspiring work of scholarship, learned and accessible. It leaves me wanting to read more.
I probably had heard of Saint Francis as I was growing up, but even after I was baptized into the Catholic Church I had very little information on the Poor Man of Assisi. I bought the Kindle version of the biography by Andre Vauchez because 1) it was cheap and 2) it became available after a mention of Saint Francis on a rerun of a TV show. It is one of the best investments I have ever made. The life of any historical figure (let alone one from the Middle Ages) can be hard to discern but Andre Vauchez does a masterful job of separating the man from the myth. It is an inspiring work of scholarship, learned and accessible. It leaves me wanting to read more.
March 15, 2018
Scholarly, so if that is what you want this is for you; I found it informative but dull. I am not Catholic and feel that if I had grown up with the St. Francis stories this analytical biography would have been more interesting.
February 11, 2024
Wow! What a dense book! I loved it though. I got the book on sale on Kindle, and, at first, i was put off by it, and I pushed it aside, telling Pamela I’d come back to it. Having made the resolution to read more about Saints this year, though, I changed my mind and forced myself to keep reading it. The book didn’t become easier to read, but the subject matter was so interesting, it didn’t matter.
Saint Francis was a fascinating man. Each era of civilization since his death has been able to appropriate the man and his message, which is as it should be. Even today, our Pope is named after him. While I can’t say that everybody should use this book as a starting point to learn more about him, having familiarity with the Saint and his message is a good goal for anybody who wants to be inspired and humbled.
Saint Francis was a fascinating man. Each era of civilization since his death has been able to appropriate the man and his message, which is as it should be. Even today, our Pope is named after him. While I can’t say that everybody should use this book as a starting point to learn more about him, having familiarity with the Saint and his message is a good goal for anybody who wants to be inspired and humbled.
December 28, 2024
Vauchez’s portrait of Saint Francis brought him back down to Earth for me. This biography paints Francis as a person; one with whom I find commonality. The life and legacy of Francis is far more nuanced than the portrayals found in popular media or even by his modern followers. If you want to get to know Saint Francis on a deeper level, this is a good place to start.
October 22, 2019
Scholarly. If I were writing a research paper, this book would be perfect, but as an inspiring read grounded in real history, I cannot recommend this book. Almost every chapter is bogged down by source-criticism and trying to uncover the "real" or I'd even say, "perfect" biography. The problem, for me, is that I was left with a source-criticism book, not the inspiring story of the saint. I was hoping for an authoritative story of the saint himself, his graces and struggles, not of his biographers. Maybe this is my fault. Maybe I did not read close enough to the author's original purpose. Either way, I did not finish the book; disappointed.
September 10, 2021
Painful
I purchased this book assuming I would be reading some thing similar to a biography, it is nothing of the sort. It is literally 400 pages of the author going into excruciating detail about his interpretation of the meaning of Francis of Assissi‘s life from a theological perspective. If you were looking for a casual read on the Saint, seek elsewhere.
I purchased this book assuming I would be reading some thing similar to a biography, it is nothing of the sort. It is literally 400 pages of the author going into excruciating detail about his interpretation of the meaning of Francis of Assissi‘s life from a theological perspective. If you were looking for a casual read on the Saint, seek elsewhere.
October 28, 2013
Scholarly view of the Poor Man of Assissi's life. And yes, it's just as dull as it sounds.
Weird, because Francis us a man for our time, a protestor against the corrosive power of wealth, an advocate of nature and it's animals, a man on a spiritual quest to fond true God.
But this author reduces him to a collection of academic questions: why didn't he rebel against the authority of the Church? What sort of rule did he really want to lay down for his order? What sort of poverty could he accept for his brethren, and what riches reject?
The author revisits issues again and again. Further, he gives minute detail in theological disputes between sects within the Franciscans, then nearly neglects what happened to the order in the centuries after Francis.
Most frustrating, he completely misses the point of Francis, both to his own time and to ours. Only at the end of the very tedious book does he briefly discuss how strange and threatening Francis was and is, with his simple theology and his pure example born not of ego but of wonder.
Still, there are some interesting arguments about Francis and his order, which ticks the book up to three stars.
Weird, because Francis us a man for our time, a protestor against the corrosive power of wealth, an advocate of nature and it's animals, a man on a spiritual quest to fond true God.
But this author reduces him to a collection of academic questions: why didn't he rebel against the authority of the Church? What sort of rule did he really want to lay down for his order? What sort of poverty could he accept for his brethren, and what riches reject?
The author revisits issues again and again. Further, he gives minute detail in theological disputes between sects within the Franciscans, then nearly neglects what happened to the order in the centuries after Francis.
Most frustrating, he completely misses the point of Francis, both to his own time and to ours. Only at the end of the very tedious book does he briefly discuss how strange and threatening Francis was and is, with his simple theology and his pure example born not of ego but of wonder.
Still, there are some interesting arguments about Francis and his order, which ticks the book up to three stars.
June 17, 2013
Out of a 336 page book (not counting back matter), only 135 pages deal with the period up to Francis’ death. While the author states that his goal in the second half of the book is to discuss the “afterlife” of the saint, and I think it an important subject, a lot of the material, I think, is part of his life story and should have been integrated into the life itself—discussion of his writings, his relationship with nature and other topics.
I certainly learned from it--if a Jew can be said to have a favorite saint, Francis has always been mine. And clearly I have had a mythic image of Francis the animal lover in mind. Not that he didn't express such a love at times, but it has clearly been expanded on throughout history by artists and writers.
I certainly learned from it--if a Jew can be said to have a favorite saint, Francis has always been mine. And clearly I have had a mythic image of Francis the animal lover in mind. Not that he didn't express such a love at times, but it has clearly been expanded on throughout history by artists and writers.
November 16, 2015
Vauchez, a consummate medieval historian, captures the unique biography of Francis of Assisi and his charism of Christian evangelical poverty. Francis was a merchant’s son, a layman who set in motion the Friars Minor and the Poor Ladies on a course of extreme poverty hampered by the institutionalization of his communities by the Roman Church and clerical authorities. Francis never waivered in his fidelity to the Papacy but he also never gave up his embrace of “Lady Poverty” to the chagrin of many of his followers. This scholarly biography presents an entirely different picture of Francis the Saint who was very original and revolutionary for his time and a puzzle for contemporary man and women. A book well worth reading.
stopped-reading
September 23, 2019I have stopped reading still on the begining. The book seems well written. Maybe I will continue later.
February 24, 2013
Although I may take exception to some of Vauchez' evaluation of sources, I found his emphasis on the importance of being with the least of this world, minoritas, very helpful in understanding both Francis and my calling.
This is not a work one should read when wanting to know the basics of who Francis is, but it is very good.
This is not a work one should read when wanting to know the basics of who Francis is, but it is very good.
December 20, 2016
Scholarly but eminently readable
Having read a lot of books about Francis down the years, for me, this is the best of the scholarly works. Don't be put off that it's written by a scholar, or it's length. It has great depth but is so easy to read. It brought Francis to life for me in a different yet engaging way.
Having read a lot of books about Francis down the years, for me, this is the best of the scholarly works. Don't be put off that it's written by a scholar, or it's length. It has great depth but is so easy to read. It brought Francis to life for me in a different yet engaging way.
September 23, 2013
started but didn't finish. Too scholarly for my taste.
America Magazine book club title.
America Magazine book club title.
May 30, 2014
The best biography of Francis anno 2014: scholarly study of his life and works; great analysis of his spirituality; correction of popular misunderstandings about the saint and his worldview.
August 8, 2021
This is one of the best biographies of any saint I've com across. Vauchez's methodology should be emulated by all biographers of saints' lives from here on into the future.
September 1, 2024
I think it's good but I'm not sure. Weird man, weird times.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews