Order of Friars Minor
2009 marks the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Order of Friars Minor by Francis of Assisi (1209-2009). In popular imagery, Saint Francis embodies nature, poetry and the environment... but in fact this young man, born into a good family, abandoned all his worldly goods and ambitions in order to live his ideal life of evangelical poverty and to found a new religious order. This exceptional man was quickly joined by many followers: his message of purity, evangelical joy and universal fraternity has been spread for 8 centuries by the Franciscan Order and its great figures (Saint Bonaventure, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Bernadine of Siena and Saint Clare of Assisi).
