The Eccentric Francis of Assisi

Even in the 1200’s there was a social standard, a level of appropriateness. Same as today, you either fit the norm, or not. Saint Francis of Assisi definitely did not fit the norm. What is different from the reasons people defy the norm today, Francis’s unconventional conduct, dress, and appearance was due to his true imitation of the life of Christ. Father Byron Miller, CSsR tells of the life St. Francis that led 19th-century historian Ernest Renan to declare that Francis was essentially the only perfect Christian since Christ