Francis of Assisi: Medieval Saint

The legends began the day Francis died. He was sainted (1228) by the medieval church; artists and poets added to this beatification by granting to Francis an almost unparalleled place in the history of Christianity. The painter Giotto depicted him as the one who most suffered the wounds of Christ. Dante placed him above the doctors and founders of medieval orders in his Divine Comedy (c. 1305). Francis was so celebrated as the perfect imitator of Christ that the Protestant Reformers believed...