St. Francis of Assisi is my favored saint of all time. Born the son of a wealthy merchant, he wanted for not one thing for the duration of his misspent youth. St. Francis knew sin, and enjoyed drinking and parties. An exceedingly likeable young man, he caroused nightly with a huge group of friends who indulged in vice and debauchery.
However, St. Francis’ life was destined to belong to God, and various events in his life, including a severe illness, principally changed him. He renounced sin, and started out to live in abject poverty, putting no store in material things. He founded the order of the Dominican Friars, and his symbol was the Tau Cross.
At one point, Saint Francis stretched out his arms and declared to his Dominicans that their religious habit, or tunic, was in itself the Tau cross, and represented their lifelong devotion to God. In his mission of administering the gospel to the lepers, the least of society, the Tau Cross became known for it is shelter versus the plague and other diseases. A great believer in the compassionateness of Christ, and known for his rapport with animals, St. Francis adopted the Tau Cross – which looks like a Greek “T” – as his crest, representing his pledge to serve God and man.
Saint Francis lived to be only 44 years old, and for the duration of the last years of his life he was closely blind and very ill. Two years before his death, he was to receive the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side.
