To celebrate the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Franciscan Order, Franciscan scholar and historian Dominic Monti tells us the beautiful and inspirational story of Francis of Assisi and his followers—the Order of Friars Minor, or the Lesser Brothers—from its beginnings to current times. This history emphasizes not only the medieval developments of the world's most beloved band of men but also the internal evolution and mission efforts of the friars during the modern period, from the sixteenth century to the present. Monti gives particular emphasis to the history of the order in the English-speaking world: first England and Ireland and then North America and the twentieth-century expansion of the order to other English-speaking countries. Chapter topics include: medieval Christian society; the First Lesser Brothers; expansion and transformation of the Order; the Franciscan mission; internal crisis in the Order; Observants and Conventuals; friars during the Reformation and Baroque Eras; mission to the world; the challenges of modernity; Franciscans in the United States, Canada and Australia; rebuilding the Order in Europe; and recovering a charism.

This graphic representation of the life of Saint Francis show his spiritual growth though his friendship with Brother Duck.

"A brilliant, powerful elegy from a living brother to a lost one, yet pulsing with rhythm, and beating with life." --Marlon James "Highly recommend Brother by David Chariandy--concise and intense, elegiac short novel of devastation and hope." --Joyce Carol Oates, via Twitter WINNER--Toronto Book Award WINNER--Rogers' Writers' Trust Fiction Prize WINNER--Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction In luminous, incisive prose, a startling new literary talent explores masculinity, race, and sexuality against a backdrop of simmering violence during the summer of 1991. One sweltering summer in the Park, a housing complex outside of Toronto, Michael and Francis are coming of age and learning to stomach the careless prejudices and low expectations that confront them as young men of black and brown ancestry. While their Trinidadian single mother works double, sometimes triple shifts so her boys might fulfill the elusive promise of their adopted home, Francis helps the days pass by inventing games and challenges, bringing Michael to his crew's barbershop hangout, and leading escapes into the cool air of the Rouge Valley, a scar of green wilderness where they are free to imagine better lives for themselves. Propelled by the beats and styles of hip hop, Francis dreams of a future in music. Michael's dreams are of Aisha, the smartest girl in their high school whose own eyes are firmly set on a life elsewhere. But the bright hopes of all three are violently, irrevocably thwarted by a tragic shooting, and the police crackdown and suffocating suspicion that follow. Honest and insightful in its portrayal of kinship, community, and lives cut short, David Chariandy's Brother is an emotional tour de force that marks the arrival of a stunning new literary voice.

Here, told in a vivid and original way, is the full story of the life of St. Francis of Assisi. This story has been told many times before, but Fr. Larranaga tells it with a new spirit, seamlessly combining a modern spirit with the freshness and sense of wonder of the Fioretti. When Francis Bernardone was held as a prisoner of war at the age of 20, he never dreamed that he would become a knight in the service of Lady Poverty. By the time he died 25 years later, he had become the Poor Man of God, the living image of the Crucified Savior.

A young man rejects his wealthy background to lead a life of poverty and good works, always befriending animals.

First edition published under the title, "Francis, the poor man of Assisi" in 1982.