FRANCIS'S IDEALS
- Service to humanity, particularly the poor and helpless.
- This was, curiously enough, combined with the ideal of the crusade. Francis believed that they should seek to convert the Muslims rather than simply fighting them.
- Francis was uninterested in intellectual pursuits. He felt that religion was a matter of the heart, not of the mind.
- He was imbued with a romantic ideal, considering himself a troubadour of God and a wooer of Our Lady Poverty.
- He also felt himself to be a part of the natural world, a startling break with the past tradition of viewing Nature as an enemy to be subdued.
- He did not view humility as an exercise to subdue the sense of self, but was humble because he felt himself to be humble. Humility was, for Francis and his followers, a recognition and acceptance of one's self.
- He was a practical mystic, emphasizing the need for personal, direct and individual union with God.
- His sense of piety was a natural one. His obedience to the Church was based upon his own lack of interest in theological matters.
- He and his followers were filled with a sense of personal joy that was evident to all who crossed their paths.
