Brother Francis The Angel God Gave Me

Children will love this beautifully illustrated book that teachesthem all about their Guardian Angel and the blessings Godgives us through their constant, watchful care.

This book is about God and His gift of Guardian Angels to all of us, especially the most vulnerable, our children. Using our imagination, we will journey to a place where you can see, hear, and name your Guardian Angel. This book is the beginning of a relationship with God that will last a lifetime. Believe what you can't see, trust what you feel and when faced with a challenge do your best and give the rest to God.

This is the extended and annotated edition including * an extensive biographical annotation about the author and his life The Little Flowers of St. Francis (Italian Fioretti di San Francesco) is a florilegium (excerpts of his body of work), divided into 53 short chapters, on the life of Saint Francis of Assisi which was composed at the end of the 14th century. The anonymous Italian text, almost certainly by a Tuscan author, is a version of the Latin Actus beati Francisci et sociorum eius, of which the earliest extant manuscript is one of 1390 AD. Luke Wadding ascribes the text to Fra. Ugolino da Santa Maria, whose name occurs three times in the Actus.

The Prophet is the third volume in this extraordinary series of "the writings of Saint Francis and those of the early Franciscan witnesses" and it will "be of estimable value to scholars, students, and lovers of Il Poverello as well...a scholarly achievement done in the service of history, theology and spirituality." (Lawrence Cunningham)

These three works form the chief sources of the saint's life and the beginnings of the Franciscan Order which he founded in 1212. Born at Assisi in 1182, St Francis embraced a life of holy poverty after a gay and sometimes extravagant youth. At the age of twenty-two he fought with great spirit and was taken prisoner in a petty feud between the town of Assisi and Perugia. During his captivity he reflected on his former mode of life, but attempted to take up arms once more on his recovery. However, a second illness intervened, and after a period in which wordly pleasure and spiritual counsels sought mastery and he finally determined to dedicate his life and work to God. Through pilgrimage, devotion, example and simple teaching he became one of the great Christian reformers. 'Whatever accretions of legendary material', says Fr McKay in his Introduction, 'have crept in here and there to heighten the colours of St Francis's portrait, they are undoubtedly in keeping with the total impressions which St. Francis made upon the world of his day.' Moreover St Francis was the very opposite of a sour Puritan: we are told he was the 'most joyous of saints, and would have no sad, long faces about him, and always rebuked any friar that was gloomy or melancholy.' He wanted his friars to be joculatores Dei ('the minstrels of God'). The Little Flowers is translated from the 'Fioretti', an Italian translation of a Latin original of which the earliest extant manuscript is one of 1390. It is a narration of miracle and hymn connected with the saint and his friars. The Mirror of Perfection is based on documents and memoirs left by Friar Leo, St Francis's favourite disciple, and was completed about 1318. St Bonaventure wrote the Life of St Francis c. 1260, intending it to stand as an authoritative Life and to supersede the numerous fragmentary biographies then in circulation.

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.

The history of the Order of Friars Minor during the first one and a half centuries of its existence is maybe the most studied period of the 800 years of Franciscan presence in the Church. The publication of the Sources for the lives of Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi in all the main European languages has been of considerable help to spread the historical knowledge regarding Francis of Assisi and his movement and make it available to the average reader. Among these Sources, the Chronica XXIV Ministrorum Generalium Ordinis fratrum Minorum by Arnald of Sarrant merits particular attention. It tells the story of the Franciscan Order from the time of Saint Francis till the beginning of the Western Schism in 1378, and therefore contains valuable information regarding the initial period of Franciscan history. Unfortunately it is not easily available in translation because of its voluminous nature. In fact, it covers a total of 712 pages of the third volume of Analecta Franciscana, published by the Franciscan editors of Quaracchi in 1897. Our aim has been that of embarking on the arduous task of translating this voluminous work of history into English from the original Latin. This translation is the fruit of three years of work, and we are now happy to present it to the general public. Because of its voluminous nature we intend to divide it into 5 sections, four of which cover the 575 pages of text and one the appendixes. The whole 575 page Chronicle is here available in 4 sections covering respectively the following historical periods: (1) Saint Francis and the early Franciscan fraternity; (2) The Generals from brother Elias as vicar (1227) to Saint Bonaventure (1274); (3) The Generals from Jerome of Ascoli (1274) to Michael of Cesena (1328); (4) The Generals from Gerard Eudes (1329) to Leonard of Giffoni (1378). A last section will be the translation of the appendixes. The translation is enriched by footnotes and explanations on the various historical events narrated and on the personages of the Chronicle. Our aim has been simply that of providing a readable translation, without pretending to be scholars of mediaeval Latin. We hope that the service we are offering at such an enormous cost of time and personal effort will be of benefit both to students of Franciscan history as well as to those who are qualified to correct its inaccuracies, and who we gratefully thank for their eventual advice and corrections