Saint Francis of Assisi - Orleans Cathedral

St Francis of Assisi outside a dilapidate church heard a voice commanding him to "repair my house" and took bundles of cloth from his father's business and sold them in a nearby town. Returning to the church he tried to give the money to the priest who refused the gold. Francis was brought by his father before the local bishop and renounced his inheritance and took to a life of poverty as a beggar and pilgrim.

The monastic order of St Francis of Assisi was endorsed in the Bull of 'Solet annuere' issued by Pope Honourius III who supported both the mendicant orders of St Francis and St Dominic. Pope Innocent III is thought to have also given a verbal endorsement to the order in 1216.

On the 14th of September 1224 whilst praying he had a vision of a seraph after which he was reported to have had the five marks of the crucifixion (stigmata) on his body. He died on the 3rd of October 1226 and was made a saint by Pope Gregory IX in July 1228.