St Francis of Assisi - Part 10 - The Desire for Martyrdom

By David Torkington -

For the first three centuries after the death of Christ, martyrdom came to be seen as the perfection of the Christian life. Asceticism came to be seen as the preparation for it, so that a believer would be ready and prepared for what came to be called ‘the final sacrament of love’.  Martyrdom was for the early Christians the sign of the perfect disciple, the sign of perfect imitation and the sign of perfect identity with the Risen One. As his love for Brother Jesus grew and grew, St Francis wanted to express that love by embracing this unique ‘sacrament’.

Shortly after arriving in Rome in 1212 therefore, Francis sought permission to go on the Crusade to the Holy Land with John of Brienne, brother of Walter, who Francis had wanted to serve as a knight eight years before. The desire to become a knight was not dead in him, but now he wished to become a spiritual knight who would fight with the sword of the spirit to convert the Moslems to the faith. 

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