Western Europe In Middle Ages Essays - Franciscan Spirituality

Western Europe In Middle Ages Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) was born into a wealthy family at Assisi, Italy, the son of a cloth merchant. Francis received little formal education and during his youth was mostly preoccupied with having fun. As a young man, he was popular, charming, enjoyed practical jokes and was usually the life of the party. Because of his wealth, he generally picked up the tab and thus attracted a following of fun loving, rowdy young men and promiscuous women. When armed conflict broke out between the men of Assisi and a neighboring city in 1202, Francis eagerly volunteered for the cavalry but wound up getting captured after the first big battle and spent a year in captivity. Francis returned to Assisi hailed as a hero, but unknown to his friends he had undergone a transformation in his outlook during his captivity. Although he was once again the life of the party, he was now questioning his reason for existence. After much contemplation, including vivid dreams and mystic visions, he turned away from the pursuit of all worldly pleasures, sold all his property and donated the money to the Church. He then began a lifelong passion of caring for society's castoffs, the sick and poor, including lepers. His wealthy father reacted to his son's new lifestyle by disinheriting him. Thus Francis lived in utter poverty and even went without shoes. But his humbleness, extraordinary kindness and love for humanity attracted the attention of other young men and they also chose to give up worldly pleasures and follow him to spread the gospel and serve the poor. Eventually, as the brotherhood grew, its members traveled to other parts of Europe to preach, including France, Germany, Spain and England. A separate order for women was formed, now known as the Franciscan Nuns or Poor Clares. Francis had much love for animals with special fondness for the birds. He liked to refer to animals as his brothers and sisters. Legend has it that wild animals had no fear of Francis and even came to him seeking refuge from harm. In 1224, Francis went up onto a mountain and began a 40-day fast. During that time he is said to have had a miraculous vision and received the marks of the nails and spear exactly as they appeared on the body of Jesus during his crucifixion. After his death in 1226, Francis was declared a saint by Pope Gregory IX. For centuries after his death, his Franciscan order has experienced continuous growth and is still active today caring for the poor, educating, and continuing many other good deeds. (www.historypage.com) History Essays

Necessity of Repres. Gov. essays

Necessity of Repres. Gov. essays Two major players in Americas revolution against Britain and the subsequent adoption of the Constitution were Thomas Paine and James Madison. Although many of their ideas do not coincide, they agree on a few important factors. According to each of their most famous writings, Common Sense and Federalist # 10 and # 51, both men agree that a strong government is necessary because it is human nature for all people not to accede on every topic, and a representative government is essential in providing security for all peoples basic rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Addressing the people of the State of New York in Federalist #10, James Madison said destroying liberty is a cure worse then the disease itself. He said this in respect to his dislike, even hatred, of factions that existed in America at the time. "A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex ad oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good." His only resolution for removing factions was to give all people the same passions, opinions, and interests or to destroy liberty. Both of these options are impossible, so he conceded the fact that factions do and will always exist. Madis ons resolution for this problem was a representative democracy because it would allow a large group of citizens to vote for their representatives, hindering any chances of stronger or more affluent factions controlling the government. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its wo...