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Madness : St. Francis Of Assisi Gone ' Mad

Better Essays

Mitch Miller
History 138-02
November 13, 2015
Word Count: 1,460
Topic: Madness
Had St. Francis of Assisi Gone “Mad?” St. Francis of Assisi was a holy man of the late Middle Ages. He had given up everything he owned – food, clothing, shelter, and family – to live amongst the poor in order to serve God. His father, as well as the rest of the community, were appalled by his actions. The son of a merchant father, whom once wanted to be a noble knight, soon became a man amongst the poor. St. Francis’ decisions made many people outraged as they began to throw mud and stones at him from the streets, and claimed that he was “insane and out of his mind.” These vicious acts came from the people who knew Francis, blaming his sudden change on madness and starvation. Once Francis’ father had heard of this bizarre news, he was infuriated and set out to destroy his son – mentally and physically – in order to set Francis straight and “back to normal.” Francis continued on his journey, and only one person believed in him out of all of the people and their talks of madness – God. He was a man determined to overcome the suspicion of the madness within him, and become a man of God. Francis was hesitant, but not afraid of madness, and was determined to prove those who doubted him, wrong, through the strength of God. Madness in the Middle Ages is referred to as “insanity,” or a term used to describe someone who is mentally ill. Conversation between reason and madness dominated the Middle Ages,

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