RT Article
T1 The secularisation of St Francis of Assisi
JF British Catholic history
VO 33
IS 3
SP 401
OP 420
A1 Heimann, Mary 1962-
LA English
YR 2017
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1588406784
AB St Francis of Assisi, mystic, stigmatic and founder of the Franciscans, has come to seem uncontroversial, a saint for ecologists, socialists and animal lovers as well as Christians of all denominations. Until his rediscovery by the Victorians, Francis was firmly associated with Roman Catholic doctrine, obedience to the papacy, participation in crusades and distinctively Catholic mystical phenomena. This article argues that Faber's, Oliphant's and Sabatier's nineteenth-century Lives of St Francis opened the way for his appropriation by the general British public. The resulting denominational competition over the saint stimulated a boom in St Francis' popularity but also led to his piecemeal secularisation.
K1 Assisi
K1 English Catholic
K1 Francis
K1 Lives of Saints
K1 Popes
K1 Saint
K1 Secularisation
K1 Victorian
DO 10.1017/bch.2017.4