Today, from nation to nation, the good works of the Franciscans remind the world of the gentle charity of their founder--the "Poor Little Man" of Assisi.

This was the same cheerful Francis, son of the merchant Bernardone, who helped with the marketing and scuffled with his brother and from time to time glimpsed in a neighboring castle the little golden-haired Lady Clare. He later rode boldly to battle, and when captured by the enemy, heartened his fellow prisoners with his humorous antics. For he had always yearned to be both a knight and a troubadour--to do battle for God and at the same time to amuse with a joke and a song.

Francis of Assisi did become God's Troubadour, and this is the story of the people's saint--the happy friar who preached in the marketplace and gave up family and fortune to devote his life to God and His poor. Other men followed, and Saint Clare too left her castle to establish a convent. The saints of Assisi followed Lady Poverty and found happiness.

In this Vision Book, Helen Walker Homan has captured all the excitement and beauty of these two popular saints' lives, and their centuries-long influence on the whole world through their radical living of the Gospel and founding of two great religious orders.