Table of Contents

Reluctant SaintAcknowledgments
Introduction
One: 1181-1187
Two: 1187-1196
Three: 1196-1205
Four: 1205
Five: 1206-1208
Six: 1208-1209
Seven: 1209
Eight: 1209-1210
Nine: 1211-1212
Ten: 1212-1213
Eleven: 1213-1218
Twelve: 1219-1220
Thirteen: 1220-1222
Fourteen: 1223-1224
Fifteen: 1225-1226
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

About the Author

Donald Spoto, author of The Hidden Jesus, taught theology, Christian mysticism and biblical literature at the university level for twenty years. His other eighteen books include internationally bestselling biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams and Ingrid Bergman.

Reviews

"An engaging and revealing portrait of a remarkable man." (The Hartford Courant)

"As with The Hidden Jesus, [Spoto again] produces a serious, thought-provoking book." (Booklist)

Spoto is a sometime teacher of theology and a biographer of Alfred Hitchcock, Lawrence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, and Ingrid Bergman. In this life of Francis of Assisi, Spoto's elegant wordsmithing creates a "reality TV" sense of Francis's life-the elaborate details are based on an actual time and place, but the overall effect feels staged. This is nevertheless a very readable portrait of a hope-filled eccentric whose lifelong process of conversion brought him to a never unconfused but always faithful way of life under God's ordinance. There are some things Spoto doesn't get right: on the dedication page, he ascribes to St. Benedict a quote traditionally attributed to St. Augustine, and he fails to appreciate the literary genre of the medieval exemplary story, among other things. But he is a fine writer who provides insight into the saint as well as into the secular and ecclesiastical cultures of the 12th century. One of the best of the modern books to reflect upon Francis, and even to get inside his head and measure his spirit, is G.K. Chesterton's St. Francis of Assisi. Spoto's book is suitable for libraries with a circulation of nonacademic religious books.-David I. Fulton, Coll. of St. Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

"An engaging and revealing portrait of a remarkable man." (The Hartford Courant)

"As with The Hidden Jesus, [Spoto again] produces a serious, thought-provoking book." (Booklist)