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1. Birth Saint Francis was born Giovanni Bernadone in either 1181 or 1182 in the Italian hill town of Assisi. His parents, Pietro and Pica, were members of the rather well-to-do merchant class of the town. Pioetro Bernadone was away in France when his son was bo ....

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.... which today tend more and more to assert their independence of any ethical code, were then strictly subordinated to accepted moral standards, as is clearly shown in the writings of Leo Battista Alberti, a century and a half later, or in the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas. Bernardone was not in Assisi when his son was born. At first the child was called John but upon his father's return he was christened Francis, in memory of France, whence Pietro di Bernardone had just returned. More than any other character in history, St. Francis in after life retained the qualities most characteristic of childhood, so that it is not difficult to im ....