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The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis

paul sabatier jon m. sweeney

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Portrays a fully human Francis, with insecurities and fear, but also a gentle mystic and passionate reformer who desired to live as Jesus taught his disciples, supplemented with insights from scholars and writers including Bonaventure, Dante, G.K Chesterson and Umberto Eco. Reissue.

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2003

This edition

Format
187 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 2004 by Paraclete Pr
ISBN
9781557254016
ASIN
155725401X
Language
English

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About the author

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paul sabatier

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This is the theologian. For the chemist, see Paul Sabatier.

Charles Paul Marie Sabatier was a French clergyman and historian who produced the first modern biography of St. Francis of Assisi. He was the brother of Louis Auguste Sabatier, also a theologian. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 22 votes)
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22 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
AnotherFreeSoul
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Started reading in Siena, finished in Barcelona five weeks later. This book was a big influence on my thinkig & writing on this trip, espec. Siena & my time at the glass studio. A must read for any interested in San Francesco! A translation by Jon M. Sweeney of Paul Sabatier's 1894, Vie de S. Francois d'Assise; "edited with a a an in-depth introduction and in valuable annotations by Sweeney. A unique co-authoring results.
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Lunnabell
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Excellent scholary biography about St. Francis of Assisi founder of the Franciscian order of The Poor Men
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bigsmiles
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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"Road to Assisi" is a concise, accessible, well translated and edited biography of Francis Bernardone, better known as Francis of Assisi or Saint Francis. This story of Francis' life is captivating, compelling and inspiring. This work is considered one of the first works using modern textual criticism techniques. The result is a highly reliable account of the life and events surrounding Francis of Assisi. Having read this immediately AFTER a visit to Assisi, it leaves me excited to return and spend more time retracing Francis' steps, and visiting more places important to this story. This is a great story that stands on its own, yet points to so much more. Excellent and highly recommended.
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zerimas1
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is Sabatier's original, somewhat legend-enhanced bio of St. Francis, with Sweeney's updates via sidebars and notes.
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EchoDied
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Pretty good book that got better after a sort of slow start. For the first few chapters, it seemed as though the author was getting sidetracked writing about things that weren't all too relevant in regards to Francis' life. But that was just at the beginning.
What I liked best about the book was that it didn't just glorify Francis. It also explored some of his flaws as well. Although I admit that I do think this was probably done completely unintentionally by the author.
In many areas of the book, the author makes Francis seem somewhat bossy and possibly even power-hungry in some respects. Raising his voice to members of his order. Barking commands. Where to sleep. What to eat. When to eat. What to clean. Where to preach. What work to do.
Whoaaaaaa. Easy there boss man. Have some wine and relax.
It also appeared very important to him to have disciples in the same manner of Jesus, which, to me, comes across as mildly arrogant as well. I mean come on, whether you had a vision of being another chosen one or not, there's only one Jesus. He has no equals.
The author also shows Francis' hypocritical side. Anybody who knows anything about Francis knows he is a devout lover of animals. There are stories of him talking to birds and wolves, and refusing to stomp on worms or spiders. He even forbid his followers to have books because a great amount of sheep-skin was used for paper. Yet he was a meat-eater and even used fox-skin for warmth during a cold period.
Huh?
In similar hypocritical fashion, despite trying to emulate Jesus as best he could, there are a couple stories showing his unforgiving side, even to the point of holding a grudge on one particular individual towards the end of his life.
He told one of his disciples how criminals are always welcome in his order, yet he kicked out one of his members for failing to obey one of his orders.
My favorite story is of him forcing one of his members to consume donkey excrement as a penalty for speaking badly about one of the other members.
Hmmmmm. For someone trying to emulate Jesus in every possible way, I'm not sure if that's the way to go about doing it. I mean, I don't ever recall Jesus saying, "Hey Mary Magdalene you freaking slut, get over here and eat this sheep dung."
Maybe I'm wrong though.
With all that being said, Francis was an exceptional human being. Showing generosity, compassion and humility a vast majority of the time. And equally as brave and courageous to leave a life of luxury he was born into to voluntarily take up a life of poverty (not unlike the Buddha) while helping others, treating everybody equally and preaching Jesus' word. If everybody that walked the earth was like Francis, I think we'd have a pretty good world to live in.
But not even saints are perfect. Just like the book itself. Very good, but short of perfect.
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eleventy12
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I read this in Assisi which made it very real--the surroundings are so beautiful! Even though St. Francis lived in the middle ages, it's amazing how many parallels there are to our times. His doctrine of simplicity and love for God's creation are timeless.
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DuckSashimi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Furthering my study of St. Francis, I decided to read a reprint of the biography by Sabatier that was published in 1894..it has been annotated with excellent historical data. Takes a look at the life of St. Francis from the perspective of the times in which he lived. One excerpt was a good example of how St. Francis lived: "On a pilgrimage to Rome, the journey was marked by an important incident. Many a time when surroring the poor he had asked himself if he himeself wold be able to endure poverty. No one knows the weight of a burden until he has carried it upon his own shoulders. He desired to know what it is like to have nothing and to depend for bread upon the charity or caprice of the passerby (p. 15)."
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chiharuder
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This 19th century biography of St. Francis is considered one of the best. I can recommend The Road to Assisi to anyone interested in the life of one of Catholicism’s favorite saints. I was hoping for something of a more personal nature, but it was a solid biography of the man, the founding of his Friars and the difficulty he had in keeping the church from changing his ideas; mostly about poverty.
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