The Very Lowly A Meditation on Francis of Assisi

Why have we come to revere Francis of Assisi, a simple thirteenth-century Italian merchant's son, as a saint? Why has his appeal endured over eight hundred years and even expanded beyond the world of Catholicism to make him one of the most beloved religious figures of all time? This penetrating meditation on Francis's life gently but sure-handedly cuts through every pious legend to uncover what is timeless and universally true about him. Christian Bobin's unexpected and thoroughly original work presents a compelling image of a man whose power is found in humility, whose radical casting aside of wealth, honor, and even personal identity is inseparable from his overwhelming intimacy with God. Poetic, luminous, utterly hypnotic,The Very Lowlyis a unique modern variation on the saint's life that will entrance everyone, whether "religious" or-almost especially-not.

Christian Bobin is the author of eighteen books in French, several of them best-sellers, and he is the winner of France's 1993 Grand Prix Catholique de Litterature.