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Eight hundred years ago this week, St. Francis of Assisi died happily, singing, owning nothing. This year, people stood in line for hours just to see his bones. Why does the world still belong to this barefoot man?
In this episode, released during the Church's Jubilee Year of St. Francis marking the 800th anniversary of his death, Nina Hirlaender OFS traces the astonishing legacy of history's most beloved saint: the Canticle of the Creatures that gave Pope Francis's Laudato Si' its name, the science journal that proposed him as the patron saint of ecology, the unarmed walk across Crusade battle lines that made Assisi the world's address for peace, the first nativity scene, and the first stigmata.
You'll also find out why Nina became a Franciscan Sister, meet eighteen-year-old Clare of Assisi, who gave up everything to rewrite what was possible for women, and walk through Assisi itself: San Damiano, the Porziuncola, and dinner with the joyful Franciscan Friars.
Then the episode turns to you. What has power over you right now: money, status, other people's priorities? Why do you keep saying yes to things your heart already said no to? And why do your best intentions keep losing? Nina asks the question at the center of Francis's revolution and reveals where the honest answer has been hiding all along: somewhere much closer than your thoughts. Plus, registration is now open for the spring 2028 Assisi pilgrimage, and the new Who Is Your Mystic Mentor? Quiz reveals whether Francis is the teacher meant to guide your season.
What You'll Learn:
- How to take your power back from money, status, and other people's priorities, and reconnect with the purpose that actually energizes you (Francis's specialty)
- How one poor friar shaped 800 years: ecology, interfaith peace, the nativity scene, and a pope's name
- The story of St. Clare of Assisi, the teenage noblewoman who rewrote what was possible for women
- Why willpower fails every time you try to change your life, and what actually works instead
- How to read your inner compass of consolation and desolation, the built-in guidance system that never lies
Your Next Steps:
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Show Notes: holyrebelspodcast.com
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