Paul Sabatier - The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis

This new and updated edition... is nothing short of astonishing in its power to touch the heart and revive the soul.St. Anthony Messenger

This book brings forth this popular saint in a way in which we come to know him more intimately than ever before. Everyone touched by this perpetual outsider will want to read it.M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.

The Road to Assisi... offers an excellent introduction to the text, helpful sidebars and notes, and fascinating illustrations, [aiding readers] in engaging personally with Francis, the human being. Publishers Weekly

Paul Sabatiers groundbreaking 1894 biography Vie de S. Franois dAssise is essential reading for anyone interested in the life and times of the great charismatic of Assisi. The Road to Assisi offers a clear and temperate introduction to Sabatiers passionate, often controversial engagement with the radical life and message of St. Francis. Highly recommended.Valerie Martin, author of Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis.

Today, under the editorial guidance of Sweeney, this balanced, long-out-of-print work is again in the hands of readers.Library Journal

Sabatiers 19th century biography still reads like the classic it is. One could hardly ask for a better combination to introduce Francis to a larger public.Mark Galli, author of Francis and His World and managing editor for Christianity Today

[This] remarkable new publication from Paraclete Press has something to say to you... a refreshing and eye-opening work.The Episcopal New Yorker

The Road to Assisi presents Sabatiers biography for todays reader. With helpful explanations and annotations by Jon M. Sweeney, Sabatiers narrative is supplemented with the insights of many other scholars and writers.The Presbyterian Outlook

Jon M. Sweeney is an independent scholar and writer of popular history. He writes and reflects on religion and culture in books, articles, reviews, blogs, and on television. Jon was the cofounder and editor-in-chief of SkyLight Paths Publishing in Vermont for many years. Since 2004 he has been the Editor-in-Chief at Paraclete Press.

When The Road to Assisi was first published in 2003, it was a selection of History Book Club, Crossings Book Club, Literary Guild, and Book-of-the-Month Club. Widely reviewed, the book brought new attention to Paul Sabatiers essential biography of St. Francis; it sold through several hardcover and paperback printings prior to the creation of this new edition.

Since 2003, Jon has published widely on the lives of Francis and Clare, and written about the spirit of the early Franciscan movement. He has led discussions, preached, and lectured about Francis in a variety of venues including Washington National Cathedral. His books include The St. Francis Prayer Book, The St. Clare Prayer Book, and Francis and Clare: A True Story. He has translated and introduced The Little Flowers of Saint Francis and Francis of Assisi in His Own Words: The Essential Writings (all published by Paraclete Press). Jon is also the author of The Pope Who Quit: A True Medieval Tale of Mystery, Death, and Salvation (published by Image/Random House), which was optioned by HBO, Inc. He has appeared on CBS News, WGN-TV, WTTW, Fox News, and CBS Saturday Morning. Jon lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is married, and the father of three children.

Paul Sabatier (1858-1928) was raised in the Cevennes, a mountainous region of southern France, educated in Paris, and served as pastor in Strasbourg. In mid-life, he dedicated the rest of his life to research and writing. His life of Francis, Vie de S. Franois dAssise, was first published in 1894 and then quickly translated into English, Swedish, German, and Italian. Within a few years, it was a bestseller around the world. Sabatiers pioneering work has influenced, and made possible, the work of generations of scholars and biographers since his time.

the ESSENTIAL BIOGRAPHY of ST. FRANCIS

PAUL SABATIER

Edited with Introduction and Annotations by

Jon M. Sweeney

120TH Anniversary Edition

2014 First Printing This Edition
2004 First Paperback Printing
2003 First Hardcover Printing

The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis 120th Anniversary Edition

2014, 2007 by Jon M. Sweeney

ISBN: 978-1-61261-463-2

Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The Paraclete Press name and logo (dove on cross) is a trademark of Paraclete Press, Inc.

The Library of Congress has catalogued the first edition of this book as follows: Sabatier, Paul, 18581928.

The road to Assisi : the essential biography of St. Francis / by Paul Sabatier ; edited with introduction and annotations by Jon M. Sweeney.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-55725-401-x

1. Francis, of Assisi, Saint, 1182-1226. 2. Christian saintsItalyBiography.
I. Sweeney, Jon M., 1967 II. Title.

BX4700.F6S19 2003

271 .302dc21

2003002011

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Paraclete Press
Brewster, Massachusetts
www.paracletepress.com

Printed in the United States of America.

For Sarah-Maria and Joseph,
the spirit of St. Francis.

J.M.S.

You dont have to read this preface in order to appreciate Paul Sabatiers biography of Francis of Assisi. That is the beauty of this bookit stands on its own 120 years after it was first published.

But for those who are interested, Sabatier was one of the bestselling writers of history of his generation, as well as the father of modern Franciscan studies. With the first publication of this biography in French in 1894, the Protestant pastor-turned-independent scholar became the spark and founder of a global renaissance of interest in the Little Poor Man. What we see today as a vast industry of debate, books, conferences, and centers of inquiry focusing on discovering the real Francis, began with Sabatier.

Not that everyone approved of his biography. The Vatican placed it promptly on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. There were two reasons that a work might be placed on The Index: one was a fear that it would foster immorality in its readers; this could never have been said of Sabatier. The other was the belief that it contained theological errors; this was the case made by the Vatican. How could a Protestant pastor presume to write the history of a Catholic friar and saint? This placed Sabatier in the good company of other thinkers and writers so accused, such as Johannes Kepler, Immanuel Kant, Blaise Pascal, and John Milton. The Index was formally and finally abolished by Pope Paul VI in 1966.