July 29, 2026

In a Jubilee Year meant to celebrate St Francis, the saint just got a lot more complicated: a plain manuscript spotted at a Paris auction house turned out to be the second-oldest surviving life of Francis, written just four years after his death and hidden for eight centuries. Franciscan scholar Br William Short says the discovery proves there is still more to learn about the man behind the statue — the wealthy rebel who renounced Assisi, later wept in his final years, and still holds the Church’s attention nearly 800 years on.

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