The enthusiast
Subtitle: how the best friend of Francis of Assisi almost destroyed what he started : the untold story of Elias of Cortona
By: Jon M. Sweeney
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 291
ISBN-13: 9781594716010
Subjects: Friends and associates
Description: Popular historian and award-winning author Jon M. Sweeney relates the untold story of St. Francis's friendship with Elias of Cortona, the man who helped him build the Franciscan movement. Sweeney uses the complexities of their relationship in a narrative of how their efforts changed the world and how Elias's enthusiasm almost betrayed the ideals of his friend. Blending history and biography, Sweeney reveals how Francis and Elias rebuilt churches, aided lepers, and entertained as "God's troubadours" to the delight of everyday people who had grown tired of a remote and tumultuous Church. At the height of their spiritual renaissance, however, Elias became "the devil" to many of the other friars; they believed him to be a traitor to their ideals. After Francis's premature death, the movement fractured. Scorned by most of the Franciscan leadership, Elias followed a path that would leave him a lonely, broken man. Sweeney shows how Elias's undoing was rooted in his attempts to honor his old friend.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue
pagenum: ix; title: Dramatis Personae
pagenum: xv; title: Chronology of Events
pagenum: xix; title: Part One; label: 1
title: Death of a Saint
pagenum: 3; label: 2
title: The Following Morning
pagenum: 5; label: 3
title: Three-and-a-Half Years Later
pagenum: 11; label: 4
title: The Founder and the Enthusiast
pagenum: 17; title: Part Two; label: 5
title: When We First Met
pagenum: 25; label: 6
title: What Every Christian Knows
pagenum: 33; label: 7
title: Avoiding the Divine Grasp
pagenum: 43; label: 8
title: Unclean Love
pagenum: 47; label: 9
title: Hearing God
pagenum: 51; label: 10
title: A Father Problem
pagenum: 55; label: 11
title: Don't Touch Me
pagenum: 63; label: 12
title: Finding the Reason
pagenum: 71; label: 13
title: The Slaughter
pagenum: 79; label: 14
title: Skirting Heresy
pagenum: 85; label: 15
title: Showing the Pope
pagenum: 93; label: 16
title: Where to Lay Their Heads
pagenum: 101; label: 17
title: An Antitheology Flowers
pagenum: 109; label: 18
title: The Woman
pagenum: 117; label: 19
title: Finding His Equilibrium
pagenum: 125; label: 20
title: The Franciscan Movement Is Born
pagenum: 131; label: 21
title: Brothers Should Be Like Mothers and Sons
pagenum: 135; label: 22
title: When in Rome
pagenum: 141; label: 23
title: Brother Muslim
pagenum: 149; title: Part Three; label: 24
title: Francis Renounces
pagenum: 163; label: 25
title: The Knot Unravels
pagenum: 173; label: 26
title: Purchasing the Field
pagenum: 179; label: 27
title: That Holy, Inexplicable Moment
pagenum: 189; label: 28
title: Birth of a Poet
pagenum: 195; label: 29
title: Francis's Confession
pagenum: 201; label: 30
title: October 3-4, 1226, Revisited
pagenum: 205; title: Part Four; label: 31
title: Greater Than Gothic
pagenum: 213; label: 32
title: Honor Lost and Regained
pagenum: 221; label: 33
title: Gravy Dripping from His Chin
pagenum: 227; label: 34
title: At War with the Pope
pagenum: 235; label: 35
title: Penance
pagenum: 243; title: Coda
pagenum: 253; label: 36
title: December 12, 1818
pagenum: 253; title: Acknowledgments
pagenum: 261; title: Notes
pagenum: 265; title: Index
pagenum: 283