The Order of Franciscan Friars is born. The Order of Friars Minor, also known as the First Order, was born around Francis of Assisi who gathered (1208) a small group of disciples to share experiences of poverty and chastity. He chose to place himself as “humble among the humble” and to define himself as “minor” (a title that identified the common people) in imitation of the poor and beggars to bring them material and spiritual support. This existential choice could, in some ways, be confused with that of the Cathar movement, of which numerous groups existed in Tuscany. But Francis differed from them in his obedience to the ecclesiastical hierarchy and in his love for all manifestations of life, such as nature and animals, and even more so in his love for human beings. After 1210, with the oral approval of the Formula Vitae by Pope Innocent III, the number of members of the order grew considerably and Francis presided, in the presence of around 5000 friars, over the first general “chapter” (1217) at Porziuncola. In this chapter, in addition to organising internal and external activities, he took the initiative to send missions abroad (Germany, France, Spain) to promote the expansion of the order. He himself, on the occasion of the Fifth Crusade (1217-1221), went to Palestine in a vain attempt to put an end to the war between Christians and Muslims.
