He built something out of nothing.

Twelve followers became thousands.

And then he walked away from the movement he founded — straight into an active war zone, unarmed, expecting to die.

What he found instead was a Sultan willing to listen.

Picking up where Part One ended, this episode follows Francesco across enemy lines at Damietta, back to an order growing beyond his control, and finally up a mountain called La Verna — where his body would carry wounds that never healed, his eyes would fail him completely, and he would compose, blind and in pain, one of the most beloved prayers in Christian history.

This is the second half of the story of Saint Francis of Assisi.

🎧 For the best experience, listen with headphones to fully immerse yourself in the music and sound design.
🤝 If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.
☕ Support the podcast: buymeacoffee.com/Voicesofthesaints

This episode draws on the earliest Franciscan sources — including the writings of Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure — alongside other historical accounts. While we've done our best to ensure accuracy and reverence, some elements have been adapted or dramatized for narrative and production purposes. Our goal is to honour the spirit and message of the saints while making their stories engaging and accessible to modern listeners.

Introduction Music Generated by Renee Annabelle Sieff
All credit belongs to Renee Annabelle Sieff for Intro Music

This episode is based on accounts from the Coptic Synaxarium, early church tradition, and other historical sources. While we’ve done our best to ensure accuracy and reverence, some elements have been adapted or dramatized for narrative and production purposes. Our goal is to honour the spirit and message of the saints while making their stories engaging and accessible to modern listeners.

A merchant's son.
A born performer.
A boy who wanted the whole town to say his name.

Francesco di Bernardone had everything money could buy in the hill town of Assisi — fine cloth, French songs, a crowd that gathered wherever he did.

What he wanted was glory. A knight's glory. The kind sung about in taverns a hundred years later.

He rode out to war to get it.

He came home in chains instead.

What followed was a year in a prison cell, a vision he couldn't shake, and a leper on a road he could no longer bring himself to ride past.

By the end of Part One, the boy who once needed an entire piazza to notice him has given away everything he owns — and found, without meaning to, the beginning of a family.

This is the first half of the story of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Part Two continues right after this episode.

🎧 For the best experience, listen with headphones to fully immerse yourself in the music and sound design.
🤝 If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.
☕ Support the podcast: buymeacoffee.com/Voicesofthesaints

This episode draws on the earliest Franciscan sources — including the writings of Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure — alongside other historical accounts. While we've done our best to ensure accuracy and reverence, some elements have been adapted or dramatized for narrative and production purposes. Our goal is to honour the spirit and message of the saints while making their stories engaging and accessible to modern listeners.

Introduction Music Generated by Renee Annabelle Sieff
All credit belongs to Renee Annabelle Sieff for Intro Music

This episode is based on accounts from the Coptic Synaxarium, early church tradition, and other historical sources. While we’ve done our best to ensure accuracy and reverence, some elements have been adapted or dramatized for narrative and production purposes. Our goal is to honour the spirit and message of the saints while making their stories engaging and accessible to modern listeners.

A priest. A wife who begged him to come inside. A street he refused to leave.

Sinai, 2013. Egypt has just broken open. The security outside the churches is gone. Everyone knows what that means. Abouna Mina Aboud knows too — and he stays anyway.

This is the true story of a boy who lost his father too young, found God in the silence that followed, waited years for a calling that seemed like it would never come — and became, in the end, a shepherd in the fullest sense of the word. Not the one who feels no danger. The one who stands where the danger is.

For the most immersive experience, we recommend listening with headphones.

If this story moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear that faith like this still exists — in our lifetime, on an ordinary street, in an ordinary year.

Producing these stories takes real time and real cost. If you're able to support this work, you'll find our Buy Me a Coffee link here: buymeacoffee.com/Voicesofthesaints

This episode contains dramatized scenes and dialogue based on documented historical accounts. Certain details of atmosphere and internal reflection have been recreated for narrative purposes while remaining faithful to the historical record.

Introduction Music Generated by Renee Annabelle Sieff
All credit belongs to Renee Annabelle Sieff for Intro Music

This episode is based on accounts from the Coptic Synaxarium, early church tradition, and other historical sources. While we’ve done our best to ensure accuracy and reverence, some elements have been adapted or dramatized for narrative and production purposes. Our goal is to honour the spirit and message of the saints while making their stories engaging and accessible to modern listeners.