Imitate Christ

Christ gave to the world a summary of Christian perfection in his Sermon on the Mount. Francis studied this sermon and made it, in a sense, the core of his rule of life for his brothers, as expressed in the final rule of 1223. 

...But Francis sought not only to follow the words of Christ, he wished also to imitate the life of Christ as perfectly as he could, and he willed that his friars too should "follow the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Saint Francis of Assisi

Sacrum Commercium Sancti Francesci cum Domina Pauperate

INTRODUCTION

by Placid Hermann, O.F.M.