50. Death

Not long before his death Francis put a greeting to Sister Death in his Canticle of the Creatures: 'Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape'. Francis had experienced a mystical death on La Verna when he was sealed with the marks of Christ's death. Having found years before that what seemed bitter to him was turned into sweetness of body and soul he could have the same expectation of Sister Death. Bitter and all as is the thought of death, there is the sweetness of meeting the Lord face to face. To prepare for death Francis asked the brothers to read a passage from the Gospel of St John. The Minister had already chosen to read this passage. Celano tells us that Francis then 'told them to cover him with sackcloth and to sprinkle him with ashes, as he was soon to become dust and ashes'. As his brothers stood around him 'that most holy soul was released from the flesh, and as it was absorbed into the abyss of light, his body fell asleep in the Lord'. St Bonaventure reflects on his death as follows: 'In all things he wished without hesitation to be conformed to Christ crucified, who hung on the cross poor, suffering, and naked … O truly the most while living to Christ living, dying to Christ dying, and dead to Christ dead, and deserved to be adorned with an expressed likeness!'