Editing Franciscans (section)

===Francis's last years===
[[File:Dream of Innocent III and the Confirmation of the Rule of St Francis Benozzo Gozzoli.jpg|thumb|A dream of [[Innocent III]] and the Confirmation of the [[Rule of Saint Francis]], [[Benozzo Gozzoli]]]]
in 1219, after intense apostolic activity in Italy, Francis went to Egypt with the [[Fifth Crusade]] to announce the [[Gospel]] to the [[Saracens]]. He met with the Sultan [[Al-Kamil|Malik al-Kamil]], initiating a spirit of dialogue and understanding between [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]]. The Franciscan presence in the [[Holy Land]] started in 1217, when the province of [[Syria]] was established, with Brother Elias as minister. By 1229, the friars had a small house near the fifth station of the [[Via Dolorosa]]. In 1272, Sultan [[Baibars]] allowed the Franciscans to settle in the [[Cenacle]] on [[Mount Zion]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land |url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/cust/TSmain.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615234812/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/cust/TSmain.html |archive-date=2013-06-15 |access-date=2013-06-16 |publisher=Christusrex.org}}</ref>

In 1309, they also settled in the [[Holy Sepulchre]] and in [[Bethlehem]]. In 1335, the king of Naples [[Robert, King of Naples|Robert of Anjou]] ({{langx|it|Roberto d'Angiò}}) and his wife [[Sancha of Majorca]] ({{langx|it|Sancia di Maiorca}}) bought the Cenacle and gave it to the Franciscans. In 1342, [[Pope Clement VI]] by the Bulls ''Gratias agimus'' and ''Nuper charissimae'', declared the Franciscans as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church. The Franciscan [[Custody of the Holy Land]] is still in force today.<ref>{{cite web |title=Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land |url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/cust/TSmain.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615234812/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/cust/TSmain.html |archive-date=2013-06-15 |access-date=2013-06-16 |publisher=Christusrex.org}}</ref>

The controversy about how to follow the Gospel life of poverty, which extends through the first three centuries of Franciscan history, began in Francis' lifetime. The ascetic brothers Matthew of [[Narni]] and Gregory of Naples, a nephew of Cardinal Ugolino, were the two vicars-general to whom Francis had entrusted the direction of the order during his time in Egypt. They carried through at a chapter which they held certain stricter regulations in regard to fasting and the reception of alms, which departed from the spirit of the original rule. It did not take Francis long, on his return, to suppress this insubordinate tendency. 

He was less successful in regard to another of an opposite nature which soon came up. [[Elias of Cortona]] originated a movement for the increase of the worldly consideration of the order and the adaptation of its system to the plans of the hierarchy. This conflicted with the original notions of Francis and helped to bring about the successive changes in the rule already described. Francis was not alone in opposition to this lax and secularizing tendency. On the contrary, the party which clung to his original views and after his death took his "testament" for their guide, known as Observantists or {{lang|it|[[Zelanti]]}}, was at least equal in numbers and activity to the followers of Elias.

[[File:Honorius_III_approving_the_Rule_of_St._Francis,_Bartolome_del_Castro,_c._1500_(Philadelphia_Museum_of_Art).jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Honorius III]] Approving the Rule of St. [[Francis of Assisi]]'', Bartolome del Castro, c. 1500, [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]]]
In 1219, exasperated by the demands of running a growing and fractious order, Francis asked [[Pope Honorius III]] for help. He was assigned Cardinal [[Pope Gregory IX|Ugolino]] as protector of the order by the pope. Francis resigned the day-to-day running of the order. Francis retained the power to shape legislation, writing a rule in 1221 which he revised and had approved in 1223. After about 1221, the day-to-day running of the order was in the hands of Brother [[Elias of Cortona]], who was elected as leader of the friars a few years after Francis's death in 1232 but who aroused much opposition because of his autocratic leadership style.<ref name="Paschal">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05382a.htm Robinson, Paschal. "Elias of Cortona." The Catholic Encyclopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229015938/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05382a.htm |date=2019-12-29 }} Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 28 December 2019 {{PD-notice}}</ref> He planned and built the [[Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi]] in which Francis is buried, a building which includes the friary [[Sacro Convento]], still today the spiritual centre of the order.<ref name="sacro">{{Cite web |url=http://www.sanfrancescoassisi.org/en/st-francis/important-persons/brother-elia |title="Brother Elia of Cortona ", Basilica Papale e Sacro convent di San Francesco in Assisi |access-date=2019-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709090753/http://www.sanfrancescoassisi.org/en/st-francis/important-persons/brother-elia |archive-date=2019-07-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

In the external successes of the brothers, as they were reported at the yearly general chapters, there was much to encourage Francis. [[Caesar of Speyer]], the first German [[provincial superior|provincial]], a zealous advocate of the founder's strict principle of poverty, began in 1221 from [[Augsburg]] with 25 companions, to win for the order in the region of the [[Rhine]] and the [[Danube]]. In 1224, [[Agnellus of Pisa]] led a small group of friars to England. The branch arriving in England became known as the "greyfriars".<ref>[http://www.stpatrickswaterloo.org.uk/greyfriars.html Greyfriars in England] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705124031/http://www.stpatrickswaterloo.org.uk/greyfriars.html |date=2008-07-05 }}</ref> Beginning at [[Greyfriars, Canterbury|Greyfriars]] at [[Canterbury]], the ecclesiastical capital, they moved on to [[London]], the political capital, and [[Oxford]], the intellectual capital. From these three bases, the Franciscans swiftly expanded, to embrace the principal towns of England.