Lady Poverty

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Saint Francis embraced poverty, as a result for his love to Jesus, as he tried to live according to the Gospel. It was not about just imitate Christ, or even about resigning to all material goods, Saint Francis embraced poverty, as Christ did.

Francis stood apart things, not to distance himself from this world, but to set himself free of everything that did not belong to God. Franciscan ideal of poverty, is simplicity.

In this fresco by Giotto, Poverty is a winged gaunt woman dressed only in rags, at whom children throw stones or brandish sticks. Christ himself marries this woman to St Francis. Numerous angels, as well as the personifications of Hope and Chastity, are present as witnesses. As offerings, two angels carry worldly goods heavenwards. The reactions of the world are depicted at either side: on the left a young man imitates Francis, and on the right the rich express ridicule.