A wonderful resource to guide admirers of the humblest of saints what it means to live out the Christian life with a Franciscan accent.

In a little town in Italy, nearly 800 years ago, Francis of Assisi renounced everything he owned to follow Christ with passionate and single-minded abandon. Even today, centuries later, this simple saint draws people around the world to his story of living in humility, love, and joy.

Here in Following Francis, Susan Pitchford tells her own story of the Franciscan life, as a member of the Third Order, founded by Francis himself so that people from all walks of life can follow the saint''s ideal, without leaving their homes or occupations. Pitchford learned that the Franciscan tradition isn''t the exclusive possession of monks cloistered in a monastery, but a spiritual path for ordinary people living in the 21st century.