Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: "Lord make me an instrument of your peace; Where there is hatred let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy."
"So, in all likelihood, was an obscure Italian monk from Assisi named Francis; he had gathered together a small band of devout men who had followed his call to strictly observe Matthew 19:21 (“If you will be perfect, go, sell all that you have, and give it to the poor”), and five years earlier Innocent III had given him permission to establish his own monastic order. They called themselves the Lesser Brothers, or Minor Friars; eventually they were nicknamed the Franciscans, after their founder." [Bauer: Renaissance World, p. 257]