In mid-October I left Los Angeles for a two-week experience at La Romita School of Art in Terni, Umbria. Our workshop at the school, a former 16th century Capuchin monastery, had two goals: refinement of skills in watercolor and the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, a native Umbrian. With me were 17 other artists interested in St. Francis and the medieval hill towns of Umbria.

Beginning in Rome, we stayed at a convent of the Sisters of the Precious Blood, near the Franciscan Curia, and followed an itinerary developed by Franciscan Brother Aloysius Florio, the Curia's Economa (treasurer). Our first full day featured a special guided tour through the Vatican Museums and the Basilica of St. Peter's as well as the Pantheon, Roman Colisseum, Forum and other museums via city bus. By the time we headed off to La Romita two days later, we had seen and walked all over Rome --- with emphasis on the words seen and walked. (Some in our group jokingly referred to our time in Rome as part of "a death march.")

And to think that Francis had walked all over Italy and often told his friars to walk when possible and reject riding by horseback….

What followed next were 11 days that were feasts for the eyes of beautiful countrysides and wonderful medieval hill towns. By the end of our trip we had walked in the saint's footsteps, or at least where we believed the saint walked, 800 years earlier.

More importantly we visited cities that were an important part of his life as an itinerant preacher. We sensed his reverence for the earth, its creatures, and we saw how Francis' concerns are as poignant today as they were in the 13th century.

On our first full day at La Romita we visited Assisi. Our first stop was at the small chapel of San Damiano. It bears little resemblance now to the dilapidated chapel in which, in 1205, Francis prayed knelt intently in prayer before the large crucifix. He heard a voice say, "Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruins."

Taking the words literally he went to his father's business, took a bolt of cloth from the merchant's shelves, sold it and tried to give money to the priest of the chapel. It was refused. The priest was suspicious of the son of the one of the richest men in Assisi. So Francis threw the money into the chapel and stormed off. He then began bringing stones from the hillside down to the chapel and started to repair the chapel himself.

It did not take long before Francis realized that his mission was not to be the physical re-building of that chapel, but rather that of the larger church, which was in disrepair in so many ways. The year 1205 marked the beginning of Francis' ministry that would occupy the next 21 years of his life --- a ministry that has remained the mission of his "fraternity" or brothers today, and should be the mission of us all.

Francis told his friars to embrace poverty and the poor, have love for the church, and love for the fraternity, for others. He preached about care and reverence for all of God's creation. He rejected his previous life as a soldier to care for those most in need.

While in Assisi, we visited the tri-level Basilica of St. Francis that includes the crypt where Francis is buried, and the top two levels and the frescoes of Giotto and Cimabue illustrating Francis' life. We visited the church of Santa Chiara (Clare), his friend and foundress of the Poor Clares. And we drove outside the medieval town to the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli that houses Francis' Portiuncula, or "small portion," which became Francis' hermitage, a place of prayer, and where he died.

During our days at La Romita we walked the streets of the hill towns of Spoleto, Perugia, Narni, Todi, Orvieto --- all places where Francis or his followers either visited or were great influences. Every town has a church dedicated to St. Francis. Frescoes tell his story still. And while at La Romita we were fortunate to spend a day with Franciscans from the Curia.

Brother Florio and Franciscan Fathers Richard Martignetti and Finian McGinn, joined our group for Mass, a meal and a roundtable discussion on Francis' life and mission. Father Martignetti teaches Franciscan theology and spirituality at the Antonianum of the Pontifical University. The former provincial superior of the Santa Barbara Province, Father McGinn is now a member of the general council for nearly 18,000 Franciscans around the world.

Father McGinn told our group that Francis changed his direction many times as he sought to refine the course his friars would take in their ministry. There were "changes in hope and changes in the dream," as Father McGinn said. But most of all, Francis taught about "the importance of little things."

An often-repeated quote attributed to Francis summarized his mission, "Preach the Gospel and, when necessary, use words." As an itinerant preacher Francis took on the life of Christ and he, too, carried his own crosses. Frances was touched by the fact that God became man. His view of this Incarnation governed Francis' every act.

As Murray Bodo, the Franciscan expert on his life, has said, "St. Francis' Canticle is a concrete expression of the mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of God's entering the world in the person of Jesus Christ. In that Divine act all of creation is touched by God. The poet and saint, Francis of Assisi, sees what God's touch has done to every creature and, in the Canticle, he sings of that mystery. Nothing is simply ordinary because of the extraordinary visitation of God. That is the theme, the beginning and end of St. Francis' 'The Canticle of the Creatures.'"

Since all creation is a gift from God, it is to be reverenced. Francis embraced lepers, ministered to the poorest of the poor, went to the Holy Land and Damietta to meet the Sultan of Egypt. Doing little things Francis spent his life in serving others.

"Francis of Assisi was God's alchemist of the 13th century," says Bodo. "And his life was the catalyst that transformed a negative image, a faded fresco, into living color."