The mother, presenting the child at the font of San Rufino,[6] had him baptized by the name of John, but the father on his return chose to call him Francis.[7] Had he already determined on the education he was to give the child; did he name him thus because he even then intended to bring him up after the French fashion, to make a little Frenchman of him?
It is by no means improbable.

Perhaps, indeed, the name was only a sort of grateful homage tendered by the Assisan burgher to his noble clients beyond the Alps.
However this may be, the child was taught to speak French, and always had a special fondness for both the language and the country.[8] These facts about Bernardone are of real importance; they reveal the influences in the midst of which Francis grew up.

Merchants, indeed, play a considerable part in the religious movements of the thirteenth century.

Their calling in some sense forced them to become colporters of ideas.

What else could they do, on arriving in a country, but answer those who asked for news?
And the news most eagerly looked for was religious news, for men's minds were turned upon very different subjects then from now.