{"product_id":"enthusiast-book-jon-m-sweeney-9781594716010","title":"The Enthusiast","description":"\u003cdiv\u003ePopular historian and award-winning author Jon M. Sweeney relates the untold story of St. Francis's friendship with Elias of Cortona, the man who helped him build the Franciscan movement. Sweeney uses the complexities of their relationship in a gripping narrative of how their efforts changed the world and how Elias's enthusiasm betrayed the ideals of his friend.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Few biographies of St. Francis have examined his complicated relationship with close friend Elias of Cortona. In \u003ci\u003eThe Enthusiast\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning author and historian Jon M. Sweeney delves into this little-known partnership that defined and then almost destroyed Francis's ideals.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Blending history and biography, Sweeney reveals how Francis and Elias rebuilt churches, aided lepers, and entertained as \"God's troubadours\" to the delight of everyday people who had grown tired of a remote and tumultuous Church. At the height of their spiritual renaissance, however, Elias became \"the devil\" to many of the other friars; they believed him to be a traitor to their ideals. After Francis's premature death, the movement fractured. Scorned by most of the Franciscan leadership, Elias followed a path that would leave him a lonely, broken man. Sweeney shows how Elias's undoing was rooted in his attempts to honor his old friend.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Enthusiast\u003c\/i\u003e was the winner of a 2017 Catholic Press Association Book Award: History (Third Place).\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49523306856721,"sku":"GOR009056921","price":8.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50393392611601,"sku":"CIN1594716013G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53266455626001,"sku":"CIN1594716013VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1594716013.jpg?v=1750960170","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/enthusiast-book-jon-m-sweeney-9781594716010","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}