Who founded the Franciscan order?

The story behind the answer

He founded the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans) around 1209, gaining approval from Pope Innocent III for a new kind of religious life centered on radical poverty, itinerant preaching, and service to the poor and lepers. Unlike older monastic communities that lived in enclosed abbeys under the Rule of Benedict, his followers begged for their daily needs and moved among towns, reflecting the growing urban world of the High Middle Ages.

His spirituality—joyful simplicity, love of creation, and humility—reshaped medieval piety; he is also the first recorded person to bear the stigmata (1224). By contrast, Saint Dominic led a separate mendicant movement focused on preaching and combating heresy, and Ignatius of Loyola would not found the Jesuits until the 16th century.