Status & Francis

How does the jettisoning of worldly goods fit into the status-striving paradigm, and is a monks habit as much as signal as cloth of embroidered gold?

Status, let us not forget, has been proven (see) to be quite independent of possessions, and in the limit can revolve around an aura of personality. Fame, for example, is as much a currency in this world as money, and the fact that there is a link between the two is irrelevant - the former is a silkier medium of exchange.

When one considers St. Francis of Assisi, then, as exemplar One of Christianity Lived, the below-ground currency must be checked as well. Hard to make out from this vantage, but the flame of fame must have carried on its tail some kind of worthwhile hit. And I don't know how to psychologically interpret the stigmata.