Today is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint, according to American Catholic.org of animals, ecology, Italy and merchants. The last seems very odd to me since Saint Francis renounced all material wealth, even going so far as to take off his clothes and walk naked through Assisi to show his committment to a life of poverty.
By all accounts, Saint Francis was a complicated and somewhat peculiar person. On the one hand, he was sincerely intent on leading a life in strict accordance with the teachings of Jesus. On the other hand, he was so literal minded that when a vision of Christ told him to “go rebuild my house” Francis got some bricks and mortar and started fixing a delapidated church. A lot of people, particularly his father, considered Francis a few eggs shy of an omlette.
Saint Francis is credited with uttering the famous prayer:
- Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
- where there is hatred, let me sow love;
- where there is injury, pardon;
- where there is doubt, faith;
- where there is despair, hope;
- where there is darkness, light;
- and where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love;
- for it is in giving that we receive,
- it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
- Amen
Chances are, he never said this, though, since the first time the prayer appeared was in 1912 and Saint Francis lived in the 13th century. Not that I discount the possibility of saintly inspiration, as anyone who has read my YA historical manuscript could tell you.
On the other hand, Saint Francis probably did write the following canticle around 1224:
Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!
All praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.
To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
and clouds and storms, and all the weather,
through which you give your creatures sustenance.
Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water;
she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you brighten the night.
He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.
Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,
who feeds us and rules us,
and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you;
through those who endure sickness and trial.
Happy those who endure in peace,
for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.
Be praised, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whose embrace no living person can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those she finds doing your most holy will.
The second death can do no harm to them.
Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,
and serve him with great humility.
I find Saint Francis’ personification of the forces of nature fascinating, considering that he lived during a time when the Church taught that only men–and I do mean men, not women or children–had souls. Perhaps it is his paradoxicalness, as much as his saintliness, that makes Saint Francis such a well-known and revered person nearly nine hundred years after his death.
