St. Francis

First off, hate to break it to you, but in case you didn't know already, the "Prayer of St. Francis" wasn't written by St. Francis. I won't tell you the whole story, as scholars think it transpired - you'll have to read the book I'm currently writing when it's published next year to hear that, but let's just say for now that while there are hints of that kind of oppositional language in some of the sayings of Blessed Giles of Assisi, the prayer itself doesn't show up in any form until the early 20th century.

So for today, we'll stick with what we can attribute for sure:

Canticle of the Sun

O most high, almighty, good Lord God, to Thee belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing!

By Thee alone, Most High, were all things made and no man is worthy to speak Thy name.

Praised be my Lord with all his creatures, especially Messer Brother Sun, who brings us the day and brings us the light; fair is he and shining with a very great splendor; Most High, he signifies to us Thee!

Praised be my Lord for Sister Moon, and for the stars, the which He has set in heaven clear and precious and lovely.

Praised be my Lord for Brother Wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather, by the which Thou upholdest life in Thy creatures.

Praised be my Lord for Sister Water, who is very serviceable unto us, and humble, and precious, and clean.

Praised be my Lord for Brother Fire, through whom Thou givest us light in the night; and he is beautiful and joyous, and very mighty, and strong.

Praised be my Lord for our Sister, Mother Earth, who doth sustain us and keep us, and bring forth divers fruits, and flowers of many colors, and grass.

Praised be my Lord for those who pardon one another for His love's sake, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably endure, for by Thee, Most Highest, shall they be crowned.

Praised be my Lord for our Sister the Death of the Body, from whom no man living can escape. Woe unto them who die in mortal sin. Blessed are they who are found walking by Thy most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise ye and bless my Lord, and give thanks unto Him and serve Him with great humility.

Please feel free to post your favorite St. Francis stories or sayings here.

And as for us, well, Michael's still down south (he called me yesterday while standing at the sea, and I could barely hear him for the wind whipping around and through the cel phone), and bummer of the day is that we were hoping to go meet the world-famous Barbara Nicolosi for lunch halfway between here and Ann Arbor, where she's speaking - heck Nancy Nall had even suggested a meeting place but alas , her handlers dreamed up something else for her to do that, impossible as it may be to believe, is more important than having lunch with a two-year old throwing french fries!

So, I think we'll go up to Kendallville, Indiana to this. Better than cleaning house, I say.

Comments

[Gregg the obscure]

A favorite saying: "Preach the gospel at all times. Use words only when necessary."

A favorite prayer, in my rather poor translation:

Most glorious God,
Enlighten the darkness of my heart.
Grant me a right faith, a certain hope, deep humility and perfect love
So that my senses and work to fulfill
Your holy and true commands.

[Therese]

Amy..now you would be the last person I would expect to see dappling with dissidence...I'll have to lower your considerably high pedestal a few notches...And on His feast day no less...It's one of my favorite prayers and he is one of my favorite saints..and this is one of those years..where finding it out that it might not be his prayer..is just something I just don't want to cope with...yep..down a few notches...sorry

[Therese]

Amy..now you would be the last person I would expect to see dappling with dissidence...I'll have to lower your considerably high pedestal a few notches...And on His feast day no less...It's one of my favorite prayers and he is one of my favorite saints..and this is one of those years..where finding it out that it might not be his prayer..is just something I just don't want to cope with...yep..down a few notches...sorry

[theAmericanist]

Does one "dapple" with dissidence? Is that like "a flock of seagulls", "a murder of crows", "a tedium of generals"?

[Kevin Miller]

My favorite thing about St. Francis: He helped inspire St. Dominic! :-)

Oh, yeah - and his sons run the fine university at which I teach.

[Naomi]

Amy,

Any chance it was Bill Wilson who wrote the Prayer of St. Francis"? Although it seems a little too elegant for him...

[Steve Bogner]

What strikes me about the Canticle of the Sun is how comfortable St Francis was with nature. Accepting nature brings an acceptance of life and death - for we see life and death in nature all the time. Acceptance is essential for a healthy Christian nature.

And at the same time, this prayer also helps us realize how God blessed us with so many good things in this physical world.

[Lynn]

St Francis seems to be everybody's Saint; the Blessing of the Animals draws people (and animals) from everywhere.

[Ken]

The metrical version of the Canticle of the Sun is among my favorites, and on the short list of hymns for my funeral (which will probably last 3 days if all my favorite hymns are sung):

One verse:

Swift flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for your Lord to hear,
Alleluia, Alleluia
Fire, so intense and fiercely bright,
You give to us both warmth and light,
O praise Him, O praise Him,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Matthew Fox, eat your heart out!

[Jen]

Therese:

Historical accuracy is "dissidence?"

Please.

What do you want your faith based on, anyway?

[Dave P.]

My favorite St. Francis story goes something like this ...

http://feastofsaints.com/perfectjoy.htm

[Bob]

Ah, may patron saint (by way of my middle name). I just have to say, I find it very interesting how differently St. Francis is represented by the liberals and conservatives within the Church. Both of them are to a certain extent accurate and yet both omit major portions of the great saint's character.

On the one hand you have the perfectly pious prayerful and dutiful monk, pierced by the stigmata. A fairly accurate image, but this of course completely forgets what we would today call the "social activist" Francis, the rebel, the radical. It forgets his mission to the lepers, his renunciation of all things of this world, his acceptance of a beggar's life, his eating from garbage bins, his wide-eyed and enthusiastic embrace of the world.

On the other hand you have Francis the protestor, Francis the environmentalist, Francis the social worker. Again, to some degree this is correct, but it forgets Francis, the man of God.

I would wager that he is the only saint whom the secular world knows to any significant degree and yet it gets him so wrong. He has been coopted by American culture as the perfect "secular saint." Of course, in order to do this they leave out all those nasty bits about his obedience to God and his love for the Church. If anything, their Francis is the Francis who got God (or the Ambiguously Divine) "right," who understood that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe in something. Religion to this Francis was merely superficial, some helpful rituals but nothing more. Communion with nature was more important than Communion in Church. All this of course was totally foreign to Francis' actual thought. Still this is just normal in a culture adapting its heroes to its "virtues." It certainly is not nearly as ludicrous as the Catholic Worker's complaining of how Francis' dream of Marxist socio-economic equality was foiled by the evils of the hierarchy. The last was an item I truly did read in that publication about a year ago.

I wish that people could grasp that Francis' most defining characteristic was his humility and his obedience to God, and therefore his lack of any personal ambition or agenda. What made Francis Francis was the purity of his love for Christ and his desire to follow Him wherever He might lead. Indeed, if one wishes to be like Francis, one must wish soley to be like Christ, to abandon oneself (and all those petty agendas and ideologies which we hold so dear). Francis was not conservative nor liberal, he was just Catholic and that's all he desired to be. And more than anything, I pray God opens my heart to that fact and plants the same desire in me.

[SJ]

Reinhold Niebuhr seems to have thought that he wrote the prayer --- at least the version adopted by AA --- and he was embarassed not to have always lived up to it in his recovery from a crippling stroke.

[amy]

Wow - thank you so much Bob (and everyone else!)

[michigancatholic]

Gregg the obscure one--St. Francis didn't utter your favorite saying either......The "Most glorious God" prayer is his, though, as is the Canticle of the Sun.

I enjoyed your post also, Bob. It's true, St. Francis was first and foremost in love with Christ and everything else flowed from that. And it seems, as a result, he did something to annoy everyone but Christ. He was at times, considered quite the crazy man in his hometown.

I am surprised that we got as many posts in as we did before I saw the modern word "ecology." LOL.

[Jen]

Jen

I wasn't serious :-)

[Jo]

A day late on this one, but I spent a wonderful St. Francis day yesterday:

First religious ed class of the year, I have grade 4 and they are just WONDERFUL kids. They know their prayers, they know about some saints all ready. They wanted to know if Father Fred will bless hermit crabs or is it just cats and dogs allowed this afternoon?

Then into the city to listen to five hours of organ recitals with DS #2, aspiring organist. Then, because we probably hadn't heard enough organ music, we had to go straight from Manhattan to our parish for the 8 pm Saturday Mass, where the GOOD organist always plays. I helped Jared ask if it was ok if he helped the religious ed classes practice hymns before their grade level liturgies, and the music director gave my kid his very own key to the parish organ. What a happy boy he was!

When I went to Assisi a few years back, I was struck by how small Francis was, from looking at the small patched habit on display in Santa Chiara. I was with a secular tour group, and the non-Catholics were very struck by the spirit of the many pilgrims to that wonderful town. There is no one more joyous looking than young Franciscans visiting that town for the first time.

It has rattled me that Francis has gone through such a New Age Redux. Patron of warm fuzzy good feelings. I hate it when secular people quote the canticle of the sun and leave off the death verse because it would wreck their feel good aura with its mention of mortal sin.

[Naomi]

No, SJ, I didn't mean the Serenity Prayer, which is attributable to Niebuhr. There is a long discussion of the prayer that begins, "Make me an instrument of your peace....", in , I think the 12 & 12. (If I am writing too much in code, let me know.)

It is that prayer, I thiink, that Amy is saying may not be St. Francis' own.

[SJ]

Yeah -- the apparent misattribution of the Serenity Prayer was on my mind because someone used to argue with me about it all the time. The "Instrument of Your Peace" prayer I always had assumed was St. Francis. Now I'm feeling cut loose from my moorings....

[Cheryl]

An opportune moment to thank the Franciscan brothers who taught me at Serra Catholic High School in McKeesport, PA, and who taught my Dad at Christopher Columbus High School in Boston's North End .

Last night (October 4) I was at the opening of an exhibition of photographs of Italy taken by a friend of mine. I decided I liked his studies of Assisi best, and spent much time lingering over them. (I guess now I know why! Didn't realize it was St. Francis' feast day. Thanks, Amy!).

[Justin]

St. Francis is meeting with the pope. The pope says "Look around, no longer can Peter say 'Gold and Silver have I none.'" Francis replies "And neither can he say 'Get up and walk.'"

My biggest gripe re St. Francis is that he is never remembered as a deacon. In this day where the Latin Church is trying to recover the place of deacons in the Church, he would be a great example. Even the breviary doesn't list him as a deacon. Frustrating.

[Kevin Miller]

That's interesting about the breviary. Maybe it's because being a deacon doesn't affect what Office (i.e., what Common) is used for one's Memorial (as being a priest does - priests get the Common of Pastors, deacons don't). The Dominican breviary does say that he was a deacon.

[Tom Kelty]

I am a cradle Franciscan of 73 years, one of 3 brothers who entered the seminary in the 40s and 50s and one sister a Mercy. I have heard every possible embellishment on his life but much reflection reminds me of something Chesterton observed in his life of Francis. GKC pointed out that the constitution of the Order requires regular elections and changes in leadership. a very democratic and daring proposal for the era in which the constitution was fashioned. This democratic thrust is something our Holy Mother Church must begin to face. I live for the day when we will see the end of much of the monarchical and hierarchical pageantry. I want to see the time when Christ Incarnate rules our lives in humility and truth without need for all the splendor. When he died Francis demanded to be naked, on the earth and outdoors. He died and the quarrels began. Christ died and we still do not agree on many things. That's how we know we are Catholic. We fight about so many things. We are alive and it is not boring. Woe to those who are too proud to enter the fray and dirty their hands.

[Justin]

Kevin,

Maybe, however for Sts. Stephen and Lawrence, for example, I believe (I don't have a Breviary handy) it is stated that they were deacons, as well as for some of the other early deacons. No it doesn't affect the common, however these days neither does the difference between bishop and presbyter, but the breviary is very clear to distinguish.

Concommitant with this, while many clerical saints are depicted from time to time in their clerical garb in icons or statues, one never sees Sts. Francis or Benedict in their diaconal vestments. Is it just an emphasis on their religious/monastic life and not their clerical life? Maybe, maybe not.