The Francis We Never Knew
September 14, 2012 11 Comments
Surprising Revelations about the man from Assisi:
“In his final words to his followers, the issue he found most pressing was not poverty, not obedience, but proper reverence for the Eucharist.” Imagine summing up Saint Francis of Assisi by pointing to his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Yet this is not all we learn from Father Thompson, O.P. In the course of putting to rest various myths about his subject, he tells us surprising truths: for instance, Francis expected his followers to work with their hands rather than to impose upon others by their begging. Francis was more incensed by dirty altar linens and chalices than mistreatment of the poor or breaches of the peace. And Francis, far from being a Deep Ecologist, “was emphatically not a vegetarian.”
If he was not the man we thought him to be, or the man of those with agendas, then what was he? A man who with dogged determination tried to put the words of the Gospel into practice; a man so transformed by grace, that when the barbaric thirteenth-century physician approached his diseased eyes with a red-hot brand, thinking to cure them by cauterizing the flesh of his face, Francis, far from flinching, made the sign of the Cross over the iron and said: “My Brother Fire, noble and useful among all the creatures the Most High created, be courtly to me in this hour. For a long time I have loved you and I still love you for the love of that Lord who created you. I pray our Creator who made you, to temper your heat now, so that I may bear it”…
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About Fr Stephen Smuts
I’m about half-way through this book. It’s excellent…and it’s available on Kindle, too!
Oh, I so look forward to giving it a read too Father…
I myself have several older Bio’s on Francis, it is always hard to get at good historical information for this great man. There is certainly lots of myth concerning, both his time and just him!
I prefer the Eco-Francis talking to birds than anything real. After all, if religion is not based upon whatever delusions comfort me, what good is it?
@Charles: I always prefer, and seek at least, the Biblical Revelation of “spirit and truth”! As I keep hammering home, this is more of the essence of the Reformation and Reformed, position. And even Vatican II has gone this way somewhat, itself! Note, how Mary is placed there in the Christology of Christ! She exists for the historical Christ and Incarnation, itself! A vessel of grace & glory, in that/for the Incarnate God-Man! And actually, this is the best place to see Francis also, i.e. the Salvation History of God In Christ!
Obviously, despite your residence here in the Golden State, you have failed to understand that navel-gazing is the source of all knowledge. We may have to revoke your residence here; the Rosicrucians and Unarians may have to be consulted!
Don’t forget a popular source of navel-gazing and delusions, which is Marijuana.
I went through my ‘Francis’ phase in the eary 70′s after seeing “BROTHER SUN SISTER MOON” a half dozen times. Later I discovered he was a coward and a deserter who faked a mental breakdown (PTSD no doubt!) and hid by embracing religion. A fine example to the hippie culture of my day and to the brain dead teens of today. I prefer “Jeanne d’Arc”.
“J’aimais quarante fois mieux ma bannière que mon épée.”
What a girl!
See, this just makes me so happy. It makes me dance a happy little Irish jig, over the fact that the Hippie Saint is actually a conservative who did not allow liturgical abuses. The Truth is a good thing indeed! This surely is a glorious strike against the “Spirit of Vatican II” and the imposition of secular agendas hiding behind “Social Justice” and “Liberation” and all those MARXIST notions.
This made me respect St. Francis again, somewhat.
Frankly, I am appalled and even embarrassed how fellow R.C.’s can dishonor and degrade the Person and Life of this Holy and Great Saint! St. Francis became a ‘wholly integrated human being’ – that is a definition of holiness; so his ‘holy sense of humor’ was like that of the One he was Transfigured into – it was like that of his Divine Master, Jesus. I would suggest that all of you who lampoon St. Francis/transfigure him into your own tortuous minds, go back study and learn from him what a ‘holy sense of humor’ really and truly is!
How can you criticize Fr. Robert for not ‘praying to the Saints’ when you speak of One-In-The-Communion-Of-Saints with such a foul and fork tongue?!
St. Francis is a most Beloved Saint of mine! I have a first-class relic of him and has, through his Intercession, wrought/obtained many a miracle (big and small) in my work with rescued animals. Yes, he really did/does now in Heaven–Love God’s creatures and all of Creation with a capacity and a LOVE that you cannot (or perhaps don’t want to) understand!!
“From the depth of the Heart the mouth speaks”!!
Wow, even St. Francis has Trolls!!!!!!!!