St. Francis in the Desert

This is a two-sheet rubber stamped image created by Russell Manning of Texas.  The piece has lots of intricate detail and is precisely colored with pen and ink. 


What is the significance of a desert in terms of St. Francis of Assisi? 


St. Francis of Assisi is believed to have received the stigmata -- the wounds of Christ's Crucifixion -- in 1224 during a retreat on Mount Alverna in the Apennines. In this portrait below by Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430-1516) called "St. Francis in the Desert" that he painted in 1480, it may be this event that Bellini is trying to convey through the naturalistic yet transcendental imagery of rays of light flooding the foreground from an unseen source at upper left. (Other interpretations have been offered, but this is one.)

The wilderness - or desert - of Mount Alverna is compared in early Franciscan sources to the desert of the Book of Exodus, and Moses and Aaron were seen by the Franciscans as their spiritual ancestors, who were believed to have lived again in their founder. A parallel was seen between the saint's stigmatization on Mount Alverna and Moses communion with God on Mount Horeb.


The quivering tree at upper left, shining in the mysterious light, may then be intended to recall not only the Cross but also the burning bush of Moses vision at Horeb. The landscapeof Bellini's desert is filled with marvelous details -- animals, birds, persons, plants, objects such as the skull and sandals, and strange rock formations -- that yielded hidden meanings for those who understood their importance in Franciscan literature.


The water trickling from a spout in the stones at left, for example, is compared to the miraculous fountain Moses brought forth from the rocks at Horeb, and the empty sandals behind the barefoot saint recall God's command to Moses to "put off the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."


It is perhaps this sense of significance in all things as well as the radiant light flowing over the landscape that imbues the painting with such magical appeal.


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In another painting, St. Francis is also shown in the desert with a monk. The artist, Joachim Patinir (c.1490-c.1524 Netherlandish), painted this picture in Prado, Madrid.


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A final thought that goes back to Russell Manning's pen and ink image at the start of this post:: 
The Canticle of the Sun, also known as the Laudes Creaturarum (Praise of the Creatures), is a religious song composed by St. Francis. It was written in the Umbrian dialect of Italian, but has since been translated into many languages. It is believed to be among the first works of literature, if not the first, written in the Italian language.


The Canticle of the Sun in its praise of God thanks Him for such creations as "Brother Fire" and "Sister Water." It is an affirmation of Francis' personal theology as he often referred to animals as brothers and sisters to Mankind, rejected material accumulation and sensual comforts in favor of "Lady Poverty."


Saint Francis is said to have composed most of the canticle in late 1224 while recovering from an illness at San Damiano, in a small cottage that had been built for him by Saint Clare and other women of her order.


Within the Canticle of the Sun are the following lines:

All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;

In the heavens you have made them, bright, and precious and fair.

St. Francis of Assisi...and a Call to Action

This postcard was created by Andrea Jay who lives in New York.  The image shows a person saying "It pays to advertise!"

So what is advertising?  According to Wikipedia:

"Advertising is a form of  communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers, or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideas, or services.

It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand.

These messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various media.

Advertising can also serve to communicate an idea to a large number of people in an attempt to convince them to take a certain action."

Saint Francis of Assisi, who is most well known, is the founder of the Franciscan Order and patron saint of such things as the environment and pets. He is well known mostly because of the order which he founded after a life of richness in Assisi, his home town.

He was born to a merchant and enjoyed a rich childhood and his young adult life was plagued with sin. He eventually had a change of heart and gave up all possessions, devoting his entire life to God and poverty, as well as charity.

This poverty is still followed by his order wherein the friars or religious give up all possessions and cannot even handle money. They are a flourishing order and thus he is still well known today.

Given this information about St. Francis, what would be a call to action that one could take as we are nearing the end of 2010?  

One idea is to read the book The Lessons of St. Francis: How to Bring Simplicity and Spirituality Into Your Daily Life by John Michael Talbot or Following Francis: The Franciscan Way for Everybody by Susan Pritchford.

The first book has many suggestions about how to incorporate St. Francis' philosophy into one's everyday life via simplicity, joy, solitude, humility, creativity, community, compassion, creation, service, peace, and prayer. 

In the second book, author Susan Pitchford tells her own story of the Franciscan life as a member of the Third Order, founded by Francis himself so that people from all walks of life could follow the saint's ideal. Pitchford learned that the Franciscan tradition isn't the exclusive possession of friars or cloistered nuns, but a spiritual path for ordinary people living in the twenty-first century.

Either book should be available through your library; and would make for interesting reading and reflection.  If you are so moved, please share how you incorporate the philosophies of St. Francis into your daily life.

Postage Stamps Featuring St. Francis

This collection of Italian postage stamps was emailed to me by Marina.  She heard about the St. Francis Mail Art Project through Swap-Bot. 

With Christmas only a few months away, it's worth remembering that St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and founder of the Franciscan Order (clerics for the masses rather than for the aristocrats), is said to have been the first to depict a  Nativity Scene (creche, crèche) in Greccio, Italy, around 1223 AD — using life-size wooden figures of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the shepherds.

The word "creche" comes from the French word for "manger," which in turn comes from the Italian word "Greccio", the name of the town having the first nativity manger scene.

St. Francis of Assisi started experiencing unexplained illnesses shortly before he turned 40 years of age. His actual death occured on October 3, 1226 when he was only 45 years of age.

Realizing he was ill as he had started coughing up blood and had other symptoms which he had concern about the brothers seeing, he retreated to the mountains for quite some time. It was in the mountains that St. Francis received the Stigmata.

The brothers were becoming worried that St. Francis would never return to them and his longtime friend and brother in the order, Leo, decided it was time to go up into the mountains and find St. Francis of Assisi and find out if he was alright. What he found was a very ill monk lying in the snows, and he had just received the stigmata and was bleeding from his hands, feet and side.

Because the Pope had actualized the order of the Franciscans years before, the local bishops and priests wished to take care of St. Francis, because by this time his saintliness was well accepted and well known. St. Francis of Assisi had even had time to reconcile with his father over the years, and at the time of his passing there were already several thousands of brothers around the world who were joining the Franciscan Order.

As he laid in a very ornate and fancy bed, St. Francis of Assisi complained that he did not wish to die in such luxury. He preferred to die outside in poverty as he had lived. His brothers understood, although they wished to give him more comfort, they acceded to his wishes and allowed him to return to the austere San Damiano Church where he would speak his last words.

As St. Francis of Assisi was now surrounded by a few brothers he chose to be nearby as he prepared for death, he asked that they read aloud to him the Gospel of John. In a moment of intensity, he asked all his brothers for forgiveness and gave his forgiveness to all those present and not present.

When he passed quietly during the reading, one of the brothers said that he saw the soul of St. Francis of Assisi rise over many waters straight to heaven. He proclaimed that it was like a star, but large like the moon, brilliant like the sun and carried up on a white cloud.

Less than two years after St. Francis' death, plans were underway for the construction of a church in his honor which is now known as the Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.  A doorway in the right transept of the lower church opens into the 13th-century chapter house, which contains a 1340 Crucifixion by Puccio Capanna and a magnificent collection of relics associated with St. Francis. The relics on display include:

• moth-eaten, patchwork grey tunic worn by St. Francis
• white tunic worn during the last year of his life
• hairshirt worn by St. Francis for penance
• strip of leather chamois that wrapped the stigmata wound in his side
• sandals made by St. Clare and worn by St. Francis when he was sick
• linen cloths given by a noble lady in Rome and used to wipe the saint's brow on his deathbed
• chalice used by St. Francis when he assisted in the Eucharist as a deacon
• ivory horn given to Francis from the Sultan of Egypt, Malek el Kamel
• the original Franciscan Rule of 1223 approved by Pope Honorius III, which marked the founding of the Franciscan order
• Blessing to Brother Leo written in St. Francis' own hand

The town of Assisi, in the center of Italy was built on a hill that has been inhabited for about 4,000 years, and for almost as long it has been a religious center. They say that the stones that were used to build Assisi have absorbed the prayers of the millions of pilgrims that have come there over the centuries. And now, it is believed that the stones radiate a sense of peace and quiet that has a spiritual effect on visitors.

St. Francis and Love

Received the first postcard for the St. Francis Mail Art Project.  It is from Dewi in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) who sent a pen drawing with the written phrase:  "Lord grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.  St. Francis of Assisi."  Dewi's name is signed in the lower right-hand corner.

The Prayer of Saint Francis is a Christian prayer. It is attributed to the 13th-century saint Francis of Assisi,  although the prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912, when it was printed in France in French, in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell) as an anonymous prayer.  The prayer has been known in the United States since 1936 and Cardinal Francis Spellman and Senator Hawkes distributed millions of copies of the prayer during and just after World War II. 

The English version of the prayer reads as follows:

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

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.