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The
Life and Times of Francis of Assisi
Francis
Chooses “Lady Poverty”
Francis
Meets the Sultan
The
First Christmas Crèche
An
Ecologist before His Time
Suggestions
for Reading
Legend
of St Francis :
15. Sermon to the Birds
Giotto di Bondone, 1297-1299
Fresco, 270 x 200 cm
Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi
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An
Ecologist before His Time
Religious
iconography often represents Francis closely relating to nature
and especially animals. We see, for example, pictures of Francis
“preaching to the birds” or “taming the wolf of
Gubbio”. Sometimes the truth of some of these stories is
questionable. Often they belong more to the genre of folklore
and legend than actual historical writing.
It is Francis’
own writings that bear the more important testimonies to his closeness
to nature. His love for all creatures, calling them “brothers”
and “sisters” came from the belief that all creatures
come from one Father and Creator. By its relationship to this
Creator, all creation forms a “universal fraternity”.
At the end of his life, while gravely ill, Francis wrote what
we call the “Canticle to Brother Sun” or the “Canticle
of the Creatures”. That poem, written in an Italian dialect,
lauds the harmony and beauty created by God in the whole universe.
It is the culmination of his teachings regarding the respect and
the love that humans must have towards the whole of God’s
creation.
Thus, Francis
unites all those who are concerned for the protection of animals
and the environment. No wonder Pope John Paul II, in 1979, proclaimed
him “Patron of Ecologists”!
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