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"This
humble Saint is wont to succor all those who call upon him in any
necessity, however trifling it may be." (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of
the Church)
"Certainly,
Francis was sent with the Gospel of Christ especially to his own times,
at the turn of the 12th century, at the height of the Italian Middle
Ages, which was a period splendid and difficult at the same time: but
every era has preserved something of this in itself. Still the
Franciscan mission is not yet ended; it is still going on." (Pope
John Paul II)
"Surely
he sought not his own interests (Phil 2:21), but those of Christ,
serving Him zealously like the proverbial bee. As the morning star in
the midst of a cloud, and as the moon at the full (Eccles. 50,6), he
took in his hands a lamp with which to draw the humble by the example of
his glorious deeds, and a trumpet wherewith to recall the shameless with
stern and fearsome warnings from their wicked abandon." (Pope
Gregory IX, Mira Circa Nos, 1228)
"May
it please Heaven that they who, through devotion to the Saint either
find pleasure in these lesser praises of the man of Assisi or labor with
zeal to promote the success of this Centenary, all worthy of Our praise,
may, by the happy recurrence of his feast, draw from his life strong
motives to examine more profoundly the true picture of this great
imitator of Christ and thus themselves aspire to higher ideals."
(Pope Pius XI, "Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"Concerning
the honors that are being prepared for St. Francis, it should be borne
in mind that, above all, these honors will be agreeable to him to whom
they are given only when they have been made fruitful by the one who
actually offers them. In this then alone can We hope for lasting fruits,
when those men who admire his great virtues seek to copy in some way
this man, and in imitating him make themselves better." (Pope Leo
XIII, Auspicato, 1882)
"Some
will say, perhaps, that to restore Christian society another Francis is
needed today. But We say, do what you can to make men take up again with
renewed zeal the ancient Francis as their teacher of piety and sanctity;
do what you can that they imitate and follow the example which he has
left us, that they accept him as a man who was 'a mirror of virtue,
a path of righteousness, a rule of morals.' (Breviary of Friars
Minor) If this be done, will it not in itself be enough to heal and even
put an end to the corruption of our own times?" (Pope Pius XI,
"Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"St.
Francis, 'a man who was truly Catholic and apostolic,' in the
same admirable fashion that he had attended to the reformation of the
faithful, so likewise set about personally and commanded his disciples
to occupy themselves before everything else with the conversion of the
heathen to the Faith and Law of Christ. Nor need We dwell at length on a
subject so well known to all. Moved by an ardent desire to spread the
Gospel and even to undergo martyrdom, he did not hesitate to go to Egypt
and there bravely to appear in the very presence of the Sultan."
(Pope Pius XI, "Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"After
the example of our father Abraham, this man forgot not only his country
and acquaintances, but also his father's house, to go to a land which
the Lord had shown him by divine inspiration (Gen. 12). Pushing aside any
obstacle he pressed on to win the prize of his heavenly call (Phil.
3:14). Conforming himself to Him (Rom. 8:29) who, though rich, for our
sake became poor (II Cor. 8:9), he unburdened himself of a heavy load of
material possessions so as to pass easily through the narrow gate (Mt
7:13). He disbursed his wealth to the poor, so that his justice might
endure forever (Ps. 111:9)." (Pope Gregory IX, Mira Circa Nos, 1228)
"Now,
at the eleventh hour, he has called forth his servant, Blessed Francis,
a man after his own heart (I Sam 13:14). This man was a light, despised
by the rich, nonetheless prepared for the appointed moment. Him the Lord
sent into his vineyard to uproot the thorns and thistles. God cast down
this lamp before the attacking Philistines, thus illumining his own land
and with earnest exhortation warning it to be reconciled with God. On
hearing within his soul his friend's voice of invitation Francis without
hesitation arose, and as another Samson strengthened by God's grace,
shattered the fetters of a flattering world." (Pope Gregory IX,
Mira Circa Nos, 1228)
"Further,
Francis was powerless to contain in the recesses of his heart the
seraphic love which consumed him for God and his brothers; he was
compelled to permit it to overflow on all the souls which he could
reach. Thus it was that he set himself to reform the individual and
family life of his disciples in forming them to the practice of the
Christian virtues with such ardor as would make one believe that it was
all his program. But he did not dream that he ought to limit himself to
this; individual conversion was but an instrument of which he availed
himself to reawaken in the bosom of society love of Christian wisdom,
and to gain all men for Christ." (Pope Benedict XV, "Sacra
Propediem", 1921)
"Since
Our immediate Predecessor has assigned this Saint, who was sent by
Divine Providence for the reformation not only of the turbulent age in
which he lived but of Christian society of all times, as the patron of 'Catholic Action,' it is only right that Our children who
labor in this field according to Our commands should in union with the
numerous Franciscan brotherhood call to mind and praise the works, the
virtues, and the spirit of the Seraphic Patriarch. While doing this,
they must reject that purely imaginary figure of the Saint conjured up
by the defenders of modern error or by the followers of luxury and
worldly comforts, and seek to bring Christians to the faithful imitation
of the ideal of sanctity which he exemplified in himself and which he
learned from the purity and simplicity of the doctrines of the
Gospels." (Pope Pius XI, "Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"O
victim dear of heavenly love, Impurpled by thy fivefold sign, Saint
Francis, father of the poor, Of Jesus' Cross a living shrine. Thou,
burning with the glowing flames of love of God and love of man, dost
yearn for Christ to shed thy blood and thrice dost try the seas to span.
Although denied thy heart's desire, Thou lettest not thine ardor wane;
But kindled still with love divine To stir new fires thou strivest amain.
Still living in thine Orders three, thou art found in many a savage
clime; and frozen hearts, warmed at thy flame, grow fervent with thy
fire sublime. So shalt thou crush the powers of hell, Thy conquering
arms our foes dismay when Holy Church doth seem to fail, still is thy
mighty strength her stay. Come, help us, father, while we pray, thy love
within our hearts inspire, thy boundless love, that spreads abroad the
glowing brightness of its fire. Praise we the Father and the Son, Praise
we the Holy Paraclete: He grant us grace to emulate our father's spirit,
as fitting. Amen." (Hymn, cf. Raccolta)
"He
knew that we can best measure the towering miracle of the mere fact of
existence if we realize that but for some strange mercy we should not
even exist. And something of that larger truth is repeated in a lesser
form in our own relations with so mighty a maker of history. He also is
a giver of things we could not have thought of for ourselves; he also is
too great for anything but gratitude. From him came a whole awakening of
the world and a dawn in which all shapes and colors could be seen anew.
The mighty men of genius who made the Christian civilization that we
know appear in history almost as his servants and imitators. Before
Dante was, he had given poetry to Italy; before St. Louis ruled, he had
risen as the tribune of the poor; and before Giotto had pained the
pictures, he had enacted the scenes. That great painter who begin the
whole human inspiration of European painting had himself gone to St.
Francis to be inspired." (G. K. Chesterton)
"There
was a dearth of such virtue in the twelfth century; for too many among
men, enslaved by the things of this world, either coveted madly honors
and wealth, or lived a life of luxury and self-gratification. All power
was centered in a few, and had almost become an instrument of oppression
to the wretched and despised masses; and those even who ought by their
profession to have been an example to others, had not avoided defiling
themselves with the prevalent vices. The extinction of charity in divers
places was followed by scourges manifold and daily; envy, jealousy,
hatred, were rife; and minds were so divided and hostile that on the
slightest pretext neighboring cities waged war amongst themselves, and
individuals armed themselves against one another. In this century
appeared St. Francis. Yet with wondrous resolution and simplicity he
undertook to place before the eyes of the aging world, in his words and
deeds, the complete model of Christian perfection." (Pope Leo XIII,
"Auspicato Concessum", 1882)
"Shortly
after his death, churches dedicated to the Seraphic Father and admirable
for the beauty of their architecture and treasures of art began to rise,
due to the wishes of the people to honor him. The most famous artists
competed one with another as to who should succeed in portraying with
the greatest perfection and beauty the likeness and life of Francis in
paintings, in statues, in engravings, and in mosaics. Thus Santa Maria
degli Angeli was built on that very plain where Francis 'poor and
humble entered rich into heaven.' Churches, too, were built at the
place of his glorious burial as well as on the hills of Assisi, and to
these pilgrims flocked from everywhere in small parties or in large
groups, in order to recall for the benefit of their souls the memory of
so great a saint and to admire these immortal monuments of art.
Moreover, there arose to sing the praises of the Man of Assisi, as We
have already seen a poet who has no equal, Dante Alighieri. He was
followed by others both in Italy and elsewhere who brought glory to
literature by exalting the grandeur of the saint." (Pope Pius XI,
"Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"And
even as at that period the blessed Father Dominic Guzman was occupied in
defending the integrity of heaven-sent doctrine and in dissipating the
perverse errors of heretics by the light of Christian wisdom, so was the
grace granted to St. Francis, whom God was guiding to the execution of
great works, of inciting Christians to virtue, and of bringing back to
the imitation of Christ those men who had strayed both long and far. It
was certainly no mere chance that brought to the ears of the youth these
counsels of the gospel: 'Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money
in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes,
nor a staff.' And again, 'If thou wilt be perfect, go sell
what thou hast, and give to the poor...and come, follow Me.'
Considering these words as directed personally to himself, he at once
deprives himself of all, changes his clothing, adopts poverty as his
associate and companion during the remainder of his life, and resolves
to make those great maxims of virtue, which he had embraced in a lofty
and sublime frame of mind, the fundamental rules of his Order."
(Pope Leo XIII, "Auspicato Concessum", 1882)
"In
truth, as Thomas of Celano writes, 'he was ever afire with divine
love and longed to perform deeds of great heroism; walking with a strong
heart in the way of the divine commandments, he eagerly desired to reach
the highest perfection'; and St. Bonaventure testifies that 'he seemed like a burning coal alive with the fire of God's
love.' (Legenda Maior, Chap. IX, No. 1) Wherefore there were those
who 'seeing him raised so rapidly to a state of intoxication of
divine love' burst into tears. (Legend of the Three Companions, No.
21) This love of God he poured out in love for his neighbor, and
conquering himself loved with a special tenderness the poor and, among
the poor, the most miserable of all, the lepers, whom as a youth he had
so abhorred; he dedicated completely both himself and his disciples to
their care and service. He also wished that a brotherly love similar to
his own should reign among his disciples; because of this his wish, the
Franciscan Brotherhood grew to be 'a noble edifice of charity, from
the living stones of which, gathered from every part of the world, there
was built a dwelling for the Holy Ghost.' (Thomas of Celano,
Legenda I, No. 38 et seq)" (Pope Pius XI, "Rite Expiatis",
1926)
"Those
twelve disciples who had been the first to place themselves under his
government were like a small seed, which by the grace of God, and under
the fostering care of the Sovereign Pontiff, quickly became an abundant
harvest. After having holily instructed them in the school of Christ, he
allotted to them for the preaching of the Gospel the various parts of
Italy and of Europe; and some he sent even as far as Africa. There was
no delay; poor, ignorant, unrefined, they mingled with the people: in
the highways and in the public squares, with no preparation of place or
pomp of rhetoric, they set themselves to exhort men to despise earthly
things and to think of the time to come. It is marvelous to see the
fruits produced by the enterprise of such workers, apparently so
inadequate. Crowds gathered round them, eager to hear them: faults were
bitterly bewept, injuries were forgotten, and sentiments of peace were
reintroduced by the appeasing of discords. It is impossible to express
the enthusiasm with which the multitude flocked to St. Francis. Wherever
he went he was followed by an immense concourse; and in the largest
cities as in the smallest towns, it was a common occurrence for men of
every state of life to come and beg of him to be admitted to his
rule." (Pope Leo XIII, "Auspicato Concessum", 1882)
"As
soon as ever he had been unhorsed by the glorious humiliation of his
vision of dependence on the divine love, he flung himself into fasting
and vigil exactly as he had flung himself furiously into battle. He had
wheeled his charger clean round, but there was no halt or check in the
thundering impetuosity of his charge. There as nothing negative about
it; it was not a regiment or a stoical simplicity of life. It was not
self-denial merely in the sense of self-control. It was as positive as a
passion; it had all the air of being as positive as a pleasure. He
devoured fasting as a man devours food. He plunged after poverty as men
have dug madly for gold. And it is precisely the positive and passionate
quality of this part of his personality that is a challenge to the
modern mind in the whole problem of the pursuit of pleasure. There
undeniably is the historical fact; and there attached to it is another
moral fact almost as undeniable. It is certain that he held on this
heroic or unnatural course from the moment when he went forth in his
hair-shirt into the winter woods to the moment when he desired even in
his death agony to lie bare upon the bare ground, to prove that he had
and that he was nothing. And we can say, with almost as deep a
certainty, that the stars which passed above that gaunt and wasted
corpse stark upon the rocky floor had for once, in all their shining
cycles round the world of laboring humanity, looked down upon a happy
man." (G. K. Chesterton)
"In
the year of our Lord 1230, all the Friars of the Order being assembled
in general chapter at Assisi, that body, consecrated to the Lord, was
transferred to the church erected to his honor on the 21st of May. While
the sacred treasure, signed with the signet of the Most High King, was
being carried from one place to another, he, whose effigy was impressed
upon it, was pleased that, by its health-giving ardor, the affections of
many of the faithful should be drawn to follow after Christ; and most
worthy was this of him who while in life was so dear to God, who by the
grace of contemplation had been transported toke Enoch into Paradise,
and by the zeal of his charity had been carried like Elias to heaven in
a chariot of fire. Even his blessed bones, which having been
transplanted from this barren earth, began to flourish among the
heavenly flowers of the celestial garden, gave forth a sweet and
marvelous odour of sanctity, from the place where they were found; and
certain it is that as, when he was in life, this blessed man was
illustrious and renowned by many marvelous tokens of virtue and
sanctity, so, from the day of his death to the present hour, he has been
glorified in divers parts of the world by manifold prodigies and
miracles; so that, through the divine power, by his merits help is
afforded to the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame, the dropsical, the
paralytic, the possessed, the lepers, and to those who are
tempest-tossed or languish in captivity. He relieves all infirmities,
necessitates, and perils. Nay, by the marvelous resurrection of many
from the dead is made known to the faithful the power of his merits, and
the glorious might of the Most High, Who is marvelous in His saints, to
Whom be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (St. Bonaventure,
Doctor of the Church)
"The
Seraphic Father founded two Orders, one for men and the other for women,
both made up of aspirants to evangelical perfection. He then began a
visit to the cities of Italy announcing, either personally or through
the first disciples who had come to him, the foundation of his two
Orders, preaching penance to the people in few but fiery words,
gathering by this ministry and by his words and example almost
unbelievable fruits. In all the places where he went to perform the
functions of his apostolic ministry the people and clergy came out in
procession to meet Francis, and there was much ringing of bells, singing
of popular songs, and waving of olive branches. Persons of every age,
sex, and condition flocked to him and, by day or night, surrounded the
house where he lived so that they might have a chance of seeing him when
he went out, of touching him, speaking to him, or listening to his
words. No one, even if he were grown gray in habits of vice and sin,
could resist the preaching of the Saint. Very many people, even some of
mature age, vied with one another in giving up all their earthly goods
for love of the evangelical life. Entire cities of Italy, reborn to a
new moral life, placed themselves under the direction of Francis. The
number of his sons grew beyond reckoning. Such was the enthusiasm which
filled all to follow in his footsteps that the Seraphic Patriarch
himself was often obliged to dissuade many and turn aside from the
proposal to leave the world both men and women who were willing and
ready to give up their conjugal rights and the joys of domestic
life." (Pope Pius XI, "Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"Italy,
however, owes more to Francis than any other nation whatever; which, as
it was the principal theatre of his virtues, so also most received his
benefits; and, indeed, at a time when many were bent on multiplying the
sufferings of mankind, he was always offering the right hand of help to
the afflicted and the cast down; he, rich in the greatest poverty, never
desisted from relieving others' wants, neglectful of his own. In his
mouth his native tongue, new-born, sweetly uttered its infant cries; he
expressed the power of charity and of poetry with it in his canticles
composed for the common people, and which have proved not unworthy of
the admiration of a learned posterity. We owe to the mind of Francis
that a certain breath and inspiration nobler than human has stirred up
the minds of our countrymen so that, in reproducing his deeds in
painting, poetry and sculpture, emulation has stirred the industry of
the greatest artists. Dante even found in Francis matter for his grand
and most sweet verse...celebrated
architects found in him the motive for their magnificent structures,
whether at the tomb of the Poor Man himself, or at the Church of St.
Mary of the Angels, the witness of so many and so great miracles. And to
these temples men from all parts are wont to come in throngs in
veneration for the father of Assisi of the poor, to whom, as he had
utterly despoiled himself of all human things, so the gifts of the
divine bounty largely and copiously flowed. Hence it is clear that from
this one man a host of benefits has flowed into the Christian and civil
republic." (Pope Leo XIII, "Auspicato Concessum", 1882)
"Some
admired in him the character of the poet by which he so wonderfully
expressed the sentiments of his soul, and his famous Canticle became the
delight of learned men who recognized in it one of the first great poems
of the early Italian language. Others were taken by his love of nature,
for he not only seemed fascinated by the majesty of inanimate nature, by
the splendor of the stars, by the beauty of his Umbrian mountains and
valleys, but, like Adam before his fall in the Garden of Eden, Francis
even spoke to the animals themselves. He appears to have been joined to
them in a kind of brotherhood and they were obedient to his every wish.
Others praised his love of country because in him Our Italy, which
boasts the great honor of having given him birth, found a more fruitful
source of blessings than any other country. Others, finally, honor him
for that truly singular and Catholic love with which he embraced all
men. All of this is quite admirable but it is the least that is to be
praised in our Saint, and it all must be understood in a correct sense.
If we stop at these aspects of his life and look upon them as the most
important, or change their import so as to justify either our own morbid
ideas or excuse our false opinions, or to uphold thereby some of our
prejudices, it is certain that we would not possess a genuine picture of
the real Francis. As a matter of fact, by his practice of all the
virtues in a heroic manner, by the austerity of his life and his
preaching of penance, by his manifold and restless activity for the
reformation of society, the figure of Francis stands forth in all its
completeness, proposed to us not so much for the admiration as for the
imitation of Christian peoples." (Pope Pius XI, "Rite
Expiatis", 1926)
"Dearest
brothers and sisters, the invitation of the liturgy of today, the
Solemnity of the Epiphany, brings us back in mind and heart to that
night so many years ago when in this valley, through the initiative of
St. Francis of Assisi, the mystery of Christmas was visibly represented
for the first time on that occasion - according to the account of his
first biographer - men and women of this region of yours gathered at
Greccio, 'each one bringing, according to his ability, candles and
torches to illuminate that night, in which shone the splendid Star in
heaven that illuminated all days and times' (Celano, Vita prima
85). In this way there was fulfilled a Desire that Francis had
cultivated in his heart for a long time: 'to represent the Infant
born in Bethlehem and in some way to see with bodily eyes the
discomforts in which he was found through the lack of the things
necessary for a newborn child, as he was laid in a manger and lay on the
hay between the ox and the ass' (ibid 84). We too are gathered here
today. We meditate on the unheard-of mystery of a God made man for
love of us. We too are here to recognize that that little Baby, unable
to speak, is the uncreated Word of the Father, he who has the answer
that can satisfy everyone of our existential questions. We too are here
to adore the ineffable condescendence of the God three times holy, who
did not abandon us to our misery but, stepping over the abyss of his
transcendence, became one of us in order to walk by our side and point out to us by his example the way of salvation. This thought and profound
lesson of Gospel spirituality comes forth from the very striking scene
of the crib. They fill our soul with joy and make us understand why St.
Francis had for Christmas more devotion than for any other feast of the
year' (Leggenda perugina, 1107)." (Pope John Paul II)
Also
See: St.
Francis of Assisi: Biographical Information | St.
Francis of Assisi: Misc. Facts
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