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Those who speak of St. Francis of Assisi
sometimes fail to
insist upon his strong Catholicity of doctrine. As Pope Benedict
XV reminds us, "The St. Francis of Assisi whom certain
moderns present to us, and who springs from the imagination of the
Modernists, this man, guarded in his obedience to the Apostolic
See, a specimen of a vague and vain religiosity, is assuredly
neither Francis of Assisi nor a saint."
(Pope
Benedict XV, "Sacra Propediem", 1921, emphasis added)
The True St. Francis of
Assisi:
*
Was obedient to the Pope [as the saying goes
"Ubi Petrus ibi Franciscus" ("Where Peter is, there is
Francis")]
*
Was devoted to the Holy Eucharist
*
Was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary
*
Reverenced the priesthood & the sacraments
*
Was devoted to the Passion of Christ
*
Was mortified & chaste
*
Founded Religious Orders of the Catholic Church and had them
approved by the Pope
*
Encouraged all to penance
*
Tried to convert infidels
*
Warned those outside the Catholic Church that they would perish
*
Exhorted all to remain in the Catholic Church for salvation
*
Lived and preached the Gospel
*
Performed and encouraged all others to perform good works
In
short, he was a 'perfect Catholic'!
A
sampling of St. Francis' very Catholic writings / sayings include
the following (emphasis may be added):
Necessity
of Remaining Catholic For Salvation
"And
all of us lesser brothers, useless servants, humbly ask and beg
all those who wish to serve the Lord God within the holy,
Catholic, and apostolic Church...that all of us may persevere in
the true faith and in penance, for otherwise no one will be
saved." (St. Francis of Assisi)
Those
Who Die in Mortal Sin Are Damned
"But
let everyone know that whenever or however a person dies in mortal
sin without making amends when he could have done so and did not,
the devil snatches up his soul out of his body with so much
anguish and tribulation that no one can know it unless he has
experienced it." (St. Francis of Assisi)
The
Holy Eucharist (Necessary for Salvation)
"We
must also confess all our sins to a priest, and receive from him
the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who does not eat
His Flesh and does not drink His Blood (cf. Jn. 6:55-7) cannot
enter the Kingdom of God. Yet let him eat and drink worthily,
since he who receives unworthily eats and drinks judgment to
himself, not recognizing - that is, not discerning - the Body of
the Lord (1 Cor. 11:29). Moreover, let us perform worthy fruits of
penance." (St. Francis of Assisi)
[To
preachers of his order:] "And in every sermon which you give,
admonish the people concerning [the necessity of] penance, and
[instruct them] that no one can be saved unless he receive the
Body and Blood of the Lord (cf. Jn. 6:54). And when It is
sacrificed upon the altar by the priest and carried to any place,
let all the people, on bended knee, praise, glorify, and honor the
Lord God living and true. And you must announce and preach His
praise to all peoples in such a manner that at every hour and
whenever the bells are rung, praise, glory, and honor are given to
the all-powerful God through all the earth." (St. Francis of
Assisi)
"Therefore
all those who saw the Lord Jesus according to [His] humanity and
did not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Godhead
that He is the true Son of God were condemned. And now in the same
way, all those who see the sacrament [of the Holy Eucharist],
which is sanctified by the words of the Lord upon the altar at the
hands of the priest in the form of bread and wine, and who do not
see and believe according to the Spirit and the Godhead that is
truly the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are
condemned. [Such] is attested by the Most High Himself Who says:
'This is my Body and the Blood of my new testament...' and 'He who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life' (cf. Jn.
6:55). Therefore it is the Spirit of the Lord, Who lives in His
faithful, Who receives the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord.
All others who do not share in this same Spirit and who presume to
receive Him eat and drink judgment to themselves (cf. 1 Cor.
11:29). Therefore, O sons of men, how long will you be hard of
heart? Why do you not recognize the truth and believe in the Son
of God? See, daily He humbles Himself as when He came from the
royal throne into the womb of the Virgin; daily He comes to us in
a humble form; daily He comes down from the bosom of the Father
upon the altar in the hands of the priest. And as He appeared to
the holy apostles in true flesh, so now He reveals Himself to us
in the sacred bread. As they saw only his flesh by means of their
bodily slight, yet believed Him to be God as they contemplated Him
with the eyes of faith, so, as we see bread and wine with [our]
bodily eyes, we too are to see and firmly believe them to be His
most holy Body and Blood living and true. And in this way the Lord
is always with His faithful, as He Himself says: Behold I am with
you even to the end of the world (cf. Mt. 28:30)." (St.
Francis of Assisi)
Penance/Confession
"[L]et
them not fail to have recourse to a priest, since the power of
binding and loosing is granted only to priests." (St. Francis
of Assisi) "Confess
all your sins. Blessed are those who die in penance, for they
shall be in the kingdom of heaven. Woe to those who do not die in
penance, for they shall be the children of the devil whose works
they do, and they shall go into the eternal fire. Beware and
abstain from every evil and persevere in good till the end."
(St. Francis of Assisi) The
Holy Eucharist (Reverence)
"[T]hey
should receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ with
great humility and reverence, remembering what the Lord says:
Whoever eats and drinks my blood has eternal life (cf. Jn. 6:55)
and: Do this in memory of me (Lk. 22:19)." (St. Francis of
Assisi)
[To
preachers of his order:] "I beg you, with all that is in me
and more, that, when it is appropriate and you judge it
profitable, you humbly beg the clergy to revere above everything
else the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and His
holy written words which consecrate [His] Body." (St. Francis
of Assisi)
"Therefore,
kissing your feet and with all that love of which I am capable, I
implore all of you brothers to show all possible reverence and
honor to the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in
Whom that which is in the heavens and on the earth is brought to
peace and is reconciled to the all-powerful God (cf. Col
1:20)." (St. Francis of Assisi)
Unfaithful
Brothers Rejected
"But
if any of the brothers do not wish to observe these things, I do
not consider them to be Catholics nor my brothers, and I do not
wish to see them or speak with them until they shall have done
penance. I say this also of all others who go wandering about with
no regard for the discipline of the Rule, for our Lord Jesus
Christ gave His life that He might not lose the obedience of the
most holy Father (cf. Phil. 2:8)" (St. Francis of Assisi)
"All
the brothers must be Catholics, [and] live and speak in a Catholic
manner. But if any of them has strayed from the Catholic faith and
life, in word or in deed, and has not amended his ways, he should
be completely expelled from our fraternity." (St. Francis of
Assisi)
Respect
For Clergy
"We
must also fast and abstain from vices and sins and from any excess
of food and drink, and be Catholics. We must also visit churches
frequently and venerate and show respect for the clergy, not so
much for them personally if they are sinners, but by reason of
their office and their administration of the most holy Body and
Blood of Christ which they sacrifice upon the altar and receive
and administer to others. And let all of us firmly realize that no
one can be saved except without the holy words and Blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ which the clergy pronounce, proclaim and
minister. And they alone must administer [them], and not
others." (St. Francis of Assisi) Those
Held by the Devil "All
those men and women who are not [engaged in] penance and do not
receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; [who]
practice vice and sin and follow wicked concupiscence and the
desires of the flesh; [who] do not observe what they have promised
to the Lord, and bodily serve the world by the desires of the
flesh, the anxieties of the world and the cares of this life:
[such people] are held fast by the devil, whose children they are
and whose works they perform (cf. Jn. 8:41). They are blind, since
they do not see the true light, our Lord Jesus Christ. They do not
have spiritual wisdom, since they do not posses the Son of God,
Who is the true wisdom of the Father. It is said of these people:
Their wisdom has been swallowed up (Ps. 106:27), and Cursed are
those who turn away from Your commands (Ps. 118:21). They see
[and] acknowledge, they know and do evil deeds, and, knowingly,
they lose [their] souls." (St. Francis of Assisi) For
more writings / sayings of St. Francis, click
here.
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