|
The Person of St.
Francis of Assisi |
"Francis
had all his life a great liking for people who had been put hopelessly
in the wrong." (G. K. Chesterton)
"St.
Francis's power was always exercised with this elaborate
politeness." (G. K. Chesterton)
"[St.
Francis was] a man gifted by nature and grace which admirably assisted
him in reaching himself and in rendering easy for his neighbors the
highest possible perfection." (Pope Pius XI, "Rite Expiatis",
1926)
"Now,
this poor man of Christ had but two pieces of money - to wit, his body
and his soul - which in his liberal charity he could bestow upon others,
and of these he made a continual offering for the love of Christ"
(St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church)
"We
may say if we like that St. Francis, in the bare and barren simplicity
of his life, had clung to one rag of luxury; the manners of a court. But
whereas in a court there is one king and a hundred courtiers, in this
story there was one courtier, moving among a hundred kings. For he
treated the whole mob of men as a mob of kings." (G. K. Chesterton)
"He
bore unspeakable love for the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, because
by her the Lord of Majesty became our Brother, and through her we have
obtained mercy. In her, next to Christ, he placed his confidence: he
took her for his advocate, and in her honor he was accustomed to fast
devoutly, from the feast of the Apostles, Peter and Paul until the
festival of the Assumption." (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the
Church)
"Aroused
by all things to the love of God, he rejoiced in all the works of the
Lord's hands and from these joy-producing manifestations he rose to
their life-giving principle and cause. In beautiful things he saw Beauty
itself and through his vestiges imprinted on creation he followed his
Beloved everywhere, making from all things a ladder by which he could
climb up and embrace him who is utterly desirable." (St.
Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church)
"His
burning love for the Sacrament of our Lord's Body seemed to consume the
very marrow of his bones, as he wondered within himself which most to
admire - the condescension of that charity, or the charity of that
condescension of our Lord. He communicated often, and so devoutly as to
move others to devotion; and, by the sweetness of that Immaculate
[Host], he was, as it were, spiritually inebriated, and frequently rapt
in ecstasy." (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church)
"[W]ith
exceeding tenderness of compassion did he minister to all bodily
sufferings, whether penury, or want of any kind, sweetly commending the
sufferer to Christ. Marcy, indeed, was born with him, but it received a
two-fold increase by the infused charity of Christ, for truly his soul
melted within him at the sight of poverty and sickness; and the comfort
which his hand was unable to bestow, he gave by the affection of his
heart." (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church)
"With
the love of the cross, an ardent charity penetrated the heart of St.
Francis, and urged him to propagate zealously the Christian faith, and
to devote himself to that work, though at the risk of this life and with
a certainty of peril. This charity he extended to all men; but the
poorest and most repulsive were the special objects of his predilection;
so that those seemed to afford him the greatest pleasure whom others are
wont to avoid or over-proudly to despise. Therefore has he deserved well
of that brotherhood established and perfected by Jesus Christ, which has
made of all mankind one only family, under the authority of God, the
common Father of all." (Pope Leo XIII, "Auspicato Concessum",
1882)
"Being
in some mystical sense on the other side of things, he sees things go
forth from the divine as children going forth from a familiar and
accepted home, instead of meeting them as they come out, as most of us
do, upon the roads of the world. And it is the paradox that by this
privilege he is more familiar, more free and fraternal, more carelessly
hospitable than we. For us the elements are like heralds who tell us
with trumpet and tabard that we are drawing near the city of a great
king: but he hails them with an old familiarity that is almost an old
frivolity. He calls them his Brother Fire and Sister Water." (G. K.
Chesterton)
"How
fair, how bright, how glorious he appeared in innocency of life, in
simplicity of word, in purity of heart, in the love of God, in charity
to the brothers, in ardent obedience, in willing submission, in angelic
aspect! He was charming in his manners, of gentle disposition, easy in
his talk, tactful in admonition, most faithful over what was entrusted
to him, far-seeing in counsel, effectual in business, gracious in all
things; calm in mind, sweet in temper, sober in spirit, uplifted in
contemplation, assiduous in prayer and fervent in all things. He was
steadfast in purpose, firm in virtue, persevering in grace, and in
things consistent. He was swift to pardon and slow to get angry. He was
ready of wit and had an excellent memory; he was subtle in discussion,
circumspect in choice and simple in all things; stern to himself, tender
to others, in all things discreet." (Celano)
"Everyone
knows how he, because of the noble character bestowed on him by nature,
loved to befriend the poor, and how, as St. Bonaventure has said, he was
so filled with kindness that being 'no mere hearer of the
Gospel' he had decided never to deny help to the poor, especially
if they in asking for assistance did so with the plea 'for the love
of God.' (Legenda Maior, Chap. I, No. 1) Divine grace completed in
him the work of nature and brought him to the highest perfection. Having
on one occasion refused alms to a poor man, he forthwith repented and
felt impelled to go and seek him out so that by the very abundance of
his charity he might succor this man in his poverty." (Pope Pius
XI, "Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"We
must speak also of the 'beauty and cleanliness of purity'
which the Seraphic Father 'loved singularly,' of that chastity of soul
and body which he kept and defended even to the maceration of his own
flesh. We have already seen that as a young man, although gay and
fashionable, he abhorred everything sinful, even in word. When later on
he cast aside the vain pleasures of this world, he began to repress the
demands of his senses with great severity. Thus at times when he found
himself moved or likely to be influenced by sensual feeling, he did not
hesitate to throw himself into a bush of thorns or, in the very depths
of winter, to plunge into the icy waters of a stream." (Pope Pius
XI, "Rite Expiatis", 1926)
"I
have said that St. Francis deliberately did not see the wood for the
trees. It is even more true that he deliberately did not see the mob for
the men... To him a man was always a man and did not disappear in a
dense crowd any more than in a desert. He honored all men; that is, he
not only loved but respected them all. What gave him his extraordinary
personal power was this; that from the Pope to the beggar, from the
sultan of Syria in his pavilion to the ragged robbers crawling out of
the wood, there was never a man who looked into those brown burning eyes
without being certain that Francis Bernardone was really interested in
him; in his own inner individual life from the cradle to the grave; that
he himself was being valued and taken seriously" (G. K. Chesterton)
"Francis
of Assisi was slight in figure with that sort of slightness which,
combined with so much vivacity, gives the impression of smallness. He
was probably taller than he looked; middle-sized, his biographers say;
he was certainly very active and, considering what he went through, must
have been tolerably tough. He was of the brownish Southern coloring,
with a dark beard thin and pointed...and his eyes glowed with the fire
that fretted him night and day. There is, something about the
description of all he said and did which suggests that, even more than
most Italians, he turned naturally to a passionate pantomime of
gestures. If this was so it is equally certain that with him, even more
than with most Italians, the gestures were all gestures of politeness or
hospitalities." (G. K. Chesterton)
"For
we may consider that as to him, when he followed Christ militant on
earth, it was by the cross that he merited salvation, so now that he
triumphs, with Christ is the Cross, the faithful witness of his honor.
For this great and marvelous mystery of the Cross, in whose sublime
depths are hidden infinite graces and all the treasures of the wisdom
and knowledge of God, this mystery which is hidden from the wise and
prudent of this world, was to this simple man of Christ so plainly
revealed that all his life long he ever followed the footsteps of that
Cross, nor did he ever enjoy any sweetness but in the Cross, nor preach
any glory but of the Cross: so that from the very beginning of his
conversion he could say with the Apostle: 'God forbid that I should
glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ'" (St.
Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church)
"The
herald of Christ being thus glorified by these and many other miracles,
men listened to the things which he said in his preaching, as if an
angel of the Lord were speaking to them. And forasmuch as he excelled in
the possession of all virtues - in the spirit of prophecy; in the power
of miracles; in the gift of preaching given him from heaven; in the
obedience rendered him by creatures without reason; in the mighty change
of hearts at the hearing of his word; in the learning (beyond all human
teaching to bestow) imparted to him by the Holy Ghost; in the authority
to preach committed to him by divine revelation, by the Supreme Pontiff;
in the rule wherein his manner of preaching was expressed, confirmed by
the Vicar of Christ; finally, by the royal signet impressed upon his
body - by all these tenfold witnesses, the venerable office, authentic
doctrine, and wonderful sanctity of Francis, the herald of Christ, are
undoubtedly proved, and he is set fort as the true messenger of God,
declaring the Gospel of Christ." (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the
Church)
"St.
Francis was not a lover of nature. Properly understood, a lover of
nature was precisely what he was not. The phrase implies accepting the
material universe as a vague environment, a sort of sentimental
pantheism. In the romantic period of literature..., it was easy enough
to imagine that a hermit in the ruins of a chapel (preferably by
moonlight) might find peace and a mild pleasure in the harmony of solemn
forests and silent stars, while he pondered over some scroll or
illuminated volume, about the liturgical nature of which the author was
a little vague. In short, the hermit might love nature as a background.
Now for St. Francis nothing was ever in the background. We might say
that his mind had no background, except perhaps that divine darkness out
of which the divine love had called up every colored creature one by
one. He saw everything as dramatic, distinct from its setting, not all
of a piece like a picture but in action like a play. A bird went by him
like an arrow; something with a story and a purpose, though it was a
purpose of life and not a purpose of death. A bush could stop him like a
brigand; and indeed he was as ready to welcome the brigand as the bush.
In a word, we talk about a man who cannot see the wood for the trees.
St. Francis was a man who did not want to see the wood for the trees. He
wanted to see each tree as a separate and almost sacred thing, being a
child of God and therefore a brother or sister of man." (G. K.
Chesterton)
Also
See: Praise
of St. Francis of Assisi | Biographical
Information | St.
Francis is a Faithful Image of Jesus | St.
Francis Was an Obedient Catholic | St.
Francis of Assisi: Biographical Information | St.
Francis of Assisi: Misc. Facts
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