Really, really ahead of his time
The most popular of the writings of Saint Francis of Assisi (ca. 1881 - 1226) is almost certainly the "Peace Prayer of St Francis". The only problem is that he never actually wrote it. The prayer, whose author is unknown, was printed on the back of a holy card bearing the image of St Francis, which led to its being attributed to the saint from Assisi.
What should be the most popular writing of St Francis is his "Canticle of the Creatures," a beautiful poem in which he calls all of creation his brother and sister, and asks them to praise their Creator. The poem inspired the title of Zefferelli's film "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", and for the popular hymn, "All Creatures of Our God and King". One of our monasteries used the poem in a recent fundraising letter, which elicited a rather strong response from one of its donors, which can be paraphrased as follows: "How dare you print this New Age crap. I will never donate to you again!"
What should be the most popular writing of St Francis is his "Canticle of the Creatures," a beautiful poem in which he calls all of creation his brother and sister, and asks them to praise their Creator. The poem inspired the title of Zefferelli's film "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", and for the popular hymn, "All Creatures of Our God and King". One of our monasteries used the poem in a recent fundraising letter, which elicited a rather strong response from one of its donors, which can be paraphrased as follows: "How dare you print this New Age crap. I will never donate to you again!"
Labels: Francis of Assisi, New Age
posted by BroLo | 8/26/2010 07:14:00 PM
1 Comments:
As both a fundraiser and a former religion student (B.A. Oberlin College '99), this makes me ... laugh. And cry, just a little bit. It's amazing how forcefully people will comment on something they know nothing about!
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