St. Francis is probably the most misunderstood and abused saint in the history of the Catholic Church.
To hear some tell it, St. Francis would be found somewhere in this photograph:
Let's look at a letter St. Francis wrote, and see if he's just a hippy who just loved God, and thought the Church was a big bureaucratic disaster:
“Let all of us who are clerics be conscious of the great sin and ignorance which some have regarding the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His most holy written words which consecrate the Body. We know the Body cannot be present without the words of consecration…Let all those however who minister such most holy ministries consider within themselves…how unbecoming are the chalices, corporals and linens on which are sacrificed the Body and Blood of our Lord…by many It is left in wretched places, carried about disrespectfully and received unworthily and indiscriminately administered to others. And His written words (missal, etc.) are also sometimes kicked around underfoot because the sensual man does not perceive the things that are of God. Does not our sense of reverence move us in respect to all such things since the good Lord Himself places Himself in our hands and we hold Him and receive Him daily by our mouth?”
St. Francis of Assisi
“A Letter to Members of the Clergy”
Remember: St. Francis had a human skull in his cell. Hippy "Catholics" should stop blaming their craziness on St. Francis.
Let's end with a few of the most famous portrayals of St. Francis in the history of art
Hippies don't look at skulls and keep death daily before their eyes in prayer
I don't know any progressive Catholics would would seriously think of St. Francis as the anti-establishment "hippie" that you make him out to be on this post. I don't know anyone who would consider him to have been someone who was AGAINST church teachings. It is, however, known that he had some conflicts with the hierarchy of the church in matters unrelated to faith or morals. We all know that the church's hierarchy has had some rough patched during the middle ages. Him having some conflict with that does not make him a progressive, antiestablishment, hippie. And, again, I don't know any progressive catholics who think that way.
ReplyDeleteSee "Brother Sun, Sister Moon"
DeleteAlso, I lived in Assisi for a month, and there were hippy drum circles going on virtually nightly - and it wasn't the locals.
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