St. Francis Blessing of the Animals | Canticle of All Creatures

A detail from a painting by Giovanni Cimabue, in the lower level of the Basilica at Assisi.

The National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi in San Francisco

Francis Praises the Creator in
All His Creatures

Lessons from the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, Part 9

Saint Francis died on the evening of 3 October 1226, at the age of 44. Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228, at the church of St. George (now within the enclosure of the monastery of St. Clare), where his body had been provisionally entombed. When construction of the double basilica of St. Francis was completed just a bit less than two years later, Brother Elias of Cortona secretly transferred the saint’s remains to a tomb under the high altar of the lower basilica.

Brother Elias reported that at Francis’ death “his appearance was one of great beauty gleaming with a dazzling whiteness and giving joy to all who looked upon him.” Did he who had imitated Christ so closely in earthly life now come to resemble Him in the glory of the eternal life? Could it be that Francis had come to share in the very divinity of Christ?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear the consummate purpose of the Incarnation:

The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature: . . . For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. . . . For the Son of God became man so that we might become God. . . . The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that He, made man, might make men gods.” (§460)

The glory that enveloped Francis at his death is nothing less than the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to sanctify His followers and draw them into more perfect union with Himself. As he lay dying, Francis told his brothers, “I have done what was mine to do, may Christ now teach you what you are to do.”

But let us not sentimentalize Brother Francis. If you stand on the steps of the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi and listen to comments made by tourists as they pass by the church, you might hear someone say, in passing, “Oh, Saint Francis. I learned about him in school. He’s the patron saint of animals!”

To understand just how much this popular sentimentality misses the point about genuine holiness, consider the world in which Francis lived. Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was a place of constant war, political scheming, and, often, outright cruelty. And in that world people treated animals with even worse cruelty than they treated their neighbors. In fact, the unnecessary infliction of pain and suffering on animals was a social norm right up until the latter half of the nineteenth century, when the legal system began to adopt anti-cruelty laws.

Francis anticipated these laws by over six hundred years. He wasn’t a mere sentimentalist about bunnies and birds and pets—he simply lived from his heart the respect for all creatures—animal and human—that Christ’s Incarnation brought into the world. Through humble divine love, Francis discovered the same compassion that human laws, centuries in the future, would require of us all. And so Francis was a perfect example, in a reverse sort of way, of the fact that “love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Francis’ compassion for all creatures, however, was not an “anything goes” liberality. Nor was it a political attempt to advocate “diversity”—and sin. It was a compassion deeply grounded in the reverent awareness that divine Will calls us, one and all, without discrimination, to repent our sins. Just as Christ sat with sinners in order to preach to them, Francis cast his joyful love upon all that everyone might repent a life of sin and choose to live in holiness, as Francis himself had chosen. “Woe to those who die in mortal sin!” he wrote in his majestic canticle.

May we all aspire to the holiness of life with which Saint Francis served his Creator.

The Canticle of All Creatures

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather’s moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.

Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.

Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
Mother Earth who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon
for love of You and bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace,
By You Most High, they will be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm.

Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
You gave Your servant Francis
great love for each of Your creatures.
Teach us to see Your design in all of creation.
We ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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