1/ Happy Feast Day #SaintFrancis of #Assisi. It’s a great occasion to list various FACTS that undermine some sentimental MYTHS about this holy man in a Thread.👇
2/ In his famous encounter with the Muslim Sultan al-Kamil, #SaintFrancis told the Sultan that he was there to explicate the truth of the Christian faith and save the sultan’s soul. He was not there for interfaith chatter or diplomatic pleasantries.
3/ #SaintFrancis was “fiercely orthodox” on faith and morals: he thought that friars guilty of liturgical abuses or heresy should be remanded to higher church authorities.
4/ The Peace Prayer of #SaintFrancis can’t be traced further back than a French magazine published in 1912.
5/ #SaintFrancis articulated no legal or social reform program whatsoever. Such projects were “alien” to him.
6/ #SaintFrancis believed that his followers should engage in manual labor to procure necessities. Begging was seen as a secondary alternative.
7/ #SaintFrancis believed one’s most direct contact with God was in the Mass, not in serving in the poor or in the natural world.
8/ #SaintFrancis rejected abstinence from meat and wasn’t a vegetarian.
9/ #SaintFrancis loved animals but regarded vermin and mice as the devil’s agents.
10/ #SaintFrancis believed the Mass required careful preparation, use of the finest sacred vessels, and proper vestments.
11/ The final words of #SaintFrancis to his followers were concerned with proper reverence for the Eucharist, not poverty.
12/ #SaintFrancis “was a 13th century orthodox Catholic, not a modern spiritual individualist . . .”
13/ There was “not a hint trace of pantheism in Francis’s approach to nature”. The references and allusions to nature in the writings, preaching, and instruction of #SaintFrancis were overwhelmingly drawn from the Scriptures rather than the environment itself.
14/ #SaintFrancis regarded the beauty in nature and the animal world as something that should lead to worship and praise of God—but not things to be invested with god-like qualities.
15/ The Source for all these FACTS about #SaintFrancis? Augustine Thompson OP’s meticulously researched “Francis of Assisi: A New Biography” (2012). amazon.com/Francis-Assisi…
16/ Facts matter. Whether we like them or not is irrelevant. Thank you for reading and Happy Feast Day #SaintFrancis of #Assisi!
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