Saturday Haiku: Beyond the Flowers

beyond the flowers

our hopes are reflected in

a garden statue

_____________________

Photo by Charles Kinnaird



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Saturday Haiku: A Saint Remembered

Yesterday, October 4, was the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.

though cast in stone

the saint is remembered

in living things

__________________________________

Photo: Statue of St. Francis of Assisi at Aldridge Gardens

Credit: Charles Kinnaird

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A Visit to Assisi

Assisi's Basilica di San Francesco

Here is another re-post from a few years back. It includes my travel notes from 35 years ago. It was first posted under the title, My Journey to Assisi.

Today, October 4, is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1983 I was able to tour through Europe with a backpack and a Eurail pass. I was single, on my way home after living abroad in Hong Kong for two years, and traveling light. I was able to spend four weeks riding the rails seeing the sights of Europe.  I loved touring London, walking the streets of Paris and seeing the magnificent art and sculpture of Florence (and the beautiful river that flowed through the town). Venice, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam were equally amazing, but the place I was most eager to see was Assisi, having been fascinated by the life of St. Francis and inspired by his example.

In my travel journal that I kept at the time, I remarked about seeing the cathedrals (Westminster Cathedral in London, the Notre Dame and Sacre Cour in Paris, the Sistine Chapel in Rome) and seeing the hectic tourists, the gawking at the architecture, the peddlers spreading their wares along the sidewalks. I commented that “I couldn’t help noticing the incongruence between what these churches had once represented and what is now taking place at those sites.” Even though I expected much the same in Assisi, I was determined that my visit there would be a personal pilgrimage. What I found in Assisi was something altogether different.

Here is what I wrote in my journal in 1983:

What I found in Assisi was not at all what I had expected, I was overwhelmed by the impact that St. Francis’ life still has upon the town. I found there a living community of faith such as I had rarely seen before. Yes, there were many tourist shops lining the streets, but there was something beyond the tourism.

My experience began as I arrived in town about noonday and found lodging in the Monastero Santa Colette . I immediately felt a oneness of spirit with the gracious nuns who lived there and who served as hostesses for travelers. That afternoon, I walked about the town, perhaps one of the most aesthetically beautiful towns I have ever seen. Every building is made out of the same type of pinkish, whitish stone, every street is cobblestone, and the village is set upon a mountainside overlooking the magnificent Umbrian Valley with all its farms and trees.

I had decided I would not go to see St. Francis’ Basilica on that first day, though. It was too important a visit to rush in to.  After dinner as night was falling, I did go to the foot of the hill where the Basilica is. I sat until darkness set in, looking at the lighted church, contemplating the visit I would make the next day.  The following morning after breakfast, I set off for the Basilica.

There is a Lower Basilica and Upper Basilica painted with marvelous frescoes of the life of Christ and the life of St. Francis (the scenes from the life of Christ are in the Upper Church and those from the life of St. Francis are in the Lower). There is also the tomb of St. Francis at the bottom of the Basilica where Mass is observed daily. I mainly wanted to go to the building to worship and to think about St. Francis’ example and how it should affect my own life.

I was hoping it would be a spiritual experience, and it was – far greater than I had imagined. First of all, it was a powerful experience to worship on that place. Second, I was struck by two things: 1) Of all the people coming into the Basilica, it seemed that everyone was coming to worship. There was a profound sense of reverence and nothing of the tourist atmosphere. 2) There were a surprising number of young people.

The fact that everyone entered the building with reverence made it so much easier to maintain a spirit of worship. When I went up to the Upper Church, I happened upon an American friar who was showing an English-speaking group around.  I joined in with the group. That friar was such a down-to-earth fellow, and at the same time he was sharing his own real faith. He was not speaking to us of what was, but of what is. After he was through showing us around he said, “Whenever I talk to young folks like yourselves, I sense that they feel an uneasiness about their future and about their children’s future, so let’s pause and have a period of silent prayer for peace in our world.” Afterwards he spoke to us St. Francis’ favorite blessing:

                        The Lord bless you, and keep you;
                        The Lord make His face shine on you,
                        And be gracious to you;
                        The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
                        And give you peace.

Then he said, “If you want to go by the gift shop you can find it later – I don’t take people to shops, folks” (a man after my own heart!).

As I walked out of the Upper Basilica near the front there was restoration work being done on some of the frescoes. There was scaffolding of four or five tiers lined with college-age kids and young adults working with palates, working on the frescoes. I was moved to tears just by the sight of it and all that it represented – that the younger generation is taking care to see that this place is kept new, and its memories kept fresh.

Detail from Giotto’s painting, “ St Francis Preaching to Birds”

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Related posts:
St. Francis of Assisi: He’s Not Just for Birdbaths
St. Francis of Assisi: A Photo Essay

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St. Francis of Assisi: A Photo Essay

“God’s Fool,” by Frank C Gaylord, of Barrem VT.SS Peter and Paul Cemetery
in Naperville, Illinois (Photo by Rapie Poolsawasdi)

October 4 is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. Of all the saints, Francis is the most universally known and loved. He has creds that reach way beyond the Catholic Church. He is perhaps the only Roman Catholic saint who is also well known in Protestant circles. I have written previously about my visit to Assisi and have posted poems (here and here) about the saint. Today we take a look at a sampling of statues of St. Francis of Assisi that will perhaps shed some light upon how the saint is seen by different people in different cultural settings. 

             

St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of Santa Fe New Mexico:

Dancing St Francis in Santa Fe, NM
(photo by Miles Gray)

This statue of St. Francis of Assisi is called St. Francis Dancing on Water, by artist Monika Kaden, and is found in front of the old Cathederal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (apparently the fountain was empty when this photo was taken)

Photo by Karen Rivera

St. Francis de Assisi

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

Santa Fe, New Mexico

“This detailed bronze statue of St. Francis with a wolf stands guard in front of The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi doors. Why is he shown with a wolf rather than the more traditional birds and small animals?  Legend has St. Francis negotiating a deal with the predator that was devastating the countryside in rural Umbria: if the people fed the wolf, the wolf would leave their flocks and their children alone. This was seem as another example of St. Francis’s power over wild creatures.” (From New Mexico Photography, A Wolf at the Door)

St. Francis of Assisi is also the patron saint of Italy (along with Catherine of Sienna):

St. Francis of Assisi
Founder Statue by Carlo Monaldi, 1727
St Peter's Basilica in Rome

Photo by Christin Lore Weber

Near San Damiano, a bronze statue of Francis contemplating the valley where the lepers once were confined and where he went often with his brothers to nurse and care for their wounds and other needs. San Damiano was where Francis heard the words, "Repair my church, you see it is in ruins" and took those words literally at first, to rebuild the tumbled down structure he saw there. Instead, Francis would be a catalyst to rebuild and renew the whole church.

A statue of St Francis of Assisi in Orta San Giulio, Italy, on the way up the Sacro Monte. 

(Photo by Viv from her website at http://vivh.com/index.html )

Photo by Annie Cox

A modern sculpture of Il Poverello (St Francis of Assisi) in front of the Papal Basilica in Assisi, perhaps representing Francis’ early foray as a knight in Assisi’s battle with Perugia. CHANGEMAKRS has a photo of this sculpture on their website with the quote: "He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist."

                                                                                               ~ Saint Francis of Assisi

St. Francis in New York 

St. Francis of Assisi Church,West Nyack, NY        Kneeling St. Francis at St. Francis Church,                (from Portfolio of Liturgical Sculpture )              Manhatten (Photo taken by Norm of Awestruck,                                                                                      found on Pinterest)

St. Francis in California

Photo from SFGATE

In San Francisco, just last year, “The 27-foot-tall statue of St. Francis, which has stood outside Candlestick Park since 1973, is being evicted to make way for a new shopping center and hotel. It was created by artist Ruth Wakefield Cravath.” (from SFGATE ) (The statue is currently in storage in Oakland)

Photo by Wally Goebetz

    The St. Francis of Assisi statue, on loan to the Robert Mondavi Winery (Oakville, CA) by the Bufano Society of Arts, was designed by sculptor Beniamino Bufano in 1939. 

(From Wally Goebetz's site at Flickr)

St Francis at Fisherman's Warf

"The figure was carved in Paris, where it stayed in a warehouse for 27 years. Friends of the sculptor transported it to San Francisco in 1955, where it was placed at the Church of St. Francis in North Beach, San Francisco. It was moved to Oakland six years later after much controversy about its placement at the church. It was moved to its present location in 1962 when the San Francisco Bay Area Longshoremen's Memorial Association proposed a permanent location with a park and fountain to surround it on the grounds close to its building near Fisherman's Wharf." (From Waymarks )

St. Francis in Southern Gardens

Aldridge Gardens, Hoover, Ala.
(photo by Charles Kinnaird)

Zilker Botanical Garden, Austin, TX
(photo by Katina)

             

St. Francis in the Heartland 

Francis at the Foot of the Cross

At St. Francis of Assisi Church in Allentown, PA

From the church’s website:

From that moment at St. Damien’s church when our Lord spoke to Francis, the Crucifix was a focus of St. Francis’ spiritual life. So much so that Francis wrote a prayer called the “Prayer Before the Crucifix.” It reads like this:

Most high, glorious God,

enlighten the darkness

of my heart and give me Lord,

a correct faith, a certain hope,

a perfect charity, sense and knowledge,

so that I may carry out

Your holy and true command.

Amen.

Photo by Sam Lucero

A statue of St. Francis of Assisi, raising his hands heavenward. The statue is located at St. Lawrence High School Seminary in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin.

“A nice public witness seen in Grand Marais, Minnesota” From OrbisCatholicus Travel Blog

Photo from Roadtrippers

Here is another view of the "God's Fool" at the cemetery at Saints Peter and Paul parish in Naperville, Illinois. Part of their missionstatement reads, “By following the call of the Holy Spirit, by imitating Jesus Christ and seeking to do the Father’s will, we share the truth of the Gospel with others by our testimony and example. Through acts of charity and social justice we seek to build a culture of life in the world today as we long for the Kingdom of God in the world to come.”

I hope you have enjoyed these many and varied and marvelous expressions of the beloved saint from Assisi. There are even more than I have pictured here, but I have tried to find representative images of the ways that St. Francis of Assisi still speaks to people today.

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St. Francis of Assisi

It has been over 800 years since the birth of Giovanni Bernadoni, aka St. Francis of Assisi (his merchant father loved France, thus nicknamed his son "Francis"). Today he remains one of the most popular saints. John Michael Talbot's adaptation of "The Prayer of St. Francis" certainly embodies the ideal of the 13th century saint.

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Saturday Haiku: Garden Saint

though cast in stone

the saint is remembered

in living things

__________________________________

Photo: Statue of St. Francis of Assisi at Aldridge Gardens

Credit: Charles Kinnaird

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A Blessing for the Feast of St. Francis

Today is the Feast Day for St. Francis of Assisi. When I visited Assisi and toured the beautiful Basilica, there was a Franciscan monk leading a tour of the upper and lower churches which feature beautiful frescoes depicting the life of Christ (upper church) and the life of St. Francis. When he completed the tour, the monk said, "Now I want to pronounce to you Francis' favorite blessing, it's found in the Old Testament:

The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you

The Lord lift his countenance upon you

And give you peace

The monk then bid us to go in peace. I recognized the words of that blessing having read them in Numbers 6: 24-26. But I recognized them primarily as the benediction that was often sung at the end of the Sunday service at Jackson's Gap Baptist Church where my father served as pastor when I was a child. 

Here is John Rutter's arrangement of that ancient blessing:

_________________________
* The St. Francis icon pictured above is by Marcy Hall and is one of her Dancing Monks series
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In Praise of Francis

On this day, the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi, I offer the first poem I wrote about Francis. I was a Baptist seminarian at the time. In the years since this poem was written, I did make it to Assisi and eventually made the trek all the way from Baptist to Catholic with those first steps being inspired, no doubt, by the friar who as a young man declared that Pietro Bernadone was no longer his father and walked away from a wealthy merchant's life to a life of celebrating the divine in all of nature. By embracing a life of poverty, he "considered the ravens and the lilies" placing his trust in a higher source and richer treasure.

In Praise of Francis

You are a magnificent image of what it means

          to follow Christ, taking him at his word.

You exemplified Bonhoeffer's thesis

          centuries before Germany produced her first theologian.

You recognized the vanity of materialism

          at the very outset of the advent of the merchant class.

More than anyone else in Western civilization,

You saw yourself as a part of God's great creation

(And thus you respected creation more

    than the typical Westerner).

Your devotion to God was supreme

           heartfelt

           and sincere.

Your love extended to all

           and was felt by all.

You were the first modern poet,

          a lover of humanity,

          an early peace advocate,

          a voice in support the poor and oppressed,

          the first true Christian in the Western world.

Your life captured the hearts of many,

And it has captured mine.

When I go to Italy,

          I shall surely visit Assisi,

For you almost make me believe

In patron saints.

4/81                                             CK

__________

Photo: a scene from the Zeffirelli film, Brother Sun Sister Moon
For a review of the film, check out Soul Food Movies

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My Journey to Assisi

Assisi's Basilica di San Francesco

Today, October 4, is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1983 I was able to tour through Europe with a backpack and a Eurail pass. I was single, on my way home after living abroad in Hong Kong for two years, and travelling light. I was able to spend four weeks riding the rails seeing the sights of Europe.  I loved touring London, walking the streets of Paris and seeing the magnificent art and sculpture of Florence (and the beautiful river that flowed through the town). Venice, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam were equally amazing, but the place I was most eager to see was Assisi, having been fascinated by the life of St. Francis and inspired by his example.

In my travel journal that I kept at the time, I remarked about seeing the cathedrals (Westminster Cathedral in London, the Notre Dame and Sacre Cour in Paris, the Sistine Chapel in Rome) and seeing the hectic tourists, the gawking at the architecture, the peddlers spreading their wares along the sidewalks. I commented that “I couldn’t help noticing the incongruence between what these churches had once represented and what is now taking place at those sites.” Even though I expected much the same in Assisi, I was determined that my visit there would be a personal pilgrimage. What I found in Assisi was something altogether different.

Here is what I wrote in my journal in 1983:

What I found in Assisi was not at all what I had expected, I was overwhelmed by the impact that St. Francis life still has upon the town. I found there a living community of faith such as I had rarely seen before. Yes, there were many tourist shops lining the streets, but there was something beyond the tourism.

My experience began as I arrived in town about noonday and found lodging in the Monastero Santa Colette . I immediately felt a oneness of spirit with the gracious nuns who lived there and who served as hostesses for travelers. That afternoon, I walked about the town, perhaps the most aesthetically beautiful towns I have ever seen. Every building is made out of the same type of pinkish, whitish stone, every street is cobblestone, and the village is set upon a mountainside overlooking the magnificent Umbrian Valley with all its farms and trees.

I had decided I would not go to see St. Francis’ Basilica on that first day, though. It was too important a visit to rush in to.  After dinner as night was falling, I did go to the foot of the hill where the Basilica is. I sat until darkness set in, looking at the lighted church, contemplating the visit I would make the next day.  The following morning after breakfast, I set off for the Basilica.

There is a Lower Basilica and Upper Basilica painted with marvelous frescoes of the life of Christ and the life of St. Francis (the scenes from the life of Christ are in the Upper Church and those from the life of St. Francis are in the Lower). There is also the tomb of St. Francis at the bottom of the Basilica where Mass is observed daily. I mainly wanted to go to the building to worship and to think about St. Francis’ example and how it should affect my own life.

I was hoping it would be a spiritual experience, and it was – far greater than I had imagined. First of all, it was a powerful experience to worship on that place. Second, I was struck by two things: 1) Of all the people coming into the Basilica, it seemed that everyone was coming to worship. There was a profound sense of reverence and nothing of the tourist atmosphere. 2) There were a surprising number of young people.

The fact that everyone entered the building with reverence made it so much easier to maintain a spirit of worship. When I went up to the Upper Church, I happened upon an American friar who was showing an English-speaking group around.  I joined in with the group. That friar was such a down-to-earth fellow, and at the same time he was sharing his own real faith. He was not speaking to us of what was, but of what is. After he was through showing us around he said, “Whenever I talk to young folks like yourselves, I sense that they feel an uneasiness about their future and about their children’s future, so let’s pause and have a period of silent prayer for peace in our world.” Afterwards he spoke to us St. Francis’ favorite blessing:

                        The Lord bless you, and keep you;
                        The Lord make His face shine on you,
                        And be gracious to you;
                        The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
                        And give you peace.

Then he said, “If you want to go by the gift shop you can find it later – I don’t take people to shops, folks” (a man after my own heart!).

As I walked out of the Upper Basilica near the front there was restoration work being done on some of the frescoes. There was scaffolding of four or five tiers lined with college-age kids and young adults working with palates, working on the frescoes. I was moved to tears just by the sight of it and all that it represented – that the younger generation is taking care to see that this place is kept new, and its memories kept fresh.

Detail from Giotto’s painting, “ St Francis Preaching to Birds”

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Related post: St. Francis of Assisi: He’s Not Just for Birdbaths

St. Francis of Assisi: He's Not Just for Birdbaths

“Two great revolutions changed the history of Mankind: the Christian Revolution and the Franciscan Revolution"
                                                                                     ~ Ernst Renan

October 4 is his feast day. Sometimes known as “the Protestant Saint,” St. Francis of Assisi is known and loved outside the Catholic Church more than any other saint. He revolutionized the faith and brought an authenticity of practice during his own day. In Italy, so many people wanted to join his order that he created the Third Order for lay people so that they could be involved and still maintain their role in society. He knew it just would not work if everyone left the world for the monastery.

St. Francis was among the first to write in the vernacular rather than in Latin. He saw humankind  as a part of creation rather than separate from it. He is famous for his references such as brother wolf, sister wind, Brother sun, sister moon, etc. His song, “Canticle to the Sun” remains a popular hymn across the spectrum of Christian denominations.  Francis was also the first to make use of nativity scenes at Christmas, a custom now indispensable in many homes and churches during the Christmas season. 

Mahatma Bernadone*
by Charles Kinnaird

From the day he first caught a glimpse
Of the Fair Lady of Heaven,
He honored her light
And shed that light abroad.
Bowing to the divine in every being
And dancing in the light of creation
His song brought life to all who would hear.

The brilliant avatar of the West,
Through buds of Umbrian light,
Ignited his people
And became a spark of hope
For all the world.

*For John “Francis” Bernadone, aka St. Francis Of Assisi

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