From a letter by St. Francis of Assisi (trans by Fr. K. Esser, O.F.M.)
Read Here the words of St Francis Admonition to the Clergy..
“Let us attend, all clerics, to the great sin and ignorance, which certain men have concerning the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the most holy Names and His written words, which sanctify the Body. We know, since there cannot be a Body, unless first it is sanctified by the word. For we have and see nothing corporally of the Most High Himself, in this age, except the Body and Blood, Names and words, through which we have been made and redeemed from death and life (1 Jn 3:14). However all those who minister such holy mysteries, should consider within themselves, most of all those who minister illicitly, how vile are the chalices, corporals, and altar linens, where the His very Body and Blood are sacrificed. And by many in vile places He is placed and abandoned, borne about in a wretched manner and consumed unworthily and ministered to others indiscretely. Even His Names and writted words are sometimes tred under foot; since the bestial man does not perceive the things that are of God (1 Cor 2:14). Is not our piety stirred concerning all these things, when the pious Lord Himself offers Himself into our hands and we handle Him and consume Him each day with our mouth? Or are we ignorant that we must (one day) fall into His Hand? Therefore let us correct quickly all these things and the others; and wherever the Most Holy Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ has been illicitly placed and abandoned, let Him be removed from that place and let them be placed in an honorable place. All these things all the clerics together are bound to observe according to the precepts of the Lord and the constitutions of Holy Mother Church. And those who will not have done this, let them know that they must render an account before the Lord on the day of judgement (cf. Mt 12:36). This has been written so that it may better be observed; let them know themselves to be blessed by the Lord God, who would have it copied.”
Loading ...
Okay, Fr. Z., you have done wonderful publicity for my biography of Francis, but I am going to impose on your patience.
One of the few negative (2 I think out of 30) published reviews of my book _Francis of Assisi: A New Biography_ in scholarly journals was by a Franciscan who was upset that my Francis was not the “Minorite Francis,” by which he meant, and I quote, “Thompson’s Francis is a traditionalist Catholic.” Well, yes, my Francis wrote the text you quote and a good number of others like it. If his sacramental piety makes him a “traditionalist,” too bad for those who want another Francis (new age, feminist, socialist, etc.). Here is a link for my book for readers interested: HERE
Disagree with St. Francis:
Pelosi. Biden. Kerry. Wuerl. McCarrick. Chaput. Malooly. Dolan. O’Malley. Cupich. DiNardo. Gomez. McElroy. Vigano.
Agrees with St. Francis:
http://tinyurl.com/canon915
Oh goodness! This sounds just as if it came from the mouth of the contemporaneous Francis!
I like it. But though it is addressed to clergy, it seems to speak to the idea of communion in the hand…..
But Father! But Father! Surely
PopeSt. Francis was, like, the fluffiest, most-bestest Progressive saint ever who only wrote these things because of an evil conservative cabal in theCuriaOrder that was pressuring him to at least pay lip service to a conservative base, right? He couldn’t possibly think these things…I mean, there isn’t hardly anything in your quotation about bunnies, embracingheresyworldly goods, or anything!Fr. Thompson, your book got wonderful reviews! Congratulations on it. As a medieval scholar and a member of the Dominican Order, it is said you are eminently qualified to write such a book. In addition, I read the reviews and sample pages and it left me wanting to read more. I hope to order it.
What a wonderful quote of the Seraphic Father Francis. He’s no lightweight – spiritual giants like St. Francis give eloquent advice appropriate at every age of the Church, I guess. No wonder this powerful tough saint is made into “Francis the Sissy” – those adverse to truth hide his real persona to ensure the damnation of many. Good for Fr. Thompson on this book.
Woe to us and all who blaspheme our God so easily. St. Francis ain’t kiddin’.
This reminds me that it’s the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis (on the Franciscan calendar) today.
Er…make that yesterday was the feast. I keep thinking today’s the 17th. I need more coffee…
And then in the breviary we are reading from St. Augustine’s “On Pastors”. I can think of some ‘shepherds’ who should have the fear of God put into them if they were to pray their breviary and read those words! How pertinent!
Interesting!!
I wonder what St Francis would have to say about lay distributors of Holy Communion, with their un-anointed hands, giving “His Body and Blood” into un-anointed hands so they can
self-administer from un-anointed hands.
Or such lay distributors being allowed to clean the sacred vessels while the priest sits there doing nothing.
Or now it would seem, those whom, objectively speaking, being in a state of mortal sin, wander up with the rest, pop the Sacred Host into their mouths and wander back , smiling at their friends, quite unchallenged by any priest – perish the thought.
bah! i can’t stand these lay people touching the host and people receiving in the hand…it’s disgusting and irreverent i dont care what anyone says, and i wonder why is the priest just sitting there a lot?—when i was a kid in latin mass, the priest read everything to the people, the epistle, the gospel and he did all his own rituals of cleaning the altar vessels. i think usurpation of priestly duties by the lay is a grave error. we both have our place and are equal parts of the church–the laity and clergy but both have different roles.btw, i have to endure a bunch of altar girls at my church (we rarely have latin mass). it’s enough to turn my stomach, that and the kiss of peace which i have never done.