4 October – St. Francis of Assisi – A saint for times of weak doctrine and weak heirarchy

You have got to shake out of your head the image of St. Francis of garden statues with bunnies and birds.  Get rid of the Brother Sun stuff.

In my text group this came up… what a blessing, this group…

St. Francis lived at a time of heretical attacks on the doctrine of the Church facilitated by the weaknesses of its hierarchy.

He set out to combat such crisis by showing a love for Christ – one at times hard to comprehend in its “excesses” – which was surely aided by uncommon gifts by the Holy Spirit but was also a spiritual version of the knight he had been educated to be.

His weapons were extreme penance – to reform oneself before reforming anything else – and uncompromising adherence to Catholic truth. This would show in the personal poverty of the friars and in the uncompromising care for Liturgy and the Sacraments. This would prove heretical arguments false and surreptitious. Not perchance he is considered a patron saint of the Roman Missal which he and his friars propagated well before Trent.

He sought to imitate Christ in His sacrificial love but never asked anybody to imitate what he himself was doing. He only asked two things of his friars: to follow the Rule and “to be Catholic” and wrote and preached so every time he could. Granted the Rule was tough, but he did much more than what it required, trying to hide it from his friars for fear they’d be discouraged. In fact, he forbade his friars form judging those who could not live as friars, he was an enemy of the sectarian mentality. But had no patience for those friars who were found to be unfaithful to the doctrine of the Church.

His writings leave no doubts about that unlike modernists and heretics, he didn’t think he had “the” solution to the Church’s problems. He knew that only Christ is the solution and that you only encounter Christ in the Church. So, he set out to do just that, to the point of being transformed almost physically into another Christ, his body pierced his soul burning to save as many as he could.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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8 Comments

  1. Danteewoo says:

    Toward the end of St. Francis’s “Hymn to the Sun” is the line “Woe to those who die in mortal sin.”

  2. Joannes_Picus says:

    What were the Church’s sins at the time, and which heresy specifically was dominating Europe?

  3. TraditionalOFS says:

    @ Joannes_Picus – Heretics at the time were the Cathars and Waldensians who rejected teachings of the Church and promoted alternative interpretations of Christianity. The Church’s sins at the time were things such as simony and the corruption of the hierarchy getting rich off the backs of the populations.

    I suggest to get a real sense of St. Francis one should read his “Those Who Do Penance” and “Those Who Do Not Do Penance” from his Letter to the Faithful. He is much more than the wacky Brother Sun and Sister Moon by Franco Zeffirelli.

  4. PostCatholic says:

    Interesting. Is there an attribution for this text or does the author prefer anonymity? Thanks.

  5. Pingback: St. Francis of Assisi – A saint for times of weak doctrine and weak hierarchy | Catholicism Pure & Simple

  6. Aquinas_the_Wise says:

    Most likely it was referring to the heresy of Catharism, which led to the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229). To know more about that time period (12th and early 13th century) I would read about the first through fourth Council of the Lateran. I also highly recommend Warren Carroll’s six volume set about the history of Christendom. Information about these centuries would be in Book 3: The Glory of Christendom.

  7. BeatifyStickler says:

    Where did the hippie image come from? It always kind of pissed me off. I just sense gays from the 70’s tried to ruin a great saint. It feels like calumny, a smearing of a reputation. Hopefully more people come to know him as he actually was and is. Out of shadows and images and into truth!

    Happy Feast of St. Francis. Burn a felt banner in his honour.

  8. Not says:

    Yes, BeatifyStickler, In the 70’s the put out a movie about St. Francis. All the Friars were flitting around like gays on parade. At the time we all laughed. In retrospect,it was probably to attract the homosexual element.

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