Tag Archives: St. Francis of Assisi

News

The New Bethlehem at Greccio

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greccio

This fresco was completed by Giotto and his assistants to commemorate St. Francis and his creation of the first manger scene. “I wish to do something that will recall to memory the little Child who was born in Bethlehem,” Francis said, “and set before our bodily eyes in some way the inconveniences of His infant needs, how He lay in a manager, how, with an ox and an ass standing by, He lay upon the hay where He had been placed.”

greccio2Why did St. Francis want to recall this moment in the life Our Lord to the mind of the people at Greccio? Thomas of Celano tells us that Francis “saw a little child lying in the manger lifeless, and he saw the holy man of God go up to it and rouse the Child as from a deep sleep. This vision was not unfitting, for the Child Jesus had been forgotten in the hearts of many; but, by the working of His grace, He was brought to life again through His servant St. Francis and stamped upon their fervent memory.”

The manger was prepared, the hay had been brought, the ox and ass were led in. There simplicity was honored, poverty was exalted, humility was commended, and Greccio was made, as it were, a new Bethlehem. The night was lighted up like the day, and it delighted men and beasts. The people came and were filled with new joy over the new mystery. The woods rang with the voices of the crowd and the rocks made answer to their jubilation. The brothers sang, paying their debt of praise to the Lord, and the whole night resounded with their rejoicing. The saint of God stood before the manger, uttering sighs, overcome with love, and filled with a wonderful happiness.

—St. Thomas of Celano from his life of St. Francis

A blessed Christmas to all!

News

St. Francis and Pope Francis

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Assisi si prepara a visita Papa FrancescoToday, the Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi.

Pope Francis will be visiting Assisi today on this Feast of St. Francis of Assisi who happens to be Italy’s patron saint and the Holy Father’s namesake. According to news reports, John Paul II visited Assisi six times, and Benedict XVI, twice.

It seems that of all the saints, Saint Francis holds a special place in our Popes’ hearts.

Pope John Paul II said during a visit in 1978: “You, who brought Christ so close to your age, help us to bring Christ close to our age, to our difficult and critical times. Help us! These times are waiting for Christ with great anxiety…”

Pope Benedict said in a 2010 General Audience: “The witness of Francis, who loved poverty as a means to follow Christ with dedication and total freedom, continues to be for us too an invitation to cultivate interior poverty…”

You can watch Pope Francis’ visit LIVE on Vatican TV.

 

 

Saints, Women's Communities

Nescio te! – I Know You Not!

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Sometimes people say when arguing about the Church’s stance on various issues that “Jesus was a product of His times, ergo, if He were on the earth today, we would have women priests, gay marriage, democratic elections for Pope,” etc. etc. etc…..

Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., in her classic book, A Right to be Merry, says that one thing that makes the daughters of St. Clare bristle is the notion that Saint Clare, with her missionary heart,  became a cloistered contemplative simply because it was the only form of religious life available to women in her day.

Mother wrote:

If Saint Francis had wanted his Second Order to be a missionary order, he was just the man to have made that a fait accompli in no time at all. No one was ever more “original” than the saint who walked at right angles to everything characteristic of his age.

What he founded was was a Second Order of enclosed, praying nuns, because that is what he wished to found. Saint Clare, on her part, did indeed have a missionary heart. That is why she entered the cloister; to be a missionary to all the world.

Any daughter of hers who is not a missionary at heart is in danger of hearing hard words from her Seraphic Mother when she meets her after death: Nescio te!-I know you not!

Women's Communities

The Family of Clare

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Happy Feast of St Clare!

Most people are familiar with the Poor Clares, the contemplative Order of nuns founded by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare but did you know that there are four branches on the family tree? The Poor Clares, the Poor Clare Colettines, the Capuchin Poor Clares and the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration.

Perhaps the most famous Poor Clare of today is Mother Angelica, PCPA, who founded the Eternal Word Television Network. This is very appropriate for St. Clare is the patron saint of TV.

The least known of the Poor Clares, at least in this country, are the Capuchin Poor Clares. They were founded by Venerable Maria Laurentia Longo in Naples, Italy in 1538, a few decades after the founding of the Capuchin Franciscans. Both groups were founded in an attempt to return to a more primitive way of Franciscan life. The most famous Capuchins Friars  of recent vintage are Padre Pio and Sean Cardinal O’Malley of Boston.

The Capuchin Poor Clares are fairly new to the US, their first monastery being established in 1981 in Amarillo, Texas. There are now 4 additional monasteries in the US: Wilimington, DE; Alamo, TX; Denver and Pueblo, CO. If anyone is near Wilmington on August 10, please join them at 11:00 for a special Eucharistic Celebration in honor of St. Clare. You can support these wonderful sisters by buying their Clarisas butter cookies, made from scratch, in small batches, using nothing but the finest ingredients!

You know, I am sure, that the kingdom of heaven is promised and given by the Lord only to the poor: for he who loves temporal things loses the fruit of love. Such a person cannot serve God and Mammon, for either the one is loved and the other is hated, or the one is served and the other despised. St. Clare of Assisi

News, Women's Communities

A Milestone in North Dakota

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This year, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Hankinson, North Dakota, are celebrating their 100th anniversary in America. Also known as the Dillingen Franciscans, the sisters arrived in Collegeville, Minnesota, from Germany in the summer of 1913 and served in the community there until 1958. In 1921, they opened a parochial school in North Dakota where the Motherhouse was built and still is today.

There are many Franciscan communities around the world , many of them new foundations. The charism of St. Francis of Assisi has remained new and vibrant for lo these many hundreds of years. The Sisters however are one of the very ancient communities for they can trace their beginnings back to 1241 in Germany (just 15 years after the death of St. Francis himself!). In the early 1300’s they became affiliated with the Friars Minor of the Strasburg province and they received the Third Order Rule of St. Francis. To survive almost 800 years in the middle of Europe is incredible.

In 1803, the government confiscated all of their land and buildings. The sisters were allowed to remain in the convent until their deaths but no new postulants were allowed to enter the community. By 1828, there were only 5 sisters  left but it was enough for a new beginning. By1847, there were 53 sisters and by 1968 there were over 2300! The Lord uses even the smallest seed to grow a large, fruitful orchard. The sisters today serve in Germany, Brazil, India and the US. In North Dakota they care for the elderly and sick, teach young people, visit the imprisoned, support pro-life causes, run a retreat house, produce altar breads and do other evangelical activities.

Commenting on the German sisters who came to foreign soil in Minnesota, Sr. Ann Marie Friedrichs, OSF, said, “I am filled with an immense amount of joy and pride every time I think of the courage and vision it took for our German sisters to leave their homeland…not familiar with the American customs and totally unable to speak English. What trust in God they had to say ‘yes'”!