Francis
The Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi is coming up on Thursday, but I couldn't wait to post something about him. Maybe I'm feeling sort of guilty .... before I ever became a Catholic, I admired St. Francis because of his way with animals and nature. When my RCIA class had to choose a saintly mascot, I even voted for him. But later I became disillusioned after reading about a severed pig's foot, and it wasn't until recently that I decided I'd misjudged him (I know, I know - Crystal, zooming to hell in a handbasket :-) So here's his The Canticle of All Creatures and a few pictures from the movie, Brother Sun, Sister Moon ...
Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.
Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather’s moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.
Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.
Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
Mother Earth who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon
for love of You and bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace,
By You Most High, they will be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm.
Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.
posted by crystal | 12:59 AM
14 Comments:
But later I became disillusioned after reading about a severed pig's foot
Calumny, calumny! :-) I keep telling you, that was Brother Juniper, not Francis. Francis took him to the woodshed over it.
I've never seen that movie. Would it be considered dated by today's sytandards?
Yes, it was you who changed my mind :-) My RCIA sponser gave me a biography of Francis (now long gone) and I was sure I read in there that it was he who wanted the pig's foot and that he actually kept a small herd of them to snack on, but I must have misread it.
In a way, because it's historical and everyone's wearing costumes, etc, it stands up to time, but there is a detectable 70s flower-power flavor. Still, it is very moving.
Has anyone ever thought about starting a Catholic Movie group? Like a book group?
We could all rent the same movie for the same week or month, or whatever, and then get together on a blog somewhere to discuss them. There are tons of good religious movies on DVD and I've hardly seen any of them.
That's a great idea, Talmida. It would be fun to discuss those kinds of movies.
lovely post...
I love the movie idea. 'My God and Humanity on Film' class was one of my absolute favorites! It wasn't restricted to just religious movies either; Psycho, Fight Club and others made discussion very interesting. I'd love to be a part of something like that.
Happy St. Francis Day Crystal.
Thank you, Mrs Jackie, and thanks for visiting :-)
Cura,
maybe we can get Talmida to organize something.
Happy St. Francis Day to you too :-)
happy feast day, Crystal. I love this movie too.:-)
Hi Paula - happy St. Francis day :-)
Hi Crystal,
Great post on St. Francis.
I too am a fan of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and would highly recommend it. From what I've heard and read, people are willing to overlook its historical inaccuracies given that it captures so well the spirit of both Francis and the Franciscan way.
Where did you find the images from the film? I've been searching the internet for some time and can't seem to find many good ones.
Peace,
Michael
Hi Michael - thanks for dropping by.
I found a website about a year ago - The American Buddha Online Library - they have lots of photos as well as other things, and had great screen captures for almost ecery scene of Brother Sun Sister Moon. It's free to join :-)
PS - I jusr reread their terms of use page for their materials .... I'm not sure if posting photos on a blog counts as "fair use" or not so I guess I'm taking my chances, but still the stuff can certainly be downloaded for personal use.
Hi Crystal,
Thanks for the info re. the American Buddha Online Library. It's greatly appreciated.
I signed up and enjoyed looking through the many screen captures of Brother Sun, Sister Moon. You may even see a couple of them pop up in a future Wild Reed post!
Peace,
Michael
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