...merely a yard ornamentation, a holy Dr. Doolittle or an eco-warrior. As we join the Church in remembering and celebrating the man who so imitated Christ and was so intimately connected to him, let us not fall into the trap of relegating him only to the realm of garden statuary or remembering him only as a patron saint of pets.
Learn about the
real St. Francis: the man who who inspired thousands to adopt a life of total and radical submission to Christ and his Church; the man who boldly "preached Christ and him crucified" -- even to the Muslim sultan of Egypt; the man who never separated his service to the poor from his loving obedience to the Church and her pope; the man who offered up his final days of suffering on this earth to the greater glory of Jesus Christ.
This was Francis. Thank God.
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The tomb of St. Francis in his basilica in Assisi, Italy.
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