Franciscans

[Pax_et bonum]

There is also this one. I'd really like to see the whole movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoYYbkweg8o

[Tally Marx]

[quote name='Pax_et bonum' timestamp='1296759509' post='2208250']
There is also this one. I'd really like to see the whole movie
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoYYbkweg8o"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=CoYYbkweg8o[/url]
[/quote]

I have this movie!
It's great. I love it.

[Tally Marx]

[quote name='MithLuin' timestamp='1296324873' post='2206410']
How very Franciscan of you.


(And yes, I've also met the CFRs in the past, and I have attended the March for Life many times. But it's local for me.)
[/quote]


Yes, right now fundraising would be about my only option, short of walking there.

[tnavarro61]

any Franciscan resources please?

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='Pax_et bonum' timestamp='1296696124' post='2208020']
Loving You, and she was also in King Creole with Elvis
[/quote]

In the Knights of Columbus Women's Religious Vocations video, there is an interview with Delores Hart! She talks about how everyone in Hollywood thought she was pregnant when she went to the cloister. It's totally worth watching and it's on youtube!

[franciscanheart]

[quote name='tnavarro61' timestamp='1296798137' post='2208546']
any Franciscan resources please?
[/quote]
What do you mean? Like Franciscan communities? Check out the CFRs!


[url="http://www.franciscanfriars.com/"]Franciscan Friars of the Renewal[/url] | [url="http://www.franciscansisterscfr.com"]Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal[/url]

[tnavarro61]

[quote name='franciscanheart' timestamp='1296829968' post='2208657']
What do you mean? Like Franciscan communities? Check out the CFRs!


[url="http://www.franciscanfriars.com/"]Franciscan Friars of the Renewal[/url] | [url="http://www.franciscansisterscfr.com"]Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal[/url]




[/quote]

I mean the writings of Franciscan saints, of Saint Francis.. to make me franciscan

hurrah for my 901st post!

[Chamomile]

[quote name='tnavarro61' timestamp='1296858509' post='2208838']
I mean the writings of Franciscan saints, of Saint Francis.. to make me franciscan

hurrah for my 901st post!
[/quote]

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/flowers.htm"]The Little Flowers of St. Francis[/url]

[Tally Marx]

[quote name='tnavarro61' timestamp='1296798137' post='2208546']
any Franciscan resources please?
[/quote]

I enjoyed the novel "The Perfect Joy of Saint Francis" by Felix Timmermans.
It's exaggerated and unrealistic in some places, but it's a great novel and artistically captures the spirit of Saint Francis.

[Chamomile]

G. K. Chesterton also wrote a short biography about St. Francis.

[franciscanheart]

[quote name='tnavarro61' timestamp='1296858509' post='2208838']
I mean the writings of Franciscan saints, of Saint Francis.. to make me franciscan
[/quote]
Try [u]The Life of St. Francis[/u] by St. Bonaventure - [url="http://www.amazon.com/Francis-Assisi-Legenda-Sancti-Francisci/dp/0895553430"]Amazon link here[/url]

I've not yet read this one but it looks okay: [url="http://www.amazon.com/Francis-Clare-Complete-Classics-Spirituality/dp/0809124467/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1296882558&sr=8-3"]The Complete Works[/url]

I [i]do[/i] have this one and recommend it (for both saints, whom I just LOVE): [url="http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Aquinas-Francis-Assisi-Introductions/dp/0898709458/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1296882558&sr=8-8"]St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi[/url]


Hope this helps.

[tnavarro61]

Found this one:

http://www.saintsworks.net/books/St.%20Francis%20of%20Assisi%20-%20Writings.pdf


thank you very much for the links!

[MithLuin]

I love the 'Prayer before the Crucifix' from p. 72: "Most High, glorious God, enlighten the shadows of my heart, and grant unto me right faith, certain hope and perfect charity, sense and understanding, Lord, so that I may accomplish Thy holy and true mandate."

Though the translation I use is: "All-highest, glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, firm hope and perfect charity, with wisdom and perception, O Lord, so that I may do what is truly your holy will. Amen."

I got that from the CFR's website years ago .



There are several 'primary' sources on the life of St. Francis of Assisi. I recommend reading them all .

Thomas of Celano wrote two biographies of the saint within 20 years of his death, I think. Certainly shortly after Francis' life, when many who knew him were still alive. They are called the First Life of St. Francis of Assisi and the Second Life of St. Francis of Assisi. Some excerpts can be found [url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/stfran-lives.html]HERE[/url].

St. Bonaventure wrote a Life of St. Francis later, and it is [i]very[/i] good.

The 'Little Flowers' of St. Francis came later, and are a bit more...whimsical. Still good, but I feel they should be read in light of the other two, not on their own. I feel that a lot of the distortions of St. Francis' life come from looking only here, but maybe I am wrong about that.

[url=http://www.franciscan-archive.org/fontes.html]HERE[/url] is a comprehensive list of all the historical sources available, though little of it is in English. So, if you're good with Spanish (or Latin), this might be helpful.....

There are also some writings of St. Clare available (she wrote letters), so if you can track those down, it may help.



When I think of St. Francis, there are a few things that come to mind. He was very zealous and passionate, doing nothing by half-measures. He embraced Lady Poverty as his lover, he didn't approach poverty as a penance or means to an end to achieve detachment. He sought out martyrdom the way some people seek out suicide-by-cop. He would never be accused of being lukewarm .

He was very humble, simple. He didn't have a grand scheme or plan for religious life....he was just trying to live out the gospel. And in doing so...became quite the radical. He called his group the Friars Minor - the Little Brothers. I associate both joy and suffering (or, rather, joy in the midst of suffering) with his life.

Even his temptations were quite innocent. He made a point of never looking at women (even when speaking to them, which must have been a bit odd!) and when he was tempted one night, he ran out into the snow and built snowmen saying, there is your family, now how will you care for them? (And yes, threw himself into a thorn bush.) Celibacy was at the service of living in poverty.


The prayer above was his prayer before the crucifix of San Damiano. In it, he expresses his desire to do the will of God. It's from the beginning of his 'mission'.

'Deus Meus et Omnia' = 'My God and My All!' God is everything in the life of a Franciscan - nothing else needed.

'We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, here and in all your churches, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world." We know this from the stations of the cross, but St. Francis had his brothers genuflect and say this whenever they passed a church.

He is responsible for the tradition of living Nativity scenes - [url=http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/sites/TSbtgrecc2.html]Christmas at Greccio[/url]

And then there is the Canticle of Living Creatures, beginning with Brother Sun and ending with Sister Death. It was written when he was sick, blind and dying. Those who want to make St. Francis a nature-loving hippie only tend to forget how the song ends....

[vee]

[quote name='Pax_et bonum' timestamp='1296692675' post='2208000']
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X46LSfCYtlA"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=X46LSfCYtlA[/url]

I got this movie for Christmas, and I love it! It's called Francis of Assisi; I've watched it over and over. Brother Son, Sister Moon was cute, but I like this one better.
[/quote]

That was a good clip now I might have to watch the whole movie.

[Chamomile]

[quote name='MithLuin' timestamp='1296920896' post='2209022']
And then there is the Canticle of Living Creatures, beginning with Brother Sun and ending with Sister Death. It was written when he was sick, blind and dying. Those who want to make St. Francis a nature-loving hippie only tend to forget how the song ends....
[/quote]

Yes... and to all else that was included in your post. When I hard the Canticle all the way through, I was amazed by the beauty, but it does ultimately order all things toward the Eternal.

One word that comes to mind when I think of St. Francis is [i]real[/i]. There wasn't anything fake about him, which is why he appeared crazy and foolish to others. Most everyone in this world puts on a show and lives for things that aren't real (wealth, fame, pleasure) in light of God. St. Francis made use of the things God gave him only as much as would bring glory to God.

He was down-to-earth yet a mystic, joyful yet loving misery, free yet a slave to Christ... this is why I think people say he's the most Christ-like of the Saints - because he lives out the paradox of the Incarnation.