The real St. Francis of Assisi

The real St. Francis of Assisi

Author: Robinson, Paschal

Year: 1904

"It is related that some one once asked St. Francis : " Why is it that all the world comes after thee, and everybody desires to see thee, and to hear thee, and to obey thee ? Thou art not a man either comely of person, or of noble birth, or of great science; whence, then, comes it that all the world runs after thee ? " Not a few persons may have been tempted of late to repeat this question in view of the homage which the opening century is offering to the Little Poor Man of Assisi. No one who follows the signs of the times " can have failed to note the many manifestations of this homage, whether in art or in literature or in historical criticism. As in his own day, so in ours, the gentle Saint of Assisi seems to have won the affection of all men, both within the Church and beyond her pale. The mere fact that the Poverello in his tattered habit should become an object of widespread interest in an age that affects to smile at mediaevalism seems strange enough. But that the present revival of interest in the life and work of St. Francis should receive its greatest impetus from those who are not Catholics is stranger yet...." Digitized by Google.