He was a knight of His Lord and Master - He was a loyal subject…a spiritual serf…a vassal…that swore complete fealty and obedience to His King and Lord Jesus Christ and to His Kingdom…His Mystical Body…which is only the Roman Catholic Church. And because of Francis’ complete and utter subjection to the King of kings, all of nature, including the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living beast on dry land, were subject to Francis. Because this friar did not rebel against the good Lord and His Holy Law, animals did not rebel against Francis, rather the beasts served him, including a little lamb that followed him wherever he chose to go. What happened? What contributed towards this re-making of Francis into some leftist agitator? Well…the answer is found in a very influential book entitled, The Life of St. Francis, by a Paul Sabatier. This first modern biography written in the year 1893 portrays Francis as an enthusiastic pacifist, a voice thundering against clericalism and demanding more involvement of the laity in ministry, a liberal promoting ecology rather than a icon of piety and devotion, an anti-institutional prophet calling for a new age of the Spirit, a defender of free thinking and freedom of conscience which trumped the authoritative teaching of the Church, and a supporter of ecumenical dialogue that would precede Assisi like prayer days. The author, Sabatier, downplays St. Francis’s utter obedience to the Church of Rome and her Pope. Instead, Sabatier emphasizes St. Francis’s supposedly subversive actions and challenging, prophetic words to the Church. As Sabatier put it: Francis of Assisi is pre-eminently the saint of the Middle Ages. Owing nothing to church or school he was truly theodidact, and if he perhaps did not perceive the revolutionary bearing of his preaching, he at least always refused to be ordained priest. He divined the superiority of the spiritual priesthood. There was a genuine attempt at a religious revolution, which, if it had succeeded, would have ended in a universal priesthood, in the proclamation of the rights of the individual conscience. In the end, however, Paul Sabatier’s book on the topic of St. Francis was most unsound, erroneous, and unhistorical. In 1894, the book was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books.
The musings and meandering thoughts of a crotchety old man as he observes life in the world and in a small, rural town in South East Nebraska. My Pledge-Nulla dies sine linea-Not a day with out a line.
Stand Alone Pages on 'Musings of an Old Curmudgeon'
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04 October 2024
Will the Real Saint Francis Please Stand Up
A sermon for today. Please remember to say three Hail Marys for the Priest.
He was a knight of His Lord and Master - He was a loyal subject…a spiritual serf…a vassal…that swore complete fealty and obedience to His King and Lord Jesus Christ and to His Kingdom…His Mystical Body…which is only the Roman Catholic Church. And because of Francis’ complete and utter subjection to the King of kings, all of nature, including the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living beast on dry land, were subject to Francis. Because this friar did not rebel against the good Lord and His Holy Law, animals did not rebel against Francis, rather the beasts served him, including a little lamb that followed him wherever he chose to go. What happened? What contributed towards this re-making of Francis into some leftist agitator? Well…the answer is found in a very influential book entitled, The Life of St. Francis, by a Paul Sabatier. This first modern biography written in the year 1893 portrays Francis as an enthusiastic pacifist, a voice thundering against clericalism and demanding more involvement of the laity in ministry, a liberal promoting ecology rather than a icon of piety and devotion, an anti-institutional prophet calling for a new age of the Spirit, a defender of free thinking and freedom of conscience which trumped the authoritative teaching of the Church, and a supporter of ecumenical dialogue that would precede Assisi like prayer days. The author, Sabatier, downplays St. Francis’s utter obedience to the Church of Rome and her Pope. Instead, Sabatier emphasizes St. Francis’s supposedly subversive actions and challenging, prophetic words to the Church. As Sabatier put it: Francis of Assisi is pre-eminently the saint of the Middle Ages. Owing nothing to church or school he was truly theodidact, and if he perhaps did not perceive the revolutionary bearing of his preaching, he at least always refused to be ordained priest. He divined the superiority of the spiritual priesthood. There was a genuine attempt at a religious revolution, which, if it had succeeded, would have ended in a universal priesthood, in the proclamation of the rights of the individual conscience. In the end, however, Paul Sabatier’s book on the topic of St. Francis was most unsound, erroneous, and unhistorical. In 1894, the book was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books.
He was a knight of His Lord and Master - He was a loyal subject…a spiritual serf…a vassal…that swore complete fealty and obedience to His King and Lord Jesus Christ and to His Kingdom…His Mystical Body…which is only the Roman Catholic Church. And because of Francis’ complete and utter subjection to the King of kings, all of nature, including the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living beast on dry land, were subject to Francis. Because this friar did not rebel against the good Lord and His Holy Law, animals did not rebel against Francis, rather the beasts served him, including a little lamb that followed him wherever he chose to go. What happened? What contributed towards this re-making of Francis into some leftist agitator? Well…the answer is found in a very influential book entitled, The Life of St. Francis, by a Paul Sabatier. This first modern biography written in the year 1893 portrays Francis as an enthusiastic pacifist, a voice thundering against clericalism and demanding more involvement of the laity in ministry, a liberal promoting ecology rather than a icon of piety and devotion, an anti-institutional prophet calling for a new age of the Spirit, a defender of free thinking and freedom of conscience which trumped the authoritative teaching of the Church, and a supporter of ecumenical dialogue that would precede Assisi like prayer days. The author, Sabatier, downplays St. Francis’s utter obedience to the Church of Rome and her Pope. Instead, Sabatier emphasizes St. Francis’s supposedly subversive actions and challenging, prophetic words to the Church. As Sabatier put it: Francis of Assisi is pre-eminently the saint of the Middle Ages. Owing nothing to church or school he was truly theodidact, and if he perhaps did not perceive the revolutionary bearing of his preaching, he at least always refused to be ordained priest. He divined the superiority of the spiritual priesthood. There was a genuine attempt at a religious revolution, which, if it had succeeded, would have ended in a universal priesthood, in the proclamation of the rights of the individual conscience. In the end, however, Paul Sabatier’s book on the topic of St. Francis was most unsound, erroneous, and unhistorical. In 1894, the book was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books.
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