Friars Black and Grey

Extract

Blackfriars in this December number devotes its pages to St. Francis, whose memory the world has been cherishing in a special way during the present year, exactly seven centuries since his death. The Church by solemn proclamation and festive reminder has declared Francis to be the ‘Alter Christus,’ the perfectly Christ-like man. Italy has made him a national hero and non-Catholics have sounded his praises. Among all the centenaries, whether religious or secular, that the last few years have produced, none has been more universally popular than this. It is strange that a man should win applause by running away from it and achieve popularity by seeking the next world rather than this. It makes one inclined to think better of our world and age when we find so many unexpected people on their knees before St. Francis : we know not what to do with those convenient labels, ‘materialism,’ ‘commercialism,’ and ‘unchecked greed,’ when we see the world running after Holy Poverty. Some of the worshippers are perhaps in love with the right thing for the wrong reason. The preacher to the birds is remembered more readily than the Francis who strove to overcome with his eloquence the stubborn hearts of men : the wolf of Gubbio is more romantic than the wolf nearer home—the man who is wolf to his fellow man; and Franciscan simplicity is a sterner thing than ‘the simple life. Yet whatever brings men to the feet of St. Francis cannot but have some element of good in it; and can we not leave Francis to deal with those who seek him?