Description: St. Francis of Assisi--the saint who preached to birds and wolves, the saint whose vow of poverty changed Christian ethics forever, the saint who repented of his fleshly sins by loving the material world--was also a pretty great writer. His Little Flowers, a series of 53 short chapters ranging in form from wild stories to serene meditations, is perfect bedtime or devotional reading. Before you know it, you'll be reading this one aloud to your cat. And Francis will be very pleased to hear it. --Michael Joseph Gross
Told in brief anecdotes of charming simplicity, these stories include Saint Francis's sermon to the birds, his taming of a savage wolf, his conversion of the Sultan of Babylon, and his miraculous healing of a leper. Their universal appeal extends to people of all faiths and to every intellectual level.
Description: St. Francis of Assisi is probably the best-loved of all the mystics of the Christian tradition. his vision of God's goodness and richness embraced not only humanity but the whole of creation, and he expressed this vision in poems of powerful simplicity.
Description: In 1225 the infirm St. Francis, living in a hut in a church garden, wrote this poem in which he looks on the face of creation and blesses it in its totality. Our text is a translation of the poem by Matthew Arnold. We have illuminated each line with paintings -- "Praised be my Lord for our brother the Wind" is accompanied by a Corot painting of trees bent before a gale, and also an illustration by Frank Pape in which a dove is borne joyously upward. In this manner two faces of wind are shown, and the words made more vividly manifest.
