Friday, September 24, 2010

St Francis of Assisi

I'm not a religious person. But it's nice to think that someone is watching over the animals:
Christians everywhere celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4 by having their pets blessed in the spirit of this patron saint of animals and ecology.

St. Francis, Rabbits and Fish
One day a brother brought a rabbit who had been caught in a trap to St. Francis. Francis advised the rabbit to be more alert in the future, then released the rabbit from the trap and set it on the ground to go its way. But the rabbit hopped back up onto Francis’ lap, desiring to be close to the saint.

Francis took the rabbit a few steps into the woods and set it down. But it followed Francis back to his seat and hopped on his lap again! Finally Francis asked one of his fellow friars to take the rabbit far into the woods and let it go. That worked. This type of thing happened repeatedly to Francis—which he saw as an opportunity to praise the glory of God. If the simplest creatures could be so endowed with God’s wonder, how much the more so we humans!

Fish were also known to obey Francis. Whenever a fish was caught and Francis was nearby, he would return the fish to the water, warning it not to be caught again. On several occasions the fish would linger awhile near the boat, listening to Francis preach, until he gave them permission to leave. Then they would swim off. In every work of art, as St. Francis called all creation, he would praise the artist, our loving Creator.

5 comments:

The Fab Furs said...

I always did have a soft spot for the blessing of the animals ceremony.

Lisa said...

Rabbits. Obedient? No way.

If you're going to be down with one saint, Frankie's the one to go for.

SixBunnies said...

Well, the rabbit didn't really obey him ... kept coming back! Ha! So, maybe the little guy loved him so much he just couldn't stay away even though he was told! He's obviously a bunny guy and you know bunny people have a soft spot in their hearts for these little furry things! Let's hope he listened better when St. Francis told him not to get caught in the trap again! I wish I had a recording of St. Francis telling rabbits NOT TO RUN OUT IN THE ROAD and I could just play that over and over again down these country roads I drive. The little guys never listen to me. I have to drive 10 miles an hour and yell out the window all the way home when it's dark! :)

Anonymous said...

St. Francis is one cool saint :)

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

When I was in Santa Fe last summer, I took a picture of Audrey (stuffed bunny) with the famous statue of St Francis: http://vacaciones3.blogspot.com/2010/06/day-seven.html