In Defense of St. Francis Garden Statues

Recently I listened to a talk given at a Franciscan retreat center. I felt right at home among the colorful, sprightly paintings of St. Francis and St. Clare dancing joyfully with the sun and the moon. I had reverted to Catholicism while working at a Franciscan eco-spirituality center, and that is still a huge part of my faith life.

The speaker did not share that affinity. She opened her talk with “We all think of St. Francis as just a nice, hippy guy who talks to animals in the forest like some fairy tale princess, like on those garden statues you used to see everywhere. But he was actually a revolutionary.”

I paused. Where did that animosity come from?

Did she have a problem trusting the historical accuracy of saint hagiography? You can’t hold the Medieval imagination to the standard of our post-Enlightenment understanding of history.

I don’t think the umbrage is with any of those things. I hear comments like this enough that I’ve come up with possibly a too-analytical explanation of what is probably not meant to be dissected too thoroughly.

Are Men Allowed to be Nurturing?​

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