FactChecker: Misquoting Francis of Assisi

[Albion]

I don't like the saying, but I do like how one of the hymns teachers at the Coptic monastery/church I went to several years ago put it: "The first rite of the Church is love."

The reason I don't like the saying as attributed to Francis is that we are not to trust in own piety as an evangelistic tool, even while recognizing that it is one.

I don't know why that interpretation would be put on the statement. His comment was directed at men who were not very articulate and recognized that about themselves.

To be advised by Francis to make one's lifestyle testify to the truth of the Gospel, if that is all that can be done, certainly doesn't suggest any 'trusting in one's own piety,' and definitely not in the case of those friars.

 

[dzheremi]

I don't know why that interpretation would be put on the statement. His comment was directed at men who were not very articulate and recognized that about themselves.

To be advised by Francis to make one's lifestyle testify to the truth of the Gospel, if that is all that can be done, certainly doesn't suggest any 'trusting in one's own piety,' and definitely not in the case of those friars.

I'm not saying it is a correct interpretation of the saying; I'm saying it's the popular interpretation, since many people who invoke it either don't know the context or intend something other than that by it.

It's like how I wince a bit whenever I read a modern Coptic author who uses the historical term "monophysite" to describe Coptic Orthodox theology. Since I know our theology at least at a basic level, I know the author shouldn't use that term, but everyone else who reads it who isn't OO just reads "The Copts are monophysites."

Not being able to tell ahead of time how your words may be used or understood is a problem for everyone.

 

[Albion]

I'm not saying it is a correct interpretation of the saying; I'm saying it's the popular interpretation, since many people who invoke it either don't know the context or intend something other than that by it.

Okay. I don't think I've ever run into anyone else who had that view of it.

 

[dzheremi]

We probably travel in very different circles. I've heard that interpretation from EO, OO, and RC themselves. Doesn't make it right, but it does probably mean that this is not the best way to make that point. It may have been in its own context, but obviously the problem here is people taking it out of context (probably without realizing it in many cases).

So I'd avoid it myself.