The Life of Francis

The spirituality of Francis of Assisi offers a strong motivation to Franciscans to become thoroughly involved in efforts to debate environmental issues. It highlights a special concern and responsibility for our mother Earth and for all of Creation, arising from a desire to follow in the footsteps of Francis. He was named patron saint of ecology by John Paul II¹ in 1979 for a reason. He did not confront the same questions that we do, and the environment in his time did not face the same issues, but his approach to the world and his relationship to nature point us in the right direction. They remind us of the moral imperative to address the care of our planet and all its inhabitants. Unlike the common spirituality of his time, Francis did not separate the spiritual world from the material world, and he certainly did not look down upon the material world as godless. He viewed the earth and everything in nature as God’s creation, as a place of incarnation. Francis related to all created things – living or inanimate – with great respect and sought to be subject to them. This attitude is different from a spirituality that sees human beings as rulers of the earth. Francis did not see human beings as above or outside the rest of nature. He saw them as sisters and brothers, fellow creatures of the same God. He expressed his spirituality uniquely and poetically in the Canticle of the Creatures,² composed at the end of his life. The canticle does not simply praise God for creation. Francis did not stand outside of nature to thank God for this gift. Rather, he stood alongside the community of creatures and – as part of that community – praised God as the source of all life and creation. The creatures’ praise of God consists in their being what they are – that they become what they were created to be.

That is what differentiates Francis’s spirituality from a concern for the environment which only relates to the future of humankind. In the spirit of Francis, care for creation springs from a deep respect for and interior solidarity with everything that God has created. Francis sensed the unity of the entire cosmos. Saint Paul said that the community of Christians forms the body of Christ, that the joys and sufferings of each individual member contribute to the well-being and bio³ and the lambs in the Marches⁴. Francis demonstrated relations that promote reconciliation and that bring all together in mutual Order, allowing them to be themselves and to praise God. Friendship, even tenderness, always wins out.

1 Cf. message of John Paul II for World Day of Peace: Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation, January 1, 1990 (# 16).
2 For the text of the Canticle see: http://www. appleseeds.org/canticle.htm .
3 Cf. Franciscan sources: The Deeds of Blessed Francis and His Companions, XXIII.
4 Cf. 1 Celano, 77-79.

Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans and Environmental Justice, "Confronting Environmental Crisis", Office for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, Rome 2011. (with edits by the webmaster)