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St. Francis and the Birds
14. St. Francis and the Birds
In Bonaventures Life of St Francis there is a chapter about "how
irrational creatures were affectionate toward him." Francis called creatures,
"no matter how small, by the name of brother or sister because he knew
they had the same source as himself" (VII, 6). Stories of a hare, lambs,
a rabbit, fish, a cricket, a pheasant and a falcon all told of the desire
of the animals to be with St. Francis or to be obedient to his wishes. Bonaventure
wrote: "With
a feeling of unprecedented devotion he savored in each and every creature — as
in so many rivulets — that Goodness which is their fountain-source." (IX,
1).
It was most remarkable just how deeply people cared when it was thought
that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker was not extinct after all. Stories of peoples
relationships with dogs and horses are moving and revealing. Duane Elgin
reports in The Living Universe that a capacity for empathy and feeling
for another animal has been observed in primates, dolphins, whales, elephants,
dogs, hippos, birds and even some rodents. St. Francis was a person who lived
with reverence and with an open contemplative attention and affection to
animals. This painting expresses the mutuality of St. Francis' attention
to the birds and their response, according to the stories, to him. George
Washington Carver, a scientist and inventor, a deeply religious man said,
"If you love it enough, anything will talk with you."