The Life and Times of St. Francis of Assisi

Our hometown has two Franciscans as patron saints – St. Anthony of Padua and the founder of the order himself, St. Francis of Assissi.  It is in honor of St. Francis that the town’s fiesta on the 25^th of May is celebrated every year. With the encouragement of the town’s then Parish Priest, Monsignor Reganit, our father wrote the poem I have reproduced below.  It was written in 1974 and, based on his notes, was finished on September 29 of the same year.  It was published soon thereafter, complete with the obligatory Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat from then Nueva Caceres Archbishop, Monsignor Teofisto Alberto.

I’m sure I have a copy of it somewhere in my files, but for now, let me tell you that the poem was published in slim booklet form with the dimension of a folded long-sized bond paper.  I don’t know how many were made, but I recall that a number were printed on white paper, with the rest on brownish newsprint.  The cover featured the drawing of a dove – the Paraclete, I would presume – on which were superimposed the poem’s title and its author.  One Penafrancia celebration, while I was in High School at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary in Naga City, I saw copies of the poem being sold alongside novenas, rosaries, medals and other religious tokens in one of those makeshift stores on the churchyard of the Naga Cathedral.  I doubt very much that our father even earned a cent from it, but I guess it was recompense enough to see the obvious pride our mother had in giving copies of this poem to a some friends and acquaintances who came a-visiting our home during fiestas.

At 83 stanzas, it is our father’s longest poem.  Following a style that must have been common for works of this kind in his younger days, our father starts with an invocation for divine help and ends with a plea for the reader not to scoff at the humble effort.  It traces the birth of St. Francis to an affluent mercantile family in Assisi, his dissipated youth, his stint as a soldier and the ailment that led to his dramatic conversion.  It goes on to recount the saint’s renunciation of worldly goods, his total embrace of the mendicant ideal, his tireless mission to rebuild churches in his native land and his foundation of the religious order that bears his name.  It also contains an account of his famous regard for creatures big and small, his reaction to the division among his friars about the vow of poverty, his receipt of the stigmata, his death and eventual canonization.

Time and finances permitting, I hope to be able to publish this poem in limited edition to give to each one of you, using the paintings that accompany it in this blog.  This most charismatic of saints was painted by a host of artists – from El Greco to Zurbaran (the ones I used for this post) – but for Papa's poem, I used those rendered by Giotto de Bondone, an early Italian master.  Aside from their number which suits my wish for uniformity, I like the church fresco-feel these paintings exude.