Today is the Feast of St. Francis (1181-1226), one of the great Christian saints. I had the chance to visit his hometown of Assisi once on October 4th. Interestingly, the Church honors saints on the day of their death, not their birthday.
By the way, the image to the left is one of my favorite paintings. It was painted by El Greco, and hangs in one of the galleries at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. When I was a student at Johns Hopkins and living in downtown Baltimore, I stood in front of this painting many times. It’s very dramatic in its monochrome shades, and stands out in a gallery filled with brightly colored paintings. Sorry for the deviation. 🙂
Anyway, St. Francis is revered throughout the world, and not just by Christians, as a shining example of a peaceful soul who made a huge mark on the world. One of my favorite lines written by St. Francis is proclaim the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words. In other words, live the Christian life authentically. What a great challenge for us today, don’t you think?
