"St. Francis Preaching to the Birds."

St. Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Franciscans in the Roman Church. He was born in 1182 at Assisi, in Italy, and was named Giovanni Bernardino. His father, Pietro Bernard, was a rich merchant who traded chiefly with France, and, intending to make his son his successor, he had him taught the French language: this was at that time so rare an accomplishment that his companions called him "Francisco"--the Frenchman. This name gradually superseded his own, and as St. Francis he became celebrated, venerated and canonized, and Francis has since been adopted as a Christian name throughout the world.

Among the legends of St. Francis, some of the most interesting are those in which he is associated with animals. In his enthusiasm he interpreted literally the text--"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Dr. Arnold says in one of his letters, that "the destinies of the brute creation appeared to him (Arnold) a mystery which he could not approach without awe." St. Francis in his gentleness solved the mystery for himself by admitting animals within the pale of Christian sympathy. He was accustomed to call all living creatures his brothers and sisters, and it is recorded that when he walked in the woods or fields, various animals were drawn to him as if by instinct. Sheep and lambs thronged about him, hares and rabbits nestled in his bosom. Above all other creatures, however, he seemed to have the greatest love for birds of every kind, as being the most unearthly in their nature, and soaring into the heaven where men can only gaze. In less than fifty years after the death of St. Francis, one of the grandest churches in Italy was erected over his remains at Assisi. The greatest artists of the age were called to fresco it. According to Vasari, Cimabue painted in the lower church the life of St. Francis; but this portion of the frescoes has utterly perished. Whether Giotto, the greatest painter of the time, painted the whole series of subjects around the nave of the upper church, is doubted; but that he painted a large number of them has been well ascertained. They are illustrative of the actions and miracles of the great patriarch of the Order. Number 15 is "St. Francis Preaching to the Birds." The story is that "Drawing nigh to Bevagno, he came to a certain place where birds of different kinds were gathered together. Seeing this assemblage the man of God ran hastily to the spot, and, saluting them as if they had been his fellows in reason (while they all turned and bent their heads in attentive expectation), he admonished them, saying, 'Brother birds, greatly are ye bound to praise the Creator, who clotheth you with feathers, and giveth you wings to fly with, and a purer air to breathe, and who careth for you, who have so little care for yourselves.' Whilst he thus spake, the little birds, marvelously commoved, began to spread their wings, stretch forth their necks, and open their beaks, attentively gazing upon him; and he, glowing in the spirit, passed through the midst of them, and even touched them with his robe; yet not one stirred from his place until the man of God gave them leave; when, with his blessing and at the sign of the cross, they all flew away. These things saw his companions, who waited for him on the road. As he returned to his followers, the simple and pure-minded man was heard greatly to blame himself for having never hitherto preached to the birds."

When St. Francis was at Rome in 1222, he had with him a pet lamb, which accompanied him everywhere;' and in pictures of St. Francis a lamb is frequently introduced. This custom may either signify his own meekness and purity of mind, or it may refer to this lamb "which lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter."

The story is as follows: One day in passing through a meadow, as he saluted the flocks that were grazing there, he perceived a poor little lamb feeding all alone in the midst of a flock of goats. He said: "Thus did our mild Saviour stand alone in the midst of the Jews and the Pharisees." He was moved with pity, and would have bought the lamb, but he had not the means. It came to pass, however, that a man passing by, seeing his grief over the lamb, bought it and gave it to him.

St. Francis died Oct. 4th, 1226, and was canonized in 1228 by Pope Gregory IX. Whatever of invention or myth there may be in the stories of the life of St. Francis, at least we may discern in him a true lover of all God's fair creation, and an earnest toiler for the spiritual and physical well-being of his fellow men. His last words to his weeping loved ones were: "Farewell, my children, for now I go to God, to whom I commend you all." He then with trembling voice repeated the CXLII. Psalm. As he reached the last verse, "Bring my soul out of prison," he ceased to breathe, or in the words of his biographer, "he was absorbed into the abyss of the light of God."

This scene has been beautifully represented in Art.