[MR] Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi

Garth Groff and Sally Sanford mallardlodge1000 at gmail.com
Thu Oct 4 02:33:02 PDT 2018


Noble Friends,

This day, 4 October, is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Confusingly, he actually died on 3 October 1226. In any case, Saint Francis
is one of the most revered figures in Christendom, naturally in the
Catholic Church, but also the in Anglican tradition and even some other
Protestant denominations. Veneration of St. Francis and pilgrimage to
Assisi were among the most popular forms of devotion in the Italian
medieval church.

While not initially in his patronage portfolio, St. Francis soon became
associated with protection of animals and nature, and even today many
churches participate in blessing animals on his feast day. Near
Charlottesville, Virginia, there is a small Episcopal church which
traditionally blesses the hounds used in hunting sports. (I don't know if
they also bless foxes, but I hope so.) Not surprisingly, he is also the
patron saint of San Francisco, California, a place much in need of his
attention because of its noted wickedness during the Gold Rush (and a city
I love dearly for many reasons!).

For more about St. Francis, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi  and
http://catholicsaints.info/saint-francis-of-assisi/ .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆


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