St. Francis is the patron saint of animals and the environment. (He was pronounced a saint in July of 1228. Do you suppose they used the word "environment" then?) He was
many other things as well; interesting guy.
It's a refreshing surprise to come across such works in our ramblings. It makes me feel privileged to live where people create.
I wonder if Francis knew his words would continue to be relevant for 900 years. Maybe he hoped we'd have learned all this by now.
Boz can't read, but it doesn't matter. This stuff is instinctive to him.
18 comments:
"Pretty words … can I pee on't now?"
St. Francis will forever have face of Sean Connery for me. Somehow I identified the actor in "The name of Rose" movie as this saint man when I was teen)).
Great find. I can imagine the author of the panel when he was preparing it.
I love your closing sentence!
Well, Frances did preach to the animals. I guess they got it and we are still not there.
I am often in awe of the kinds of creativity we humans can generate. A terrific stone/monument to St. Francis and how appropriate to have one of his friends in the photo.
J, well, you know we moved him on past.
Irina--one of my favorite books! I liked the movie, but you know what happens when you read the book first, the movie is never as good.
I think that must be what happened, Dina. Do you suppose people thought Francis was a little nuts at the time?
Kate, your comment tells me the photo doesn't make it clear. It's actually the hood of an old car.
Boz looks awfully smug. I think J+P is too late.
You put your art out in the wilderness, I guess you can't expect the animals to use it.
A peculiar choice of medium but a wonderful message.
Decorating bits of old cars and leaving them in the landscape seems to be peculiar to yourselves and the Australians. I kinda like it.
I don't want to disillusion Irina, but St. Francis was played by Mickey Rourke in a 1998 movie.
Thanks for leading me to read about St. Francis and his admirable riches to rags conversion. Love this sentence in the Wikipedia link: "He called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters,” and even preached to the birds and supposedly persuaded a wolf to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf."
I wonder what would have happened if he'd advised the people of Pasadena and Altadena to do that?
As a kid, my very favorite Leo Politi book was the one about St. Francis...
Dive, when an American meets an Australian, approximately 85% of the time the American will say, "I've always wanted to go to Australia!" My theory is that's because they still have cowboys and, while we have a few, we're running out.
Bellis, it's not St. Francis's fault (or Irina's).
I wonder if we can wrangle some Catholics to the environmentalist cause.
How fitting, Chieftess. Leo Politi painted the mural in the children's room at the South Pasadena Library.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Politi
great hood ornament
I read this with a purring cat on my lap. She can't read either but I'm sure Saint Francis is her favorite saint. She understands, just like Boz.
I've always admired St. Francis and those words. The animals understand, even if some of us do not.
I think we all mean to put these words into practice but it's easier said than done.
P-Thanks for your comment; it made me slow down and look more closely.
Nice wordings and nice doggie.
Bangalore to Goa
Yes, I do think people thought Frances was nuts, especially the comfortable higher-up clergy who feared his preaching of radical poverty.
Ah, so that's a car hood, eh? Strange.
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