October 4th - St. Francis of Assisi

In the summer of 1215 St. Francis with a small group of friars were in Rome
seeking approbation for his Rule. One night during his stay while Francis was
praying, he saw Our Lord prepared to unleash most terrible chastisements upon
the world. His Most Holy Mother was making an effort to placate Him, asking His
mercy and forgiveness. For this purpose, she presented two men who would labor
for the conversion of the world and return a countless number of lost sheep to
the fold. Francis recognized himself as one of these apostles. He did not
recognize the other one, however.

The following day, he was in one of the churches of Rome when suddenly an
unknown person came up to him, embraced him, and said: "You are my companion, we
will work together, supporting one another toward the same end, and no one will
prevail against us." Francis recognized him as the other man in the vision. It
was St. Dominic, who had also received a similar vision. When he saw Francis in
that church, he immediately went to greet him, inspired by the Holy Ghost.

Sometime after this encounter, Francis and Dominic assisted at a service at St.
John the Lateran Basilica where a famous preacher was giving a sermon. It was
Fr. Angelo who later would die a martyr in Sicily. As he preached, Fr. Angelo
saw Francis and Dominic in the audience. Moved by a grace, he stopped, looked at
them, and announced with prophetic words that the two would be strong columns of
the Church.

At the end of the ceremony, St. Angelo waited for them, embraced them, and told
them the favors God had reserved for them. The two founders, in turn enlightened
by a supernatural grace, revealed the principal events of the life of St.
Angelo. As the trio left the church, they came upon a leper begging there. The
three gave a simultaneous blessing to the poor man, which restored him to
health.


Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)

This narration is so beautiful that I feel embarrassed to comment on it. But
since I have the obligation to say some words to you regarding it, I will do so.

You see the splendor of the scene. St. Francis and St. Dominic both received
visions that allowed them to recognize one another. So when St. Dominic saw St.
Francis in one of the churches of Rome, he went to him and embraced him. They
both expressed their enthusiasm for the mission each had received and for the
fact that they would support one another. This was the embrace of two souls,
each one with every reason to hold the other in the highest esteem: on one hand,
because their missions were very similar; on the other hand, because they were
very different.

According to Catholic criteria, a great similarity leads to friendship, but so
also does a great dissimilarity when it is not the dissimilarity of opposition,
but rather one that is complementary. One had something that the other was
lacking. Together they constituted a harmonic ensemble. For this reason, they
admired one another.

Both saints had a profound Marian devotion. St. Francis was a great palatine of
the Immaculate Conception centuries before it was defined as dogma. The
Franciscans would spread that truth throughout the world. St. Dominic was the
great apostle of the Rosary. Through the devotion of the Rosary the Dominicans
would effect immediate and spectacular conversions. The Dominican is the Order
of the Rosary par excellence. So, from the Marian perspective, there is a great
similarity in the Orders.

However, even with this similarity of mission, there are also differences. The
two Marian devotions represent in the minds of the faithful two different floods
of light. Still, they are convergent lights, because it is not unusual for the
person who believes in the Immaculate Conception to pray the Rosary, and
vice-versa.

This balance between similarity and dissimilarity can also be noted in another
point. The Dominican Order was called to convert persons by speaking to their
will through their intelligence. It is clear that part of the Dominican mission
is an intellectual work - the study and teaching of philosophy, theology, and
apologetics. On the contrary, the dominant note of the Franciscan Order is to
move the will through a manifestation of zeal. The great conversions of the
Franciscans came about through the consideration of the Wounds of Our Lord, His
Passion, His poverty and spirit of sacrifice. Once again, they are harmonic
differences that merge in the spirit of the faithful. A Catholic instructed in
the arguments of apologetics by the Dominicans should also be touched by the
fervor of the Franciscans.

That embrace in a church of Rome, therefore, was not just the embrace of two
saints, but something more. It was the missions of the two Orders that embraced
in that moment. The two Founders were like the two hands of God uniting their
efforts to work on this earth, to bring holiness and happiness to men and glory
to the Catholic Church.

This was further completed by the presence of a third saint. The saint who
preached from the pulpit was so famous that both Francis and Dominic came to
hear him. In the middle of his sermon, St. Angelo sees what it is not given to
human eyes to see: he sees the future of St. Francis and St. Dominic and how
they would become strong columns of the Church and Catholic Civilization, which
was threatening to crack and break.

Finally, the three men met and embraced at the end of the office. What did the
Carmelite preacher St. Angelo bring to that embrace? He brought what was
missing: martyrdom. He brought his acceptance of the h0Ɩ0cαųst and immolation of
his very life in honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ and as a witness to the truth of
the Catholic Faith.

Simplifying the picture, then, we have wisdom, charity and martyrdom that merge
in that encounter and work a miracle. A leper was at the door of the church
begging. Leprosy was the worst and most incurable illness of the time. The three
Saints made a joint blessing over the leper, and the man was cured. This
symbolized a Christendom that was becoming leprous and which, by the action of
those saints, was restored to health.

This is how we can understand the first part of the selection. The Revolution
was installed in Christendom and Our Lord was ready to release His punishments.
But Our Lady intervened, pointing to the mission of those two men, and she
obtained the postponement of that chastisement, because the action of the
Revolution would be deferred by the action of those two saints.

In the 15th century the Revolution entered again with new force. Why did this
happen? Did God call another man to halt it? In this case, we would be facing
the possibility that a new St. Francis was called and did not correspond to his
vocation. Or perhaps the man corresponded and became a saint - St. Vincent
Ferrer, for example - but the people did not correspond to his appeal. We do not
know. What is certain is that from the 15th century on, the collapse of
Christendom has been continuous.

We can see the preventive counter-revolutionary action of St. Francis of Assisi.
By means of humility, purity and austerity, he put a brake on the pride and
sensuality of his times.

We should ask St. Francis, through the grand union he has with Our Lady, to
obtain for us a great spirit of humility and mortification so that we stop
thinking about ourselves and think only on the Catholic cause, without the
desire to appear, shine, or have fun. It should suffice for us only to know,
love, serve and glorify Our Lady through our whole life. We should also ask him
to help us fight with all our forces to destroy the Revolution, which he helped
to counter-attack in his times.


Saint Quote:
Mary's virginity and giving birth, and even the Lord's death escaped the notice
of the prince of this world; these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were
accomplished in God's silence.
--St. Ignatius of Antioch

Bible Quote:
Whether you eat or drink, or do anything else, do all for the glory of God ( I
Cor. 10:31)