St. Francis of Assisi

October 4th is the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi. He is mostly known for being a friend of all sorts of animals, even wolves, and so consequently he has ended up in statue-birdfeeder combo form in many Catholic backyards. (Guilty as charged.) He is also well-known for his hymn, 'Canticle of the Sun', which can be found in many different versions in your average hymn book or missalette.

Naturally, I have memes to suit this occasion.

Of course, he never said that because he actually said this:

Uh, nope. Just kidding. XD

St. Francis is often depicted thus in hagiographical (related to the study of saints) artwork since he bore the stigmata, or the wounds of Christ, which in him took the form of the marks of the nails in the palms of his hands and the mark of the spear in his side. Another stigmatist was St. Rita of Cascia, who had a mark of one of the thorns from the crown of thorns in her forehead.

A more recent stigmatist was St. Pio of Pieltrecina, more usually known as Padre Pio. His body was exhumed not long ago and found to be incorrupt. If memory serves, he was a Capuchin, who are a branch of the Franciscans, so it is very appropriate to mention him today, on the feast day of St. Francis himself.

Padre Pio also looked a lot like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Rumors that he had Force powers remain unconfirmed. These are not the rumors you are looking for.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse