This year marks the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s composition of the “Canticle of the Creatures.” The poetic and theologically rich prayer, which language historians consider to be one of the earliest poems written in vernacular Italian (technically it’s composed in an Umbrian dialect) and the predecessor of works like Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, is undoubtedly the most famous of Francis’ writings…
The late British theologian Franciscan Fr. Eric Doyle wrote, “All beautiful words and music come from the mystery of personhood, welling up from the inner depths. It is therefore not so remarkable that Francis, though blind, was able to write a song about the beauty and unity of creation.”
It wasn’t necessarily about seeing the visual beauty of creation, but about recognizing the intrinsic goodness of God’s community of which he was (and we are) already a part…
Source: National Catholic Reporter
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