Today is a special day here at St. Raphael’s for it is the ‘Blessing of the Animals’. On this day we remember St. Francis of Assisi, Italy, the saint who referred to the creatures of God and creation itself as Brother and Sister. For example, he would greet God’s creations as Sister Fire, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Sister Water, Brother Tree and Brother Wolf. St. Francis viewed the very elements of the Universe as intertwined into one large family. 
Because of his belief in the cosmic connection with all things created by God, St. Francis chose to live a very humble life and used only what was necessary from nature to stay alive. This meant for St. Francis to live a life of dire poverty. In fact, St. Francis embraced poverty as his bride calling her Lady Poverty. He even named his order of monks ‘Friars Minor’ as a reminder that they were the littlest of the brothers or the least of all the brothers.
The brothers were not allowed to own anything. For clothing they wore course robes tied with rope and went barefoot. They built their small huts of branches plastered with mud on land owned by another order of monks in Portiuncula and paid them with a basket of fish each year for rent. The huts were enclosed by a tall hedge. Inside each of the huts were sacks of straw for beds and a table and chairs.
Food for the Friars Minor came through begging. This meant harsh winters for the brothers when others were eating what they had stored away. Many times the brothers went hungry. When this would happen, St. Francis would sing and dance for the Lord and the hunger would go away as they all joined with him in worship of God. For St. Francis all of life even hunger was to be welcomed, because it was a form of sacrifice to God.
It is out of this feeling of closeness with all of creation that St. Francis had a special love for Brother Lamb, since Jesus is known as the sacrificial Lamb of God. It pained St. Francis for any lamb to be killed and eaten so he made it his special mission to rescue as many lambs as he could from being slaughtered. There are several stories that have been passed along that confirm this practice of St. Francis.
On one occasion, St. Francis met a peasant taking two lambs to be slaughtered. St. Francis exchanged his cloak for the two lambs. On another occasion on his way to see the bishop, St. Francis persuaded a merchant who was selling a lamb to give him his lamb. St. Francis then took the lamb with him and gave the lamb to the bishop. There is the tale of a tamed lamb known to follow St. Francis whenever he came near the lamb’s home in Portiuncula. Another story tells of St. Francis saving a lamb in Rome and giving it as a pet to Jacopa de Settesoli who was one of the benefactors for the Friars Minor. This wealthy woman had chosen to live a life of simplicity in order to share her wealth with others. Her home was always open to St. Francis in his travels to Rome. Because of her hospitality, St. Francis called her Brother Jacopa.
The lamb that St. Francis gave to Brother Jacopa followed her everywhere even to morning Mass. In fact, the lamb liked going to church so much that it would wake Brother Jacopa up if she overslept. Brother Jacopa spun the lamb’s wool into a fine woolen cloth and made a warm robe for St. Francis. Because of St. Francis’ vows of poverty he would not wear it. So Brother Jacopa set it aside and kept it for St. Francis.
Many years later she brought the lamb’s wool robe to St. Francis as he lay dying. The Little Brothers gathered around their beloved brother and joined with him in singing a welcome song to Sister Death. As the sun set, Sister Death came. The Little Brothers then dressed their beloved Teacher and Spiritual Leader in the lamb’s wool robe as his burial garment. The poor man of Assisi who had lived a gentle life of love for all met with joy the Lamb of God.
As St. Paul had written in his letter to the Philippians, St. Francis had pressed “on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”. In his pressing toward this goal, St. Francis left us many beautiful writings. Perhaps the most popular is his prayer of dedication to the Lord found in our Book of Common Prayer on page 833. Please join with me in praying this prayer.
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