Pet saint

Hey, You, and Guys were the rather silly names that my siblings and I gave our three native cats when we were still children. We thought that it would greatly simplify calling them. I remember hollering “Hey You Guys!” and they would all run and chase me towards our coconut tree. Just as I thought they would pounce on me, they’d suddenly zoom up the tree using their sharp claws and powerful hindquarters to power themselves upwards. Aside from that wildcat trio, I grew up with a parade of other pets that included dogs, rabbits, turtles, and even a monkey. I was therefore perfectly at home the other day when my children’s school had a pet parade as part of its observance of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Francis, of course, is one of the more famous Catholic saints and the acknowledged founder of the Franciscan Order. He is also known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. Many of the stories about the life of St. Francis deal with his love for animals. Perhaps the most famous story is that of the Wolf of Gubbio. According to legend, there was a ferocious wolf that was terrorizing the people of Gubbio, a town in Italy where St. Francis lived for some time. Francis decided to go up into the hills to confront the wolf. As the wolf charged towards him, Francis made the sign of the cross and gently said, “In the name of Christ, I order you not to hurt anyone.” The wolf miraculously became as meek as a lamb and lay obediently down at his feet. He led the wolf into the town where he gave a stirring sermon about love and peace. On behalf of the wolf, he then offered the townspeople peace. In return, he asked the townspeople to feed the wolf inasmuch as he had only “done evil out of hunger.” From that day on, the wolf and the people of Gubbio lived together in peace. In fact, the wolf became a beloved pet to the townspeople and they all mourned when the wolf finally died of old age several years later.

Re-enacting the saint’s triumphant march into town with the wolf, the students paraded down the main driveway with their respective pets in tow. The teachers and other children lined the road and cheered as each child and pet passed. Afterwards, we all headed towards the school center where we sat in a big circle and listened as children from Grade 1 all the way up to Grade 12 read a verse that they had personally written about their pet. Even the editor-in-chief (or should I say, “editor-in-pet”) of The Philippine STAR got into the act by pinch-hitting for his daughter and delivered a stirring poem about their poodle. Regardless of age, there is truly something special about the human-animal bond that, as author Karin Winegar wrote, “…bypasses the intellect and goes straight to the heart and emotions and nurtures us in ways that nothing else can.”

Yet as we recall the life of St. Francis and his love for animals and nature, I think it’s important to understand that when he referred to the wolf as “brother wolf” or to the moon as “sister moon,” it was not mere personification or just a literary figure of speech. He truly believed that since all of creation was from God, then “all are real kin.” As Catholic authorities assert, “Francis’s love of creatures was not simply the offspring of a soft or sentimental disposition; it arose rather from that deep and abiding sense of the presence of God, which underlay all he said and did.” Another thing that is sometimes overlooked because of his cheerful disposition was how hard a life St. Francis actually lived. He practised a life of charity, humility, and extreme poverty, the latter of which he sought to make the special characteristic of the Franciscan Order. In one famous prayer, Francis asks, “O Lord, I beg of you two graces before I die, to experience personally and in all possible fullness the pains of your bitter Passion, and to feel for You the same love that moved You to sacrifice Yourself for us.” He got his wish and he endured so much hardship that he even asked the forgiveness of “Brother Ass” as he termed his own body. I remember my dad telling me once that when the people heard that Francis had died, they actually cheered. They celebrated because they knew that they had been witness to the life of a true saint. Indeed, of all the heroes of the Catholic Church, it is said that Francis is the one saint whom all succeeding generations universally agreed to canonize.

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