Fact Sheet:
St. Francis of America by Patricia Appelbaum

Francis of Assisi was born in 1181 or 1182 and died in 1226. After growing up in a well-off family, he
embraced absolute poverty as the truest way to follow Jesus. There is good historical evidence for the
outlines of his life, and there are also many legends and stories about him. It is not always clear where
history ends and legend begins.

Unlike most Roman Catholic saints, Francis is widely popular among American non-Catholics. He has
been interpreted and represented in a wide variety of ways and in many different media.

The reasons for his popular appeal change over time, in response to historical events and changes in
American culture. And yet, although images of Francis are historically conditioned, they very often
represent an alternative to the prevailing culture.

Many of these images come from anonymous sources and little-known historical figures. Well-known
commentators on Francis have included Matthew Arnold, John Ruskin, Paul Sabatier, Walter
Rauschenbusch, Vida Scudder, Henry Adams, G. K. Chesterton,
Dorothy Day, Robert Lawson, Nikos Kazantzakis, Bernard Malamud,
J. D. Salinger, Leonardo Boff, Matthew Fox, Gretel Ehrlich, and Jim
Wallis.

Protestants “rediscovered” Francis in the mid- to late nineteenth
century. This happened in the context of a complicated encounter
with Catholicism which incorporated historical studies, aesthetics,
travel, immigration, religious practices, and much more. Religious
seekers and freethinkers were also interested in Francis.

By the early twentieth century, Francis was well known across the
whole spectrum of Protestantism and beyond. He was particularly
important to Social Gospel Christianity. Roman Catholics began
issuing counter-arguments about the “real” St. Francis.

A sense of place and a practice of pilgrimage have been important in modern appropriations of St. Francis.
Many devotees have commented that one cannot understand him completely without visiting Assisi. While
this seems odd in Protestant and modern contexts—which generally reject the notion of particularly holy
places—it reflects a larger human attachment to geographies and material things.
[more]
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Irony, reversal, and foolishness were the themes of significant literature of the 1920s. These themes
reflected a cultural spirit of the postwar era, but also resisted and subverted culture. During the Depression,
the idea of Francis as saint of poverty was maintained among marginal social activists, pacifists, and simple
living advocates.

Three important forms of expression entered the mainstream during the 1920s and 30s. These are garden
statues depicting St. Francis with birds, often with a birdbath as well; the prayer attributed to St. Francis,
which begins “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace”; and the hymn “All Creatures of our God and
King,” a paraphrase of Francis’s Canticle of the Sun. All have shaped the way Americans envision Francis.
The prayer and the use of statuary moved beyond the boundaries of Christianity very early in their history.

By the end of World War II, Francis was embedded in mainstream “consensus” culture. Yet he appeared in
many contexts as a challenge to culture—perhaps most notably in Vedanta Hinduism and in Jewish
literature. Some works of this period also implicitly represent Francis as American.

Francis was associated with the origins of the hippie movement. He was patron saint of the Summer of
Love in San Francisco (1967) and signified peace and love in the Vietnam era. He inspired experimental
religious communities. Also in 1967, a widely-read article proposed Francis as the patron saint of ecology
as that movement arose. Franco Zeffirelli’s movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1973) built on the hippie
sensibility but also moved beyond it.

Neo-evangelicals began to explore Francis’s story in the early 1980s, and he has since become incorporated
into evangelical piety. Liberation theology and creation spirituality offered new visions of Francis, crossing
Catholic-Protestant boundary lines.

In the mid-1980s Protestants began holding “blessing of the animals” services, often on St. Francis’s
traditional feast day. The rapid growth of these services reflected Americans’ changing relationships with
animals, rising ecological awareness, and changes in Protestant spirituality and practice. Some nonChristians have also adopted the practice.

A survey of living people shows how Francis is incorporated into diverse everyday lives. People use the
available cultural materials in creative and individual ways, including private devotion, professional
support, and social activism. Some affirm culture and others critique it.

Three recent trends seem likely to continue. First is a growing interest in Francis as an emissary to Islam
and a symbol of interreligious dialogue. Second is Francis as a postmodern figure, comfortable with flux
and uncertainty. And third, new sayings and poems are spuriously attributed to Francis, perhaps because his
name lends authority.

In an epilogue, the book reflects on the meanings of saints for non-Catholics and on the meanings of history
for religious practitioners.