Saint Francis is today remembered as the saint who cared for animals and the environment. This is of course a Godly thing to promote, and Saint Francis is a good vessel for such beliefs. As recently as 1926, he was remembered still as the Patron Saint of the Italian nation state, and his persona was one who lived as Jesus. So slip on your simple tied robe get on your feet and walk the Holy Italian path. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Imagine a six stamp issue remembering Saint Francis of Assisi with no animals. Unthinkable today. Yet here we have Saint Francis with monasteries as he was a physical builder for the church. They also display his visions of Christ and on this stamp, the scene around his death. As Patron Saint of Italy the stamp makers could have had him with later flags or represent his time as a soldier. They wisely restrained from such modern repurposing. That would come in later years.
Todays stamp is issue A82, a 1.25 Lira stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy on January 30th, 1926. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations honoring the 700th anniversary of the death or Saint Francis of Assisi. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 90 cents used.
Saint Francis was born into a wealthy merchant family around 1180 AD. His father was away in France at the time of his birth on business. That business was successful and upon his return to Assisi, he renamed his son Francesco, which means the Frenchman in Italian. As a young man he was a soldier and worked in his fathers fabrics business. While praying in a dilapidated church, An icon of Jesus came to life and instructed him to rebuild his church which was falling down. He then took merchandise from his fathers business and tried to give it to the church which refused the stolen money. His father then brought him up on charges and he abandoned his birthright in exchange for clemency. Saint Francis now took on his modest clothes for which he was famous and began traveling around preaching to the poor and seeking help in renovating churches. In his travel he was gradually joined by his own 12 disciples. He traveled to Rome and the Pope gave him permission to form an Order of minor Friars. He later opened a second for Nuns and a third order open to church laity. All of which were successful. He attempted to take his message abroad, but here he was less successful. Trips to Morocco and Jerusalem had to be called off because of ship issues. There was also a trip to Egypt to try to convert the Sultan in order to influence the Crusades. The Sultan did not convert but also did not have Saint Francis killed as he expected if he fell short.
In his later years he stepped back from the orders but continued to travel and preach. During one trip he had a vision of experiencing the Crucifixion of Christ and became only the second Christian after Saint Paul to have stigmata from the vision. Stigmata were wounds corresponding to what Jesus experienced on the cross. He died shortly after and the Pope made him a Saint two years after death.
In 1979, Pope John Paul declared Saint Francis Patron Saint of Ecology, his teaching on kindness to animals was already well known. The current Pope is the first to take the name Francis, in this case in honor of the simple life in service of the poor. Saint Francis seems to lend himself to many repurposing to what the current generation wants to talk about. Perhaps this is okay. He tried to model his life and those of his orders to follow as close as possible the life of Jesus. Jesus had transcending teachings on many subjects.
Unfortunately, I am one of the many who fall short of this ideal so I will close. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.