So, lately I've been reviewing Thomas of Celano's 1st Life of St. Francis, and in the full life there's this section about his love of lambs that made me realize that he would have driven me crazy.
First, he sees a lamb amidst goats in a field, and because the lamb is the symbol of Christ, he goes to buy it, only he doesn't know what to do with it (eventually he gives it to a convent and they revere it).
Second, he sees a guy taking 2 lambs to market to slaughter, and he's upset, and he fortunately gets enough money right then to buy them, only then he doesn't know what to do with them, and eventually he decides to give them back to their original owner on the condition that he not kill them.
I honestly would have no patience for that. I guess people found that simplicity endearing, but I find it disorganized and extremely annoying. Honestly, if I was walking with him and he had finally gotten money to buy the 2 lambs but then was like, "Oh no, what do I do with them now?", I just know I would have been like, "Sorry, Francis, but I have shit to do, you go figure that out," and kind of cut my losses and kept on trucking and let him do whatever the fuck he was going to do. I really don't have time for shit like that, no matter how holy someone is. I just can't believe anyone would find that endearing.
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4 comments:
Beeeeeeeh!.... :)
These two anecdotes are unique to 1 Celano, although Bonaventure alludes, without details, to Francis rescuing lambs out of pity (LM 8.6). I wonder if the other lamb stories in LM 8.6-7 will give you a similar allergic reaction. I don't find the stories in I Celano as annoying as you do, but then again, I appreciate any glimpses into Francis' quirks in the earlier chronicles (these two stories did not find their way into subsequent vitae). He also got a lovely wool tunic out of the first deal made by those poor Clares in Colpersito, a tunic which, I think, is still kept among his relics at the Porciuncula (I should get you a little piece...:)...). Anyway, I will still lit a candle for you on his feast day (i.e. next Sunday when I'm Spain). Abrazos Francisquito... L.
Saints are only rational about one thing.
I should say, they are only *certain* to be rational about one thing.
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