The center put on a play recently depicting this famous story about Saint Francis. Here’s a translation of the story from the Vatican Website (an excerpt from from Bill Thayer )
"In the days when Saint Francis dwelt in the city of Agobbio, a very large, terrible and ferocious wolf appeared in the county of Agobbio, who not only devoured animals, but even men; so that all the townspeople were in great fear, since very often it drew nigh unto the city; and all went armed when they left the city, as if they were going off to battle; yet with all that they could not defend themselves from him, if they chanced to meet him alone. And for fear of this wolf it came to pass that no one dared to leave the area. Having compassion for the people of the area, Saint Francis wished to go out to this wolf, although the townspeople advised him not to do it at all; and making the sign of the most holy cross, he left town with his companions, placing all his trust in God. And doubting that the others would go any farther, Saint Francis took the opposite path to where the wolf was.
And lo, seeing many townspeople who had come to see this miracle, the said wolf came to meet Saint Francis, with his mouth open; and approaching him Saint Francis made the sign of the most holy cross, and called him to himself and spoke thus: "Come here, Brother Wolf, I command you in the name of Christ not to harm me or any other person." An astonishing thing to say!
The instant Saint Francis had made the sign of the cross, the terrible wolf closed his mouth and ceased running; and upon being commanded, came tamely like a lamb…
(Read the full story…)
Molly Druffner recently wrote, produced, and directed a play on Father Casey. From Father Solanus Casey: Saint of Love and Humility For our Modern Age:
Bernard (”Barney” ) Casey was born in a three room log cabin, near Oak Grove, Wisconsin on November 25, 1875. He grew up on a farm in a very large Catholic family. Prior to celebrating his first communion in 1883, Barney dreamed about the rosary; the special message within his dream greatly strengthened his faith. As a young boy, though he was physically weak (as a result of diphtheria), he was strong spiritually. He prayed and helped his familiy in the face of crop failure and poverty. He put the needs of his family before his own. As a teenager, he saved a man from drowning, believing that the help of Our Lady made it possible. As a young man several difficult incidents brought him even closer to God: the ending of a relationship with a girl whom he loved, and being a witness to a murder. Barney decided that he wanted to devote his life to God, as a priest.
Listen to a lecture by Peter Kreeft on contrasting two classics, Percy Walker’s Lost in the Cosmos and C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, on the topics of Natural Law, humor and irony, direct and indirect communication, the nature of self, knowing vs. knowing about, and others.
The artist, image of God the Creator
1. None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.
That is why it seems to me that there are no better words than the text of Genesis with which to begin my Letter to you, to whom I feel closely linked by experiences reaching far back in time and which have indelibly marked my life. In writing this Letter, I intend to follow the path of the fruitful dialogue between the Church and artists which has gone on unbroken through two thousand years of history, and which still, at the threshold of the Third Millennium, offers rich promise for the future.
In fact, this dialogue is not dictated merely by historical accident or practical need, but is rooted in the very essence of both religious experience and artistic creativity. The opening page of the Bible presents God as a kind of exemplar of everyone who produces a work: the human craftsman mirrors the image of God as Creator. This relationship is particularly clear in the Polish language because of the lexical link between the words stwórca (creator) and twórca (craftsman).
(Read on …)
