Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) is known as a patron of animals, whose actions inspired Pope John Paul II, in 1990, to say that animals have souls.
In Peace to All Beings: Veggie Soup for the Chicken’s Soul, Judy Carman shares the following story (from St. Francis of Assisi by Lawrence Cunningham):
“St. Francis was struggling with an illness that didn’t seem to be getting any better. A nobleman who loved and admired Francis sent him a living pheasant, thinking it would make a healing soup for Francis to eat. Instead of eating him, however, St. Francis was over-joyed just to be near the beautiful bird, and they became great friends. Francis was often heard saying to the bird, “Praised be our Creator, Brother Pheasant!””
Similarly, in The Little Flowers of St. Francis: And Other Franciscan Writings, translated by Serge Hughes, St. Francis is depicted as going out to preach to his “sisters the birds” saying: “My sisters, guard yourselves against the sin of ingratitude, and always seek to praise God.”
Later in that same text, there are references to St. Francis, as well as many monks within his order, believing that one should eat whatever one is given, as a gift from God. That led me to write, in the introductory section of my book Vegan Ramayana:
“Saint Francis deeply loved all living creatures, and preached to them as though they had souls just like humans. He endearingly called the feathered beings “sister birds”… So then why would he eat whatever was placed before him? Apparently he said that the Holy Gospel instructed people to eat whatever was placed before them. That seems inconsistent with his love for all the animals. Did he actually eat meat, or was that invented by later Franciscan writers?”
Well, I just finished reading The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA by Norm Phelps, who wrote: “Contrary to popular opinion, Francis was not a vegetarian, and the Rule of the Franciscan Order, which he founded, is not and never has been vegetarian, although there are many individual Franciscans who are.”
Phelps says that according to Brother Bonaventure’s biography of Francis, the Catholic Church’s “patron saint of the animals,” St. Francis, typically ate a daily diet of a small amount of bread with herbs or soup, but when he was sick (which he often was), “he would relent and eat meat… Once he had recovered, he would repent his “lapse” and castigate himself publicly — not for eating the bodies of murdered animals, but for giving in to his body and letting it get the better of his will.”
So, Saint Francis loved some animals, but he ate other animals. Since he ate some animals, should he be called a patron of animals?
This highlights some of the most important moral questions of our world: Why do people love some kinds of animals, but they harm other kinds of animals? Why are baby puppies cuddled, but baby chickens are abused? Why are baby kittens revered and blessed, but baby lambs are slaughtered and eaten?
If you are not yet vegan, and you are still considering eating the flesh of a killed turkey being for your winter holidays, please contemplate these questions… and then please go vegan!
Pheasant: Mabel Amber on Pixabay.
