October 4 is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.  Among saints honored in the Christian tradition, Francis is the one most closely associated with animals.  The man who would eventually become St. Francis was born Giovanni di Pietro de Bernardone in Assisi, Umbria, Italy in 1181.  His father was a silk merchant.  Legend has it that when selling silk at the market one day, Francis was approached by a beggar asking for alms.  He was so affected by this request that he gave the man everything he had, thus incurring his father’s rage and foreshadowing his own devotion to poverty.

One day, while travelling with companions, Francis noticed the birds in the trees on either side of the road.  He stopped to preach to “his sisters the birds.”  Legend has it that the birds were so taken by the power of his preaching that they all drew close to him, with some even lighting on his hands and shoulders, none leaving him until the sermon was over.

According to another legend, Francis once came upon a wolf who had been terrifying and devouring not only other animals, but also humans.  Francis blessed the wolf, led him into town before an amazed populace, and negotiated a peace whereby the townspeople would feed the wolf, who, in return, would no longer attack and kill humans or other beasts.

He is also credited with creating the first nativity scene featuring live animals.

Francis died in 1226 and was canonized in 1228 by Pope Gregory IX.  In 1979, Pope John Paul II declared Francis the patron saint of ecology.  The current Pope, Francis, took his papal name as a tribute to St. Francis, and as an indication that he valued both Francis’s Christ-likeness and his devotion to poverty and holiness.

Happy St. Francis Day to you and all the animals you encounter.