Humas as Ecologists

HUMANS AS
ECOLOGISTS
FIDES BERNARDO A. BITANGA
PHD IN DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION
PHD IN PHILOSOPHY
THE SIDE OF FRANCIS DE ASSISI
AS PHILOSOPHER
• Francis was born in the Italian town of Assisi
sometime between 1181 and 1182. He was the
son of a wealthy cloth merchant and dreamed in
his early life of becoming a knight. After he was
taken captive during a battle with a neighboring
town in 1201, Francis became severely ill. During
this time, his conversion began.
AS PHILOSOPHER
• Several years later, as he was beginning a new military
expedition, he had a dream in which God spoke to him,
and he returned to Assisi to tend to the sick. A year later,
in 1206, he had another vision, in which Jesus directed
him to rebuild his church. Francis first took this message
to mean to repair the Church of San Damiano, outside
Assisi, but later understood it as the wider church, and,
some say, even creation itself.
AS PHILOSOPHER
• From there, Francis fully committed himself to
the church, abandoning his possessions and
inheritance for a life of poverty and simplicity. He
went on to found the Order of Friars Minor
(commonly known today as the Franciscans),
along with co-founding the Order of St. Clare and
the Third Order Secular and Third Order Regular.
AS PHILOSOPHER
• He was known for his love of all creation (we'll get into
that more later), but also for his dedication to the poor,
peace and interreligious dialogue, such as his encounter
with the sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade.
• Francis died in October 1226. Less than two years later,

he was canonized a saint.
FRANCIS AS PATRON OF
ECOLOGY
• On Nov. 29, 1979, Pope John Paul II issued a papal bull
that declared St. Francis of Assisi the patron of ecology
and of those who promote ecology.
• In the bull, John Paul II wrote, "Among the holy and
admirable men who have revered nature as a wonderful
gift of God to the human race, St Francis of Assisi
deserves special consideration."
• The pope went on to note Francis' deep sense of the
Creator at work in the world, and through it, the presence
of the divine spirit. John Paul II mentioned too the
"Canticle of the Creatures," Francis' famous prayer poem
FRANCIS AS PATRON OF
ECOLOGY
• Naming Francis of Assisi as the patron saint of ecology came at the end of
the 1970s, a decade that witnessed the birth of the modern environmental
movement and began with the celebration of the first Earth Day, held in the
United States. The confluence of these two events may be more coincidence
than anything, as Earth Day didn't become a global event until 1990.
• In Catholic tradition, a patron saint is someone believed to have the ability
to intercede with God on behalf of someone's prayers. They are also titles
that honor the life that a saint lived. Other examples: St. Isidore, patron
saint of farmers. St. Elizabeth of Hungary, patron saint of bakers, St. Teresa
of Avila, patron saint of headaches, and St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of
journalists.
CANTICLE OF CREATURES
Praised be you, my Lord,
through our Sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains us and directs us
bringing forth all kinds of fruits
and colored flowers and herbs.
CANTICLE OF CREATURES
• The canticle is not just a hymn of praise, but a reflection
of how he encountered God in all things.
• "For Francis all creation became a theophany, a
manifestation of the goodness of God," writes Franciscan
Sr. Ilia Delio. "Francis praises God 'through' (per) the
elements of creation, for the Canticle discloses Francis'
view of nature as a sacramental expression of God's
generous love. This love binds us together in a family of
relationships, 'brother' and 'sister.' "
Bonaventure on Francis de
Assisi
• In his biography of Francis, St. Bonaventure, one of his early
followers and a doctor of the church, wrote of the saint, "He
rejoiced in all the works of the Lord's hands and through their
delightful display he rose into their life-giving reason and cause."
• Bonaventure continued: with an intensity of unheard devotion, he
savored in each and every creature — as in so many rivulets —
that fontal Goodness, and discerned an almost celestial choir
in the chords of power and activity given to them by God, and,
like the prophet David, he sweetly encouraged them to praise the
Lord.
Message
• God’s presence is not an immediate experience, an experience
through creation.
• Respect for creation sprang not from an obligation, but from love,
because he saw it as "intimately united" with God. "Everything
spoke to Francis of the infinite love of God.“
• "St. Francis called all creatures — and not merely those nonhuman
animals we classify as sentient, but rocks and trees alike — his
sisters and brothers because, in a real sense, they are.“
• Creation is "a free gift from God, given equally to all."
Examples
• Indeed, there are many stories from Francis' life that involve animals. In one,
Francis, with the sign of the cross as his only armor, tamed a wolf that was
terrorizing the town of Gubbio and convinced the creature to pledge to live in
peace with the people there. In another, he made nests for doves set for sale.
• He also directed his companions not to cut down the entire tree when gathering
firewood and to set aside a portion of the garden for wildflowers to bloom.
• One of the more popular ways people engage with Francis of Assisi is through
blessings of pets and animals at parish churches on his feast day. But some say
seeing the saint only as "Francis, friend of the animals" risks diluting his
ministry and message.
Francis on Francis
• In Laudato Si', Pope Francis too pointed to the radical nature of the
saint's approach to creation: "The poverty and austerity of Saint
Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much
more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used
and controlled."
• "He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for
nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior
peace," Pope Francis wrote.
• All of those elements are present in how humans treat the world in
which they live.
Ecology and its importance
today
• People are to recognize their interconnectedness with the
natural world, as well as how sinful acts have contributed
to current ecological crises and how future actions can
either contribute to fulfilling God's vision or thwart it.
• Encourage "an attitude of sharing, protection, respect and
brotherhood among all creatures.“
• Care for creation, including addressing climate change,
focal points of their public policy advocacy and work.

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HUMANS AS

• Francis died in October 1226. Less than two years later,

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