Your post gave some beautiful testimony on St. Francis, JR. It is clear since you are a secular Franciscan, that you would have the highest veneration for him.
However, I believe the point Barb was trying to make is stated in the document you provided, where the Pope cautioned:
If some dare to compare one with another the heavenly heroes of sanctity destined by the Holy Ghost each to his own special mission among men - these comparisons, the fruit for the most part of party passions, are valueless and are at the same time an insult to God, the author of sanctity -
This is important for all of us to note, and I think was the basis of Barb’s concern, and mine as well in a PM to you.
You are correct that Francis was called “seraphic” by this Pope, and well he is. But so-called are other great saints of God. St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Clare are three that come to mind besides the ones you mentioned. It is possible that some others such as Padre Pio may also be granted that title, since he too bore the stigmata. I hear you imply that St. Francis was the Seraphic of seraphics, and that just may not be true even if the Pope himself believed it personally. Remember, there are other saints who have come to the forefront since this document was issued.
The point is that while a person may hold a particular saint in their highest veneration and rightly believe the saint is “seraphic” … that does not elevate St. Francis above all other saints in God’s kingdom. I realize that some will have a much greater degree of glory, as was explained by St. Teresa, but we know not who these may be until we get there to find out.
When Franciscan writers use such language, they do not mean to say that Francis has a higher place in God’s kingdom. Nor do they mean to say that other saints should be compared and found to be lacking. As the Church and the encyclicals clearly say, the saints receive the gift of the Holy Spirit according to their special vocation and mission within the Church. This can be said for all of us.
Franciscan writers, which is where I get the terminology from, use this terminology to attract people to the manner in which Francis lived the Gospel and to demonstrate for the faithful how much God loves us and what God can achieve if like Francis we are willing cooperators with his grace.
As to the term Seraphic, I’ve never heard it applied to anyone other than Francis and Bonaventure. It has nothing to do with the Stigmata. The term was applied to mean someone who’s sanctity has an angelic quality to them. A very similar term is applied to Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor.
In many cases the Church wants to draw attention to a particular trait of a saint that it believes to be worthy of imitation. That’s how she comes up with such adjectives to describe them. You have others who have been called “The Great”, most of them popes.
What we have to look at is how these persons imitated Christ and how Christ worked in their lives and learn from them. They are given to us as teachers and guides to holiness.
In these same documents the popes also remind us that the holiness of Francis or any other saint is the work of God in the human soul. Granted, we know that the person has to choose to love God in return. This is the part that we can learn from and imitate. We can’t do God’s part, but we can imitate the love that was shown to God by the saints.
That being said, I believe that every Order is going to respond to a topic such as the one on this thread from their point of emphasis. This does not make them wrong. This is just their emphasis.
On the other hand, I don’t want to be the cause of distraction in this dicussion. Therefore, I think it’s time that I withdraw from it so that it can continue withou getting sidetracked. I’m not sure that I’m really making much of a contribution here.
I have enjoyed the fellowship and the exchange of thoughts and I thank everyone on the thread for it. It’s been fun. I really mean that. I apologize if anyone is offended by anything that I may have said or not said and should have. I don’t come to CAF to offend or hurt anyone. I’m just very enthusiastic about the whole area of spirituality.
Thanks for allowing me to share.
Fraternally,
JR
