St. Francis Prayer NOT by Saint Francis

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This isn’t news. The Franciscans have always said that it was in the spirit of St. Francis but not actually the words of St. Francis.

If you look at the American Catholic web site (run by Franciscans) you’ll find this item from 1999:

*Q: I have been told recently that the famous prayer attributed to St. Francis, “Lord, make me an instrument…,” was not written by him. Is this correct? Who wrote it? Why is it then attributed to St. Francis of Assisi?
*
A: According to St. Anthony Messenger’s columnist Albert Haase, O.F.M., in the January 1999 issue, St. Francis had nothing to do with writing the prayer. The earliest version has been found in the breviary of England’s William the Conqueror, king from 1066 to 1087. That’s nearly 200 years before Francis of Assisi.

According to Haase, Cardinal Francis Spellman attached the name of St. Francis, his patron saint, to the prayer. In visiting Assisi to celebrate his appointment to the College of Cardinals, he found the prayer under the title of “A Simple Prayer” with a picture of St. Francis.

After the cardinal returned to the United States, he passed out copies under the title of “The Peace Prayer of St. Francis.”

While Francis did not write the prayer, it is very much in his spirit.
 
I knew that, but it is written in the spirit of St Francis! The spirit of St Francis is deeply rooted in the gospels!
 
Shhhhhh, Trishie - the next thing they’ll say is that the Gospels weren’t actually written by Apostles…🤷
 
FickleFreckled said:
Shhhhhh, Trishie - the next thing they’ll say is that the Gospels weren’t actually written by Apostles…🤷
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Only two of the Gospels were written by Apostles, Matthew and John. Mark and Luke were not Apostles. This has been known since the first century of the Church. John’s Gospel has two writers. The Prologue is written by a differen author.

Sorry 🤷 that secret has been out longer than the Peace Prayer.

JR 🙂
 
A New York times investigative reporter has uncovered the fact that the prayer was actually composed by St. Clare during her unsuccessful bid for ordination. Her contemporary Francis later had the prayer published under his own name.

As long as we’re debunking, might as well get to the bottom of things…
 
JimG said:
A New York times investigative reporter has uncovered the fact that the prayer was actually composed by St. Clare during her unsuccessful bid for ordination. Her contemporary Francis later had the prayer published under his own name.

As long as we’re debunking, might as well get to the bottom of things…
Click to expand...
Really! The New York Times investigator?
I’m sure he got to the bottom of things:rolleyes:
According to this New York Times Investigator( sorry I just find that incredibly funny and hogwash) St Francis was a plagerist and a fraud!
 
Nordar said:
Really! The New York Times investigator?
I’m sure he got to the bottom of things:rolleyes:
According to this New York Times Investigator( sorry I just find that incredibly funny and hogwash) St Francis was a plagerist and a fraud!
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My sources are of course, impeccable, being non-existent. I can’t blame that one on the NY Times, it was just a flight of fancy. The source of the prayer is apparently uncertain, as are many things. I don’t know that it has been definitively shown that it did not originate with St. Francis.
 
JimG said:
My sources are of course, impeccable, being non-existent. I can’t blame that one on the NY Times, it was just a flight of fancy. The source of the prayer is apparently uncertain, as are many things. I don’t know that it has been definitively shown that it did not originate with St. Francis.
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Well I will continue to believe it came from St Francis! 😃
 
From the Fransiscans site

http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/archive/stfrancis/stf_st_francis’_peace_prayer.htm

From: The Franciscan Archive

Origin of this Prayer

The first appearance of the Peace Prayer occurred in France in 1912 in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell). It was published in Paris by a Catholic association known as La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The Holy Mass League), founded in 1901 by a French priest, Father Esther Bouquerel (1855-1923). The prayer bore the title of ‘Belle prière à faire pendant la messe’ (A Beautiful Prayer to Say During the Mass), and was published anonymously. The author could possibly have been Father Bouquerel himself, but the identity of the author remains a mystery.

The prayer was sent in French to Pope Benedict XV in 1915 by the French Marquis Stanislas de La Rochethulon. This was soon followed by its 1916 appearance, in Italian, in L’Osservatore Romano [the Vatican’s daily newspaper]. Around 1920, the prayer was printed by a French Franciscan priest on the back of an image of St. Francis with the title ‘Prière pour la paix’ (Prayer for Peace) but without being attributed to the saint. Between the two world wars, the prayer circulated in Europe and was translated into English. Its has been attributed the first time to saint Francis in 1927 by a French Protestant Movement, Les Chevaliers du Prince de la Paix (The Knights of the Prince of Peace), founded by Étienne Bach (1892-1986).
The first translation in English that we know of appeared in 1936 in Living Courageously, a book by Kirby Page (1890-1957), a Disciple of Christ minister, pacifist, social evangelist, writer and editor of The World Tomorrow (New York City). Page clearly attributed the text to St. Francis of Assisi. During World War II and immediately after, this prayer for peace began circulating widely as the Prayer of St. Francis, specially through Francis cardinal Spellman’s books, and over the years has gained a worldwide popularity with people of all faiths.

For more information : see the book by Dr. Christian Renoux, La prière pour la paix attribuée à saint François : une énigme à résoudre, Paris, Editions franciscaines, 2001, 210 p. : 12.81 euros + shipping (ISBN : 2-85020-096-4). – Order From: Éditions franciscaines, 9, rue Marie-Rose F-75014 Paris.

Original Text of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Belle prière à faire pendant la Messe

Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
Là où il y a de la haine, que je mette l’amour.
Là où il y a l’offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l’union.
Là où il y a l’erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l’espérance.
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.

Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant à être consolé qu’à consoler, à être compris qu’à comprendre, à être aimé qu’à aimer, car c’est en donnant qu’on reçoit, c’est en s’oubliant qu’on trouve, c’est en pardonnant qu’on est pardonné, c’est en mourant qu’on ressuscite à l’éternelle vie.

Source: La Clochette, n° 12, déc. 1912, p. 285.
 
using google translator…

A Beautiful Prayer to Say During the Mass

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there was hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, let me sow pardon.
Where there is discord, let me sow union.
Where there is error, let me sow truth.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith.
Where there is despair, let me sow hope.
Where there is darkness, let me sow your light.
Where there is sadness, let me sow joy.

O Master, that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, because it is in giving that we receive it is in forgetting that it is found, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we rise to eternal life.

👍

*Even though St Francis didn’t write this prayer, no doubt he would agree with its sentiments. *
 
The issue that people are confusing regarding the authorship is that there is no evidence that Francis of Assisi wrote the prayer, but there is not evidence that he did not write it or use it.

All we know is that the prayer first appeared in public use about 100 years ago…

The same situation is true of the Lord’s Prayer. Many believe that Jesus is the “author” of that prayer. In fact it was an old Jewish prayer that Jesus made his own and passed on to his disciples.

Authorship is not the only way that a prayer becomes the “property” of an individual. The person who uses it and introduces it into the larger circle is often attributed with the origins.

JR 🙂
 
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