Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
We're continuing our series on Franciscan spirituality today, looking at St. Francis as a true renewer, as a true reformer of art and of the Church. As we always say, true reformers reform themselves, and that's what Francis did. By extension, he helped renew art and the Church at the same time.
Thomas of Celano, in his biographer, in his introduction to his treatise on the miracles of St. Francis, quickly retraces the time and mission of our Seraphic father when he writes this: People observed that the old world was growing filthy with a minge of vices, that the old orders were slipping away from the footprints of the apostles, that the night of sinners had reached mid-course in its journey, and silence had been imposed on sacred studies. Just then, suddenly, there leapt upon the earth a new man, a new army quickly appeared, and peoples marveled at the signs of an apostolic newness, says Thomas of Celano.
The new man he talks about, of course, is St. Francis, who, as Dante writes, caused the earth to take some comfort from his mighty influence. That's what the saints always do, they give us some comfort in their presence. And it's a fact that renewal in the style of the gospel, the conception of life, of man, of nature, Francis also gave a renewing impulse to art as well, which had been a bit fixed in conventional types and in images too. And he gave artists a freedom and a joyful youthfulness in embracing new ideals and new forms. Though the iconographer looking at the frescoes of Giotto might gasp if they hear me say that, and Father Ciccarelli write that as well, but still, be that as it may.
Besides being an artist, Francis is himself a work of art, as we've said before, he's an ideal of art. As one writer says, he's a poet who, in the ardor of self-forgetfulness and in the desire to transcend himself, gave himself entirely to the ideal of the God-man. It's in this way that the humble Francis, who didn't want to have anything to do with fancy learning, was made a living expression of the beauty of Jesus. He was made an inspiration for a rebirth in art. And he showed artists the way to a naturalism which breeds a purity and is rich in drama, full of candor, full of expressive power.
One writer says that Francis pointed the artist to Christ and made the once scorned nature the legitimate intermediary between God and man, meaning that Francis made the life of Christ, which was forgotten and misunderstood, come to life again, and he made it come to life again specifically in the arts. In his enamored soul and in his crucified members, he revealed the incomparable beauty that gave Jesus the right to reign, to inspire, and to draw everything to himself. Francis made it understood that through nature, through what's human, art could and can express what's divine.
The tomb of St. Francis became the cradle of the re-flowering of Christian art, as Bernard of Quintavalle was the firstborn of his spiritual generation of Francis, Giotto was the firstborn of his generation in art, and the gospel of the new art had its own unmistakable light, a spiritual transfiguration of reality, a decisive orientation towards a model and a supreme ideal, which was Jesus crucified. It was a sane naturalism, mystical and also real at the same time, an optimistic composite which came from a harmonious and balanced theological conception, a simplicity of conception of line and of forms.
In this way, art, while it audaciously attempted to reproduce and represent the divine, also drew nearer to the people and became intelligible to them too, and it made itself loved because, following the impulse of Francis and his simplicity, it represented Christ living in his holy and gentle humanity, simple and sublime, poor and divinely fascinating, painful, sorrowful, and glorious at the same time. The people, to whom the heart is always more accessible, recognized Jesus in the new works of art. It was an ancient knowledge that had been lost but hadn't been lost to the soul. They recognized God in these new forms and many were able to love him in a stronger way thanks to it and thanks to the renewer of Christ crucified, who was St. Francis of Assisi.
So let's ask Our Lady today for the grace to see the beauty and the goodness of life so that Our Lord can renew and refashion our minds and our hearts, and then by extension, we can help renew the face of the earth.
Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever