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St. Francis of Assisi: Stigmata & Praise

    October 4th was the feast day for St. Francis of Assisi. Everybody loves St. Francis!

      What St. Francis loved most of all was Jesus! One of the prayers in the Liturgy for his feast day refers to “the mystery of the Cross which St. Francis so ardently embraced.”

      In 1224, two years before his death, on a morning near to September 14th (Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross), St. Francis was praying alone on a mountain top. (Well, Brother Leo was supposed to be somewhere else, but he snuck back to stay and observe his beloved father “alone” at prayer, which is how we know the story.) Francis was in the midst of a 40-day fast, praying fervently, in deep contemplation with ecstasy.

      Then it happened: a vision of a gleaming six-winged seraph descending from heaven. As the seraph quickly flew towards him, Francis could see that the seraph was crucified! It was the Lord! Jesus Crucified! Francis’ soul felt joy mingled with pain and overwhelming compassion for his Lord.

      After a mysterious, intimate conversation together, the seraph left and Francis’ soul was afire with seraphic love for Christ. Wondrously, he discovered now in his physical flesh the marks of Christ’s passion. Francis’ hands and feet had the wounds, but more: somehow physical nails (of flesh? appearing like wax, they say) had been formed so that the heads of the nails were inside his palms and on top of his feet, with the pointed ends sticking out the other side. (This is not known to have occurred for any other stigmatic in history.) His right side had a blood-red wound as if it had been pierced with a lance, flowing blood. Francis now bore in his flesh the sacred stigmata, made by the living God.

      While still on the mountain, St. Francis composed a hymn: “The Praises of God.”

You are the holy Lord God Who does wonderful things.
You are strong. You are great. You are the Most High.
You are the Almighty King.
You holy Father – King of heaven and earth.
You are three and one, the Lord God of gods;
You are the good, all good, the highest good. Lord God living and true.
You are love, charity. You are wisdom. You are humility.
You are patience. You are beauty. You are meekness.
You are security. You are rest.
You are gladness and joy. You are our hope. You are justice.
You are moderation. You are all our riches to sufficiency.
You are beauty. You are meekness.
You are the protector. You are our custodian and defender.
You are strength. You are refreshment. You are our hope.
You are our faith. You are our charity.
You are all our sweetness. You are our eternal life:
Great and wonderful Lord, Almighty God, Merciful Savior.

      John Michael Talbot has beautifully set this to music titled, “Hymn to the Praises of God.” Any search engine can bring it up over the Internet.

Dibby Allan Green


Originally published in the print edition of the Mojave Desert News of October 12, 2023. 
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org. 
Dibby Allan Green has a BA in Religious Studies (Westmont College, 1978) and MA in Theology (Augustine Institute, 2019), is a lay Catholic hermit, and a parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.
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