RT Article
T1 Francis of Assisi and Brother Wolf
JF Concilium
IS 4
SP 83
OP 92
A1 Susin, Luiz Carlos 1949-
LA English
PB SCM Press
YR 2022
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1824124058
AB The thesis of this article is the connection between Francis of Assisi's fraternal relationship with animals and his spiritual path of both radical dispossession and deconstruction of hierarchy among creatures, including the human being. It emphasises the current historical-critical recovery of Franciscan sources and Francis's biography, with the distinction between his writings and later hagiographies. The secret of expanding the fraternity beyond the human species, especially through language and care, lies in the deepening of Francis's selflessness and in the sine proprium that gives him access to pure and universal fraternity, but also to discipleship in relation to every creature. Two examples will be analysed here: the prohibition of raising animals or riding horses, of the Rule Without a Bull, and the readiness to obey even wild animals. Hagiography, although it highlights Francis's hierarchy and submission of animals to human beings, preserves this root of sine proprium as a foundation for care and even mediation between humans and animals, as in the case of the Wolf of Gubbio according to I Fioretti. In conclusion, the "protector of animals" bequeaths a creaturely and fraternal relationship with dispossession, something more radical than poverty. Returning to the historical heritage, one can ask what was left of intuition after the institution (Théophile Desbonnets) in this specific topic.
K1 Human Beings
K1 Poverty
K1 Spirituality