Today Gubbio is easily accessible from Assisi on a newly constructed highway. In St. Those familiar with the life of St. Francis of Assisi know that he had a famous encounter with a wild wolf in Gubbio. In the lower area of the town is a Franciscan church, the Church of San Francesco.
It was built in the second half of the 13th century over the house of a family that welcomed St. Francis after he left Assisi and chose a life of poverty. Part of the wall of the house is preserved within the church. In front of the church is a large bronze sculpture of St. Francis and a wolf.
It recalls an event that took place in Gubbio see Little Flowers of St. Francis , Chapter According to the tale, a ferocious wolf was terrorizing the townspeople of Gubbio.
Francis went out to meet the beast, made the sign of the cross, and tamed it. He then brought it into town and made the people promise to feed the wolf and care for it which they did until its natural death.
The story of Francis and the wolf can be considered an allegory for Franciscan peacemaking. However, in , a sarcophagus containing the bones of an animal, probably a wolf, was discovered in a church in Gubbio.
Then St. Francis scolds Brother Wolf for destroying and killing the creatures of God. And so I promise that I will have food given to you regularly, Brother Wolf, by the people of this town so that you will no longer suffer hunger. And I want you, Brother Wolf, to promise that you will never harm any human person or animal.
And so Francis asks the people of the town if they will promise to provide food for wolf regularly. They all say they will. Finally, St. Francis asks the wolf to give a guarantee in front of all of the people that he will no longer inflict harm upon the people of Gubbio or its animals. Because of this action…there was such rejoicing and wonder among all the people…that they all began to cry to heaven, praising and blessing God who sent Francis to them who, through his merits, had freed them from the jaws of the cruel beast.
Finally after two years Brother Wolf died of old age, at which the citizens grieved very much. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and understanding…. What Isaiah is showing us here is a vision of a future era in which the original state of peace and harmony in the Garden of Eden, lost through disobedience and sin, is restored.
O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom thou has given the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty, so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to Thee in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realise that they live, not for us alone, but for themselves and for Thee, and that they love the sweetness of life.
When Gertrude was 10 years old, King Dagobert tried to arrange a marriage between her and the son of an Austrian duke in order to form a political alliance, but Gertrude refusSt Gertrudeed to marry him because she wanted to become a nun in the church instead, saying that she would only be married to Jesus Christ.
Gertrude did become a nun, and she worked with her mother to start a monastery at Nivelles, Belgium, where they both served as co-leaders.
Gertrude helped build new churches and hospitals, and she took care of travellers and local people in need such as widows and orphans. She also spent lots of time in prayer vigils. Gertrude was known for offering hospitality to animals as well as people. She was kind to the cats that hung around her monastery, offering them food and affection. Later, he became a hermit, living on Farne Island in a small cell. There he made friends with the birds, giving them his protection from hunters and sharing meals with them.
He is the patron saint of otters, and after standing waist-deep in the North Sea during his nightly prayer vigils, two otters would come and warm his feet.
Although he is best known as the founder of the Oratory Movement, he embraced vegetarianism on the grounds of animal welfare, not just on the grounds of abstinence. He also set captive birds free which, by their own choice, would not leave him. Animals were attracted to him. At one time, someone found a young bird in the chapel and brought it to him. Philip told them not to squeeze the bird or hurt it, but to open the window and let it fly away. On another occasion he was given a brace of live partridges for a meal, but he set them free.
He would also insist on flies being let out of the window instead of being swatted. He released captured mice into places of safety and expressed pity for animals on their way to slaughter. He cared for humans as well as for animals and saved an ex-Dominican heretic from execution.
St Melangell is the Welsh patron saint of animals. His hounds pursued their prey into a bramble thicket and, following them, he found a young woman praying and given up to divine contemplation, with the hare lying under the fold of her garments. The baying hounds also came under her calming influence and the exasperated prince gave up the chase and sat to listen to her story of escape and exile from Ireland.
Impressed by her piety and courage, he made a vow to present her with his lands for the service of God, that they might be a perpetual asylum, refuge and defence. Melangell lived there as a solitary for 37 years, after which a church with a shrine was built over her cell. Her church remained a place of sanctuary throughout the Middle Ages and the hares continued to be protected in the parish.
The conservation society, Cymdeithas Melangell, now promotes animal welfare. St Hubert c — AD is inaccurately known as the patron saint of hunters. As the legend tells, he lived in a forest in the Ardennes as a hunter. One Good Friday, when every one else was at Church, he was hunting in the forest, pursuing a magnificent stag. Hubert then went to Bishop Lambert who became his spiritual guide.
Hubert gave all his wealth to the poor and studied for the priesthood, living a holy life, fasting and praying. Eventually he became Bishop of Liege in AD.
St Hubert later became honoured by sportsmen as the originator of ethical hunting behaviour, although he renounced hunting after he had his vision. In fact, his hunting life had been seen by God as an unholy life, which would lead him to hell. Petroc is said to have been the son of a Welsh chieftain. He studied in Ireland before settling in Cornwall in the 4th century. About 30 years later he established another monastery at Little Petherick, where he built a mill and a chapel.
In his last years, Petroc lived as a hermit on Bodmin Moor. He built a cell there for himself by the river and a monastery for twelve monks who followed him. St Petroc died at Treravel while on a journey visiting his other monasteries.
He was buried at Padstow which became the centre of his cult. His relics were later moved to Bodmin where they remain to this day. In a disgruntled canon took them off to the abbey of St Mewan in Brittany. This event has been revived as part of the Bodmin Riding and Heritage Festival. The actual reliquary survived the Reformation and the destruction of the shrine.
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