 |
 |
 |
|
Icons by Br. Robert Lentz, ofm.
Influenced by his Russian Orthodox background and a period of study with a master iconographer, Lentz's unique style blends classical Eastern iconography with contemporary elements and "witnesses."
Dimensions: 10.75" x 8.5"
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
St. Francis helped reform the Roman Catholic Church in the thirteenth century through his example of personal poverty. He simply lived the Gospel as he took monastic life into the streets. Living among the poor, his example was so compelling that thousands followed. His reverence for everything led him to call animals, plants, and all of creation "brother" and "sister." Animals were known to respond to his respect and love with an amazing docility.
Near the end of his life he spent forty days in solitary prayer on Mt. Alverna. During this time he asked Jesus that he might experience, as much as he could, the love, pain, and grief that Jesus had experienced in his passion. In response to his prayer he was given the stigmata - wounds in his hands, feet, and side. The wounds remained, never healing, for the rest of his life.
Before Francis died, he asked his brothers to strip him of his ragged brown robe so that in total poverty he might lie naked on the bare ground. He had lived as God's troubadour, a bright flame by which others could read the Gospel with fresh insight and vision.
© Robert Lentz, 1987 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
