Italy has chosen greatness again, restoring the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi to its rightful place as a national holiday.

St. Francis was the greatest Italian who ever lived.

According to Reuters:

It's awesome. Italy is a nation that is absolutely dripping in greatness -- in its artists, its poets, its scientists -- but it was St. Francis who opened the gates to this country's many renaissances and its humanism.

Sure, we know the lefty version of St. Francis -- the guy who loved animals, peacenikery, environmentalism, blocks of ice, and social justice.

But that isn't really who he was.  There's reason to think he'd had the NGO rackets, which thrive on creating more poverty and illegal immigrants in the name of raising funds while living on six-figure salaries, or the eco-wackos who want to see humanity erased from the Earth. He would have despised such people. And a wimp he was not.

The 12th century mendicant religious was a strong and powerful man whose gutsiness amounted to 'just do it,' by the standards of his era. Rather than fuss about with the fripperies of the clergy at the time, he embaced full poverty and devoted his life, really and truly, to serving the poor, taking a direct cue from the Gospels themselves by just living it.

He was strong enough to get rid of all his inherited wealth, strong enough to negotiate with even wild animals (let alone Muslim chieftains), and strong enough and loving enough to embrace all creation as an extension of his single-minded devotion to God.

Francis was not only great through his embrace of Christ-sought poverty, he managed to influence countless leaders across Europe -- just look at the story of Queen St. Elizabeth of Hungary -- who went on to found hospitals in his honor. They didn't have much in the way of hospitals before that. His other progeny included St. Junipero Serra, a Franciscan friar, went on to Christianize the New World, because unlike a lot of Europeans of the time, he wanted to save the Native Americans from Spanish slaughter (which would have happened if the Spanish considered them pagan 'savages') and in his Franciscan humanism, he recognized that the Indians were humans with souls and he wanted to bring salvation to them. 

Meanwhile, Francis's oratory and troubadour spirit led to great poetry -- the Canticle of the Sun -- and great art flowed from it -- from Cimabue and Giotto, and Fra, Angelico, an actual saint himself.

He also came up with the idea of manger scenes at Christmas -- an idea so wonderful it is still practiced today in every country.

And he's still producing other saints -- the world's newest saint, St. Carlo Acutis, the computer whiz kid who was named a saint last month, was profoundly influenced by St. Francis and asked to be buried in Assisi to be near the great saint's hometown. Eight hundred years after his death, St. Francis is still producing saints.

That's influence an 'influencer' on Instagram could only dream of.

On the eco-and social justice front, well, he's not what the lefties say he was. His love for the Earth and its treasures was fresh and new and all about giving glory to their Creator. Animals, even wild ones, loved him as they respect and understand strength and authority.

The supposedly apocryphal story of the wolf that was terrorizing the little town of Gubbio, Italy tells us a lot.

Here is how Bishop Barron's Word on Fire site recounted the story:

The story of the saint and the wolf is that the wolf terrorized the inhabitants of the small Italian town.  Not only did the wolf kill and devour livestock but it began to attack and devour humans.  All attempts to kill the wolf failed and the people of the town would literally shut the town down in fear whenever the wolf would appear. 

St. Francis heard of this and decided to go and meet the wolf.  The huge wolf rushed toward Francis as soon as he saw the saint approaching his lair.  St. Francis made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf in the name of God to stop his terrorizing of the town.  Immediately, the wolf became docile before the saint. 

Francis went on to condemn the wolf for his attacks not just on animals but upon men and women who are made in the image of God. 

Francis told the wolf that if he ended his attacks he would see to it that the inhabitants of Gubbio would provide him with the food he needed. 

The story goes that the wolf placed his paw in Francis’ hand in agreement. 

Francis then walked the docile wolf back into the main square of Gubbio to the astonishment of the inhabitants and there reiterated the promise.  Again the wolf placed his paw in the saint’s hand in agreement.  The saint had tamed the wolf.

Sure, it's just a story, and 800 years old, so we don't know how much of it is true as we'd recognize it. The people of today's Gubbio certainly believe it's true.

But the message is clear enough: Francis confronted the evil he saw and called it that. He didn't pretend, like a Democrat would, that the attacks weren't happening, or that every time someone's kid was eaten, it was a statistical aberration and send his 'thoughts and prayers' if not blame Trump. No, Francis called the problem for what it was and put a stop to it, not with the sword, as St. George did in his slaying of the dragon (which represented the devil) but by recognizing the wolf's animal nature (which is not that of a devil) and negotiating a solution that would keep the kids from being attacked and gave the wolf what it needed. The people were to put out dog food for the wolf and the wolf was to refrain from attacking the people and livestock. Basically, they made the wolf into a pet, and the concept of 'pet' was unknown until Francis lived. Pets, of course, are ubiquitous now, perhaps because of St. Francis, too. But the message here is that Man, not beast, would control the wolf's diet, and man, not beast, would be the master of nature, not the other way around. 

That is a unifying message, and it does Italy proud to claim this amazing saint and innovator, the man who opened the gates to the Renaissance, and all its humanist values -- culminating in the creation of the U.S. with its humanism, freedom, and liberty -- as its national hero and make his feast day a national holiday. Honoring him takes Italy straight back to its roots, to its foundation, to its essential greatness, so unlike the miserable eurobibble-babble we have seen for so many years now. St. Francis is specific to Italy yet he is universal. Naming his feast day a national holiday is a recognition of Italy's identity. It does Italy proud. 

Image: Wikimedia Commons, via Picryl // public domain