2-sided Giotto’s St Francis Preaching to the Birds Garden Flag
Also available as a less costly, one-sided variant + After the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Francis of Assisi (1181/1182-1226) is the saint whose statue most often graces gardens. One of the most beloved religious figures in all of Christianity, St. Francis is noted for his great love for animals and the environment. He was particularly fond of birds. And, birds were fond of him: Birds often alit on his shoulder, arm, or hand when he went outdoors; they even followed him around! + Do you have a birdhouse in your Saint Garden? Place it under the patronage of St. Francis with a garden flag from Saints_Aplenty on Zazzle. This flag features a reproduction of St. Francis Preaching to the Birds by Giotto (c. 1267-1337), a Florentine Italian artist who painted a series of frescoes chronicling St. Francis’s life in the Basilica at Assisi that bears his name. + This well-known image portrays a famous incident first recorded in 1236 and later popularized with the publication of “The Little Flowers of St. Francis,” a 14th-century compilation of the legends surrounding the saint and other early members of the Order he founded, the Franciscans. + One day, so the story goes, while traveling with his Brothers through the Spoleto Valley in Italy, St. Francis encountered some trees near the roadway that were filled with birds. Stopping, he began to preach of God’s love to his feathered congregation which, according to the eyewitnesses, listened intently. Only after having been blessed by St. Francis at the conclusion of his homily did the birds fly away taking with them Francis’s message of God’s love for His creatures to the four corners of the world. + Here, a tonsured St. Francis, clad in the brown robe and cowl of his Franciscan Order, bends slightly at the waist, the better to address his avian congregants on the ground. Before him, birds of different species and plumage stand in ranks in front of a large tree on the right. In front of two other trees, a monk at the left edge of the panel reacts with surprise at the scene unfolding before him. + In 1979, Pope St. John Paul II named St. Francis “Patron Saint of Ecology”. In Europe, the term 'Ecology' not only embraces the academic discipline as taught in universities but also the social movement Americans would term 'Environmentalism'. + Feast: October 4 + NOTE WELL: You can change the word “birdhouse” to “birdbath” or “bird feeder” as the case may be. In fact, you can change the flag’s wording altogether! It’s Zazzle! It’s customizable! + Image Credit (M 060): Antique image of St. Francis of Assisi Blessing the Birds (after Giotto), originally published in chromolithography in the book entitled San Francesco d’Assisi nel poema di Dante e negli Affresci di Giotto (Florence: Editori Giannini e Figlio, 1905), unpaged. From the designer’s private library. The original fresco of c. 1296-1304 is in the upper Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy.
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