2-sided St Francis Preaching to the Birds (M 62) 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 bird feeder 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 fragmentary fresco of c. 1260 by an anonymous Umbrian painter known as the Master of St. Francis. + Earlier than Giotto’s paintings of the same subject, this fresco portrays the famous incident, the Sermon to the Birds, 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. + All the elements that would become iconic are present in this artwork. 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. Here, however, he clutches a book with a red binding in his left hand and makes an actual gesture of blessing with his right. Before him, birds of different species and plumage stand in ranks on the ground and on a tree limb in front of him. Many trees—not just one or two--of various sizes and shapes fill the space. Overlapped by the figure of St. Francis, the monk at the right edge of the field is a mere spectator and lacks the facial expression and hand gesture that register surprise in Giotto’s works. The whole is enclosed with colorful geometric and floral ornaments in strips. + 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 “bird feeder” to “birdhouse” or “birdbath” as the case may be. In fact, you can change the wording altogether! It’s Zazzle! It’s customizable! + Image Credit (M 062): St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds, fragmentary fresco on one of the walls of the central nave of the lower Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy, by an anonymous Umbrian painter known as the Master of St. Francis, c. 1260-1280. This artwork predates the much more famous fresco of the same subject by Giotto in the upper Basilica of the same church. (Cf. our M 061.) From WikiMedia Commons. Public Domain. The file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.