Saint Francis: Nature Mystic: The Derivation and Significance of the Nature Stories in the Franciscan Legend

Saint Francis: Nature Mystic, by Edward A. Armstrong, explores the origins and significance of the remarkable natural history woven into the Franciscan Legend. Although Saint Francis is today celebrated as the Christian saint most closely identified with compassion for animals, plants, and the elements, Armstrong shows that this reputation has been too often romanticized and insufficiently studied. By examining the nature stories in Francis’s biographies—the wolf of Gubbio, the sermon to th...