Book Review: G. K. Chesterton’s St Francis of Assisi

Br. Iñigo, SCTJM 

Book Review: G. K. Chesterton’s St Francis of Assisi 

 Book Introduction

G. K. Chesterton has written over a hundred books, hundreds of poems, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest- detective, Father Brown, making him one of the most prolific writers of the early 20th Century.  His most famous work is The Everlasting Man; which promoted C. S. Lewis, an atheist, to believe in God and the Christian faith. Lewis of course, went on to become one of the most influential Christian writers of the time. His writings have been praised by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, and T. S. Eliot. One of the most vocal modern admirers of Chesterton is Bishop Robert Barron. There are also some investigations going on into his life for canonization, although an official cause has not been opened yet. Originally an Anglican, he converted to Catholicism later in his life. In his many writings, Chesterton defended “the common man” and common sense. He defended the poor. He defended the family. He defended beauty. And he defended Christianity and the Catholic Faith. He presented many of these issues in new and engaging ways that allowed for many to rediscover them and find and new appreciation for them.

St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton is one of the greatest books about holiness in modern times. Originally published in 1924, it is written for believers and unbelievers alike. He does a great job to present the information in a way that can be impactful to all, without sacrificing the integrity of the life of St. Francis. It was written after Chesterton’s conversion to Catholicism and grows out of great admiration for the man that was St. Francis of Assisi. Anyone who wishes to know the true Saint Francis must read this book.

Thesis and Theme

This book is not a biography. This is important to note because many will confuse it as one, and it should not be read as one. Instead, it is an in-depth analysis of the life of one of the most extraordinary mans in human history. A biography deals with the chronological description of a persons life. It present the most important events of the life of a person, while also including a chronological timeline of events. This book however, doesn’t merely present the information of the life of St. Francis, it analyzes it. It takes just the most important events of his life and dissects them to find meaning. It not only tells us about the events in St. Francis’ Life, but attempts to penetrate the very mind of the saint. This makes the book not simply a recapitulation of a man that lived hundreds of years ago, but a challenge to each one of us now. It analyses what St. Francis did so that we may do the same. In other words, it is a call to action: a call to holiness.

Summary

Chesterton begins by taking us on a journey to the world in which St. Francis was born. He explains the importance of understanding the environment in which a person lives in order to better understand his mind. The environment in which one lives, shapes the person; and, it is true, that you can’t truly understand the story of St. Francis unless you understand the context in which it was in. The first real story of St. Francis that he discusses is of the time he wanted to please two supplicants. He was selling clothes to a man when a beggar came up asking for help. He first helped the man with the clothes and then he ran after the beggar. Chesterton analyses this event and assesses several things. First, St. Francis saw both men as equal for there was a real struggle in his heart as to which to attend. In the end, he can’t choose between the two because both men are human beings that deserve the same time and attention. We also learn one of the greatest virtues that St. Francis processed: the virtue of being practical in the sense that he was always taking initiative. He rarely thought, he just gave of himself to the fullest. Finally, we learn that St. Francis, as Chesterton comments, never stopped running after the poor and those in need. He analyses many stories like these in order to get a deeper perspective of the man that was St. Francis.

Chesterton also speaks about his love for the romantics. He is what you would call a Troubadour, or poet whose roots were French culture. This is apparent in his many writings. They are all romantic and beautifully composed, and they speak of dramatic elements and the role of humans in relation to God’s creation. He explains why St. Francis was not a lover of nature, but a lover of the individual creation of God, and precisely because they were created by God, do they deserve all the love and honor. He truly saw God in each individual piece of creation and therefore, his praise of nature was praise of God.

One of the things that touched me the most was Chesterton’s analysis of the conversion of St. Francis. He speaks about how St. Francis, having failed in his mission, returned from battle humiliated. He describes it as a deep hole that he began to fall into. If you start digging a hole on the surface of the earth that runs from extreme to extreme of the planet and you jump in, there will be a moment when you stop falling and begin climbing upwards. In the same way, St. Francis was falling into a whole of humility but then, having experienced the greatness of it, began to be raised in it. For him, the curse of humiliation became the greatest gift of humiliation. It is a very powerful lesson for all of us.

Finally, the saddest part of the story is the fact that his legacy was put in danger by his own brothers. The quarrels and discrepancies of his successors endangered the legacy of St. Francis. It is true that St. Francis was a man unmatched virtue, but his followers had as a responsibility to witness that virtue with their lives, a responsibility which they did not handle how they should have. Today, the legacy of St. Francis lives much more in this book than in the early successors of the great man.

Personal Impression

To be honest, I was never a really big fan of St. Francis. He had always been too mainstream for me. It is the saint that everybody knows, who can talk to birds and loves nature. For this reason, St. Francis always seemed to me more of a Santa Claus figure than anything else. I knew his life, I have visited Assisi many times, but to me he always seemed more of a caricature, than a real person. This in no way means that I didn’t think that St. Francis existed, but he just seemed to me as the saint for people that didn’t know any other saints. I always thought he was like a cliche of what a Saint is. I don’t know if this makes sense but the point is that St. Francis always seemed to me like something to be taught in 1st grade.

This book however, completely changed my perspective of him. I was able to discover the true St. Francis, not the cute St. Francis who loved animals, but the real St. Francis who was a radical, a reformer, and, above all, a human being. In this book I was able to relate to him in a way that I had never before. St. Francis can’t be reduced to the patron saints of animals; he was an extraordinary man who really tried to make his life a true imitation of Christ and of his teachings. He did what Luther, Calvin, and so many others could not do: renew and reform the Church from within.

Furthermore, I think that a book like this should be written about every saint. Or, at the very least, we should all approach the saints and G. K. Chesterton did. The stories of the saints can’t just be story after story of the life of human being. They have to be more than that, they have to be a call to action. We can’t look at the stories of the saints and say, “Oh, how cute!” We have to be challenged by their lives; we have to feel a yearning within us, a yearning to be like them. Chesterton exemplifies this perfectly in this book. His beautiful writing appeals to us and makes us want to get up and be like the saint.

After reading this book, I can now say that I am in awe and a great admirer of St. Francis of Assisi. He has challenged my life through the writings of a man that lived hundreds of years after him. Only someone who lives an extraordinary life can have such an impact so long after his death. This is the first book of Chesterton’s books that I have read; and I can’t wait to read more, starting with his other masterpiece written on a Saint, St. Thomas Aquinas. I am very grateful that I have discovered this great author and I will continue to ponder on this book for a long time; and hopefully, one day, be at least a little of the man that St. Francis was. I will also recommend this book to anyone that wants to understand why the Church generates saints.