On page 145 of [*Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi*](https://ia600408.us.archive.org/4/items/SeraphicFatherStFrancisOfAssisi/SeraphicFatherStFrancisOfAssisi.pdf) , we find the following sentence: >"IV. Fly from creatures, if thou desirest to possess creatures." QUESTION: What does St. Francis of Assisi mean by this quote? --- The context is: > ## FAVOURITE SENTENCES OF THE HOLY FATHER ST. FRANCIS.‡ > > - I. THESE are the weapons by which the chaste soul is overcome: looks, speeches, touches, embraces. > - II. He who retires into the desert avoids three combats: seeing, hearing, and detraction. > - III. Beloved, in this vale of misery may you possess nothing so fair and so delightful that your soul would be entirely occupied with it. > - IV. Fly from creatures, if thou desirest to possess creatures. > - V. Fly from the world, if thou wilt be pure. If thou art pure, the world does not delight thee.† > - VI. Fly, keep silence, and be quiet. > - VII. If thou excusest thyself, God will accuse thee; and if thou accusest thyself, God will excuse thee. > - VIII/ He is not perfectly good who cannot be good among the wicked. > - IX. Temptation, when it is not consented to, is matter for the exercise of virtue, > - X. Love makes all heavy things light, and all bitter things sweet. > - XI. The love of God is never idle. > - XII. Rich clothing and sumptuous dwellings, eating, drinking, sleep, and idleness, enervate men, and foster luxury. > - XIII. When I say 'Hail Mary,' the heavens smile, the angels rejoice, the world exults, hell trembles, the devils fly. > - XIV. As wax melts before the heat of the fire, and dust is scattered by the wind, so the whole army of the evil spirits is dispersed by the invocation of the holy Name of Mary. > - XV. Let every creature become more despicable to the heart, that the Creator may become more sweet. > > ‡ These *Sentences* were frequently used by St. Francis in instructing his Brethren. Some are his own, others are taken from the holy Fathers of the Church, or composed according to their doctrine. > > † The play upon the words is lost in the translation. 'Fuge *mundum*, si vis esse *mundus*. Si tu es *mundus*, jam non delectat te *mundus*.'

The famous "serenity prayer" reads something like this: > God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Many Catholics seem to attribute the above to St. Francis of Assisi; however, it seems to me that the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr may have indeed authored it. See, for example, [*Original Serenity Prayer*](https://proactive12steps.com/serenity-prayer/) QUESTION: Can anyone provide any evidence that the "serenity prayer" was known by anyone prior to Reinhold Niebuhr (1892--1971)? Can anyone suggest why it seems to have been long attributed to St. Francis of Assisi? Is there any evidence that St. Francis ever uttered or wrote it? Thank you.

St. Francis wrote a “Way of the Cross” and several centuries later St. Alphonsus also wrote one. I have been reading both in parallel, and (in my personal opinion) they are both lovely. What would be the distinguishing features that would lead a church to observe one vs. the other during Lent?

There are tons of movies about St. Francis and St. Clare, is there a complete list of movies that, I don't know, rank by historicity and orthodoxy? I've seen a few movies about them but can't remember which, I know _The Flowers of St. Francis_ is good, but it's not necessarily based on anything particularly historical. So, what I'd like to see is a complete list, with a relative rating (maybe on a scale of 1-10) for historicity and orthodoxy. I'm trying to find some movies for a curriculum I'm putting together for my daughter's homeschool.

My wife is dressing my son Francis up as... St. Francis for an All Saints party. I think the timeline is thus that St. Francis could have prayed the Rosary, but it was more of a Dominican thing to do. Would he have prayed the Rosary or would he have avoided it as being something the distinguished his order from St. Dominic's?