Peter Maurin on St. Francis

Peter Maurin, co-founder (with Dorothy Day) of the Catholic Worker movement, was often called a modern-day St. Francis. Maurin wrote a number of poetry-like essays called Easy Essays in which he outlined a vision of Catholicism that St. Francis might have celebrated. In several of those essays, Maurin cited St. Francis. Below is an excerpt from one essay:

What St. Francis Desired

According to Johannes Jorgenson,

a Danish convert living in Assisi,

St. Francis desired

that men should give up

superfluous possessions,

St. Francis desired

that men should work with

their hands.

St. Francis desired

that men should
offer  their services
as a gift.
St. Francis desired
that men should ask
other people for help
when work failed them.
St. Francis desired
that men should live
as free as birds.
St. Francis desired
that men should go through life
giving thanks to God for His gifts.

The Third Order

"We are perfectly certain

that the Third Order of St. Francis
is the most powerful antidote
against the evils that harass
the present age."

Leo XIII.

"Oh, how many benefits

would not the Third Order of St. Francis
have conferred on the Church
if it had been everywhere organized
in accordance with the wishes
of Leo XIII."

Pius X.

"We believe that the spirit of

the Third Order,
thoroughly redolent of Gospel wisdom,
will do very much
to reform public and private morals."
 
Benedict XV.

"The general restoration of peace and morals

was advanced very much by the
Third Order of St. Francis,
which was a religious order indeed,
yet something unexampled up to that time."

Pius XII

(From “The Case for Utopia”)

Pax et bonum