St Francis of Assisi: Friend of the Animals

Today, we want to tell you about a very special person named Francis of Assisi. He is a saint and today (October 4th) is his feast day!

In fact, he is our favourite saint, right Tallulah. We love St Francis because he had a special love for animals and birds.

Did you say birds?!? You know I love to chase birds, though I've never been able to catch one. I've even tried to climb the trees but they are too fast for me.

Oh yes, we love St. Francis. Here we are posing with a statute of him at our granny's.

(youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtSvwOOOTBI)

Did you know that we have St. Francis to thank for the crèches we display at Christmas! In order to excite the people of his town to commemorate the birth of Jesus he set up the first crèche. 

(The crèche at the Co-Cathedral of the Nativity)

And don't forget Cloë, our new pope took the name Francis in honour of St. Francis of Assisi.

Our master went to Assisi last year. I remember her telling us that she was lucky enough to attend a Mass at the church where St. Francis is buried. Click here to go on your own virtual tour of Assisi.

As you know, saints are our special friends in Heaven. When we want to ask God for something, we often ask a saint to ask God on our behalf. Sometimes we are not too sure what we should be asking God, so here is a prayer that St. Francis himself wrote.

Lord,
I join Saint Francis in prayer -
Please, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hate, let me show love;
Where there is hurt, forgiveness;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is unhappiness, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
Amen

To celebrate his feast day why not make some bird see cookies.

Oh I love cookies!

 Birdseed Cookies
Mix 3/4 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of water, 3 tablespoons of corn syrup and 4 cups of birdseed in a bowl. Pat the mixture onto wax paper. Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes. Using a spatula, transfer the cookie cutter and birdseed shape together onto a cookie sheet. Poke a hole in the top. Let dry overnight. Use a string to hang on a tree.

Birdseed! I thought these were cookies we could eat, where is the meat?

Talk to our master Tallulah, maybe she'll make dog cookies for us.

Good idea! That is exactly what I'm going to do.

Well that's it for today - woof!

Cloë and Tallulah

P.S. Parents here is a great website where you can buy books and prayer cards of saints as well as other things about our faith.