Episode 15: Saint Spotlight: St Francis of Assisi

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (00:17):
Are you, do you have your notes and
your BIPs and your BAPs?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (00:21):
I got my notes and I've got my books
and I've got my socks on so I'mnice and comfortable.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (00:27):
Oh shit, wait, let me pull up this
hypothetical actually I waslike, I don't need any notes
today.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (00:32):
Oh yeah, and River's also got just
Garnet snoring in the back, butthat's not, that's out of their

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (00:36):
The repetitive um, uh, Oh, oh

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (00:41):
not even be able to hear it if I
turn studio sound on for my micfor this one, but I might not
because because of my, my gaylittle flourish when I speak,
sometimes it makes me soundreally garbled when I turn on
studio sound.
Yeah.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (00:54):
yeah, Okay, before we get started,
should we send up a quick prayerto St.
Francis that we don't have anyaudio issues and,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:03):
We can.
Do you want me to get my prayercandle that has his

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:06):
you should, yeah, I think so,
because I,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:08):
Yeah, and say

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:09):
Ooh, and I can light a candle.
One moment please.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:12):
I would hate for something to fail
and then River has to redo theentire episode.
That sucks,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:19):
Yeah, cause I want it to be candid.
I want to learn

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:21):
I know how much it sucks.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:24):
To redo,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-2 (01:24):
frickin get through an entire episode
and then realize it's lost andyou're just like, I poured my
heart into this and now I haveto redo it and it's not gonna be
fresh and new anymore.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:35):
Yeah, I mean, knock on wood, um,
Typically it is Death Covenantstandard to have technical
issues That's not a jinx, I'mjust saying I think that that's
a testament to us gettingbetter.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:49):
Okay, I'm back.
So we have two options.
We have two options.
We've got, uh, the prayer cardwhich is more pet centric.
And then we have this one on theback of the prayer candle, which
is more general.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (02:05):
I think for us we should do the
candle.
But you should still mention thepet one maybe later on when it's
more relevant.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (02:12):
don't you worry your pretty little red
stained lips.
I

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (02:15):
Shut

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (02:16):
this is just like a really nice
prayer card.
It's got like gold lining on

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (02:21):
the, the gold foil.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (02:23):
It's laminated.
Gorgeous.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (02:25):
with, um, Saints, do they have, do
they all have little cards?
Is it like a collectible cardgame?
Can you trade and

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (02:30):
pretty much.
It's like baseball cards.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (02:32):
they have their metals

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (02:34):
Yeah, you got medals.
statues, candles, cards.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (02:39):
a little baggy of their remains.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (02:41):
Garnet has, um, dirt from the basilica
that St.
Francis is buried under on theback of her medal on her collar.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (02:48):
Oh my god,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (02:49):
you can have anything.
It's crazy.
Alrighty, we're in church now.
In the Father, and the Son, andthe Holy Spirit.

skye_1_12-22-2024_1014 (02:58):
Question is it right left or left right?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (03:01):
left right?

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (03:03):
Thank you.
Okay, continue.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (03:05):
Lord, make me an instrument of your
peace.
Where there is hatred, let mesow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord,agreement.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that Imay be consoled, understood,

(03:28):
loved, and blessed.
For it is in dying that we areborn to eternal life.
Amen.
And then if you have anythingspecific you'd like to put in
there for the petition, you maydo so.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (03:40):
St.
Francis, please bless and guideour podcasting efforts today so
that we do not lose the entireepisode to which is dedicated to
you.
pretty please.
Thank you.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (03:55):
And if you could just like, make my cat
chill out a little bit.
While I have you on the line,like if you could,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (04:03):
While you're listening,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (04:04):
Uh, if you could like, tone it down a
little, if you could have himtone it down a little bit that'd
be great.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (04:09):
If we're asking for cat blessings,
can you please take a look atHarvey's eye?
Cause it's still really messedup.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (04:16):
Amen.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (04:18):
Amen.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (04:18):
of the father, the son, and the
Holy spirit.
Amen.

river_1_12-22-2024_1 (04:22):
Beautiful.
Gorgeous.

skye_1_12-22-2024 (04:24):
Hypothetical?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (04:26):
Are we jumping in?
We don't

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (04:27):
I'm waiting for my

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (04:28):
intro.
Oh, okay.
It's fun little

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (04:31):
I mean, we should probably do an
intro.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (04:33):
I don't know if that's

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (04:34):
that that was the

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (04:34):
or if we're, I didn't know if that
was just for us or if that waslike the actual intro.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (04:40):
We'll find out in the edit.
I don't know.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (04:41):
Okay, today is a river centered
episode, or a river led episode.
Do you want to take the wheeland tell us what you're going to
talk about?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (04:50):
I suppose I will.
Um, so this is a me episode.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm River.
How you doing?
I'm one third of this beautiful,silly little trio that you're
listening to right now.
And today we're talking aboutsomething that I hope to make a
relatively reoccurring fixtureon the podcast, who's to say how

(05:14):
regular, I truly don't know.
But today we're going to bespotlighting a saint because
part of my practice is workingwith saints and I want to talk
about it

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (05:25):
I want to listen to it.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (05:27):
And I'm so

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (05:27):
and I want you guys to hear it.
And I'm excited to actually bedoing my own river focus
episode.
A lot of pressure.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (05:36):
I feel like this is truly one of
those circumstances where Skyeand I just have no knowledge.
So

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (05:45):
you guys, cause I feel like Poppy
growing up Catholic also, youhave like more of an exposure
and an experience with saints ingeneral, but like what are you
guys rocking with in terms oflike knowledge generally?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (06:00):
we did like saint spotlights, you
know, like every Sunday when wedid like Sunday school they
would talk about a saint or likemultiple saints and their
history and like What you prayedto them for, et cetera, et
cetera.
I don't remember anything at allfrom that.
So

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (06:17):
Yeah.
Mm

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (06:19):
that was probably my only exposure.
And I'm sure that they must'vetalked about St.
Francis during that, becausehe's like one of the, most well
known saints.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (06:28):
hmm.
Highly regarded.
Very popular.
Anything to add?
Skye, what are you rocking

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (06:33):
Uh, until meeting you, goose egg.
Nothing.
Um.
I mean, other than just likeknowing that saints existed in
whatever is popular in popculture and just being in vague

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (06:47):
Yeah, the cultural zeitgeist of like,
I know what a saint is.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (06:54):
I truly didn't even know like the
real definition of what a saintis and I can't wait to hear you
describe it because I'm stilllike, I didn't know that, well I
don't want to spoil it.
Well, I guess it's not spoiling,but like, I personally didn't
know until very, very recently,like, I don't know, a month or
two ago, that you had to be deadto be a saint.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (07:11):
Well.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (07:12):
Most of the

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (07:12):
Most of the

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (07:13):
To be canonized, I would say.
To be officially canonized,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (07:17):
Which is a whole other thing, because
there are like hundreds ofsaints that aren't actually

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (07:21):
Yeah.
And that's part of my little

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (07:24):
Yeah, okay.
I won't touch it.
We won't touch it.
Before, since we're, on track.
Let's do our little game so likewe said, this is a river led
episode, which is why thishypothetical is very river
centric.
But we'll, we'll all,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (07:41):
A game about

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (07:42):
say what your least favorite thing
about river is.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (07:47):
And I am taking notes and I'm
listening intently.
And I will remember this.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (07:52):
I wish that River would love themselves
more, personally.
That's my least favorite thingabout them.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (07:58):
Fuck you.
Why would you say that?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (08:01):
I wish River would stop brushing
their teeth so hard.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (08:05):
Me too, brother.
My gums do too.
I haven't brushed my teeth yettoday.
And when I do, I'm going inhard.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (08:12):
It's a recording tradition for you to
not have your teeth brushed.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (08:15):
It's 10am on a Sunday.
What do you want from me?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (08:18):
it helps the audio.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (08:21):
I showered.
Can I have a round of applausefor that?
I did shower before this.
Thank you.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (08:27):
Um, okay, Let's all close our eyes
for a second here.
I need you to visualize for me.
So just picture, we finishrecording, the sun has set, it's
dark outside.
You realize, oh man, I need togo outside, I need to check the
mail.
Um, you walk outside, you godown to your little mailbox, you
open it.

(08:48):
You pull your mail out, and youfeel a presence behind you.
You feel like you're beingwatched.
So you quickly turn around andyou come face to face with the
most beautiful person you'veever seen.
They gaze into your eyes andit's almost like you're
hypnotized.
Then suddenly, they sink theirteeth into your neck and begin

(09:10):
to drink.
you pass out.
You wake up laughter

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (09:20):
This really is for me,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (09:21):
You wake up in your bed the next
morning feelingstrange.
Your senses are heightened.
You feel abnormally strong andsensitive to light.
You have the feeling that you'reprobably immortal now.
And, for some reason, you'reunable to enter other people's
homes without an explicitinvitation.
Also, you need to drink humanblood now.

(09:44):
What's your day one strategy?
And Since you're immortal now,first thought, what are you
going to be doing with your nextcentury?

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (09:54):
I can't work at the job that I
have right now anymore.
It would be, I would beincapable of doing it.
close and personal with so manypeople.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (10:03):
true.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (10:05):
And sometimes, like, you can feel,
you can feel their pulse whenyou're working on them, so

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (10:10):
Eww.
Yeah.
Would you try to find the personthat turned you?
Cause they didn't let you die.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (10:18):
No, I think they would come to me if
they so chose.
I feel like it would be reallyhard to find them, so I'd just
kind of have to wait it

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (10:24):
I imagine that they would probably
be like keeping tabs on you fromafar to like see, like if they
found you like ravaging in likea, uh, alleyway somewhere they'd
be like, Hey, hey, hey, Hey,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (10:36):
raise you like that.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (10:37):
You didn't raise me.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (10:39):
I'd be pissed off, first of all.
Like, I know that this is likeRiver's dream, probably.
But I would be like, this is notaccording to plan.
This is, this is a huge

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (10:50):
love the sun.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (10:51):
I love the sun.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (10:53):
out in the sun.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (10:55):
I love the sun, but also, I'm like,
this has thrown a huge wrenchinto my life.
And now this has just become aburden for me to deal with how
to navigate this wholesituation.
Like, do I tell my husband?
Like, I'd have to.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (11:10):
He's Italian.
You can't eat garlic anymore.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (11:13):
he would turn me and he would try
to kill me probably.
He'd be like, that's not my wifeanymore, she's a monster.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (11:18):
I feel like if you were able to,
if you started killing people,maybe, but I feel

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (11:23):
I'd have to, that's how you live as
a, as a vampire.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (11:27):
We don't have to drain them fully.
You can just, like, do thelittle

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (11:31):
can

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (11:31):
But at the beginning, you wouldn't be
able to help it.
Also, stealing from a hospitalseems very difficult.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (11:36):
he'd probably turn you in more for
stealing from a hospital thanfrom like Mm

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (11:43):
where we live, there's a community for
people who would probably bereally into it.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (11:49):
That's what I'm saying.
Like, I, I feel like my foodsource would be pretty easy to
track down because I live in acity full of freaks.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (11:57):
Like, do you think that you could go
onto, like, a dating website orsomething?
Like, and, and, like,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (12:04):
Could I go on to vampirefreaks.
com?
Yeah, I could.
Yeah, it is.
ask me why I know that.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (12:12):
Ooh, 20 percent off Vampire Freaks
brand merchandise right now.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (12:17):
It's for the holidays.
Get it quick.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (12:20):
so this is what happened to all the
scene girls.
Damn, this is actually prettycute.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (12:25):
like a legitimate website.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (12:28):
Wow, I think I just found my wedding
dress.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (12:31):
But yeah, that'd probably be my, my
go to mode would be, like, Howcan I do this ethically?
Consensually, because I know I'min an area where I'm like, I
feel like people would probablythink it's just like a maybe a
kink thing or like a Falsevampire thing where it's like,
yeah, they'll they'll maybe cutme and drink my blood But then
it you'd reveal like no, it'sreal.

(12:51):
It's true and

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (12:52):
Yeah,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (12:53):
it.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (12:54):
Oh

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (12:54):
yeah.
What is that?
There was a TV show you and Iwatched, Sky.
It was called like Bizarre Loveor some shit like that, and one
of the episodes was about like apolyamorous vampire triad.
So

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (13:10):
Yeah,

river_1_12-22-2024_101 (13:10):
market's there.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (13:12):
yeah, for sure.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (13:14):
am I extra sexy in this situation
because I'm a

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (13:16):
Well, the one that bit you was, like,
the most beautiful you've everseen, so yeah, probably it makes
you, like,

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (13:22):
You've got that allure, that vampiric
allure.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (13:25):
be worried about how I'm gonna make
money though, unless I'm like,having people pay me for these
services where it's consensualbut it's also a business
transaction to be like, Heynasty little freak who wants me
to drink their blood, like yougotta pay for me to do that.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (13:41):
Yeah.
Here's my Venmo.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (13:42):
That's the thing, because, like,
vampires in, uh, fiction arealways rich, but I think that's
because, I think it's becausethey're immortal and they have a
long

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (13:53):
Yeah.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (13:54):
build up the wealth.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (13:55):
And also you can steal from the
people you kill.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (13:58):
True, if you do have those, like,
hypnotic Powers,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (14:03):
I think that they're tricking
people into being put in, like,wills and being, like,
beneficiaries and, uh, gainingproperty and I think it's those
kinds of situations.
Oh yeah.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (14:15):
My Bitcoin, my vampire

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (14:18):
uh, Carlisle Cullen, and you're a
doctor.
I feel like I would need to verysoon on find a doctor.
Another group of vampiresbecause I don't think I could do
it alone.
I would need like a vampirecoven Mm

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (14:33):
I feel like eventually I would get
bored and lonely, but I think atfirst I'd just be like scaling
walls and shit, and likescuttling around.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (14:42):
my immediate problem Would be like
this current life, like I don'tthink that I, I would be like,
how do I navigate being avampire first?
And then once everyone I knowstarts dropping off and dying
and then it's like the years areflying by, only then would I be
like, worried about forever,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (15:00):
now it's like how do I go to the
store and get cat food for mycats because it's bright outside

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (15:06):
Chewy.
com, get that shit

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (15:08):
True, we live in the 21st century.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (15:11):
I feel like it'd be relatively
easy to be a vampire, truly,these days.
You just get everythingdelivered,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (15:17):
you'd have to get, like, a remote
online job, probably.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (15:20):
You think you could find a way to
have blood just sent to yourhouse online somehow?
Even on like the dark

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (15:26):
Uh,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (15:28):
Oh, absolutely on the dark web,
yeah.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (15:32):
Can you, drink other blood that's
not human?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (15:34):
I think it depends on the
universe, like

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (15:36):
It doesn't really like fill you up
and it's not like great for you,but you will survive.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (15:44):
I don't know if that's just a,
like, um, modern vampire lorething that started happening
because people now wanted tofuck the vampires and wanted you
know, to feel less bad about it.

river_1_12-22-2024_101 (15:58):
Cowards.
I'd be fine if you killed meafterwards.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (16:02):
you be fine if they killed, like, a
random other person, though?
Just all the time?
Just to eat lunch?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Exactly, River.
Your big heart.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (16:11):
if it's me,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (16:12):
Yeah.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (16:14):
I'd be like, yeah, that's hot as
fuck.
Go

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (16:16):
Yeah.
And also, you guys are like,River doesn't eat garlic
already, and y'all are, I mean,River's a pescatarian, Skye,
you're a vegetarian, youprobably taste so good.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (16:28):
Now I'm just living in a world where
I'm a vampire and I got bit by avampire.
I'm not even just, I'm justliving in this

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (16:34):
Yeah.
That, that was the point.
This is for you, baby.
This, this

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (16:38):
Wow.
Thank you.
I don't know.
I feel like I would get likeweirdly into like niche
interests because I'd have somuch time to do everything.
And I'd be like, yeah, I'm goingto build a boat.
Yeah, I'm going to start doingtaxidermy.
Yeah, I'm gonna learn how to,like, play the flute or
whatever.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (16:58):
your pilot's license,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (16:59):
Yeah, why not?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (17:02):
Any follow up questions?
Are we satisfied?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (17:05):
So is this gonna happen to me tonight
or am I gonna go to bed sad?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (17:09):
Well, the whole thing was after
recording when it's darkoutside, so unless we run out
the clock, I don't think so,yeah.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (17:17):
We got stuff to do.
We gotta go shopping

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (17:20):
Yeah.
What would you do to prepare ifyou knew that you were going to
be turned, like, tonight though?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (17:26):
I would buy blackout curtains.
First and foremost.
Yeah, I would probably call myfamily and be like, Hey, you're
not going to see me for theholidays and probably anytime
during the day after that.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (17:40):
Would you tell them or would you just
be like, hey, I'm fine, but?
They might think that you'relike mentally ill though.
They'd be like, I think we

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (17:48):
they might, but they're so used to
my, my eccentricities at thispoint that they'd be like, Hey,
all right, man, go on.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (17:57):
I would tell Michael.
I would be like, hey, heads up.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (18:01):
Just so you know.
And he'd be like, Man, it's myday off.
Like, why are you putting thison

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (18:06):
I don't think he would believe me.
I think that he would think thatI was having a mental break.
And he would be texting you,Poppy, about it and being like,
Skye's freaking out, I don'tknow what to do.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (18:17):
And I'd be like, Nah, man.
She's 100 percent right now.
We just Well, thank you guys forplaying along with me.
Um,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (18:24):
Thank you for crafting a game
specifically for me and my

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (18:27):
You're welcome.
We'll see what I come up withfor Sky's first, like, true
solo.
Alright, take it away.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (18:35):
So, you guys are ready to learn
about Saints

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (18:39):
I'm so ready.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (18:40):
and our very first ever Saint Sowed,
as I'm calling it.
first we got to zoom out alittle bit and figure out what,
what's a saint?
What is a saint?
What's their whole deal?
How do you become a saint?
Who's a saint?

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (18:56):
dying to know.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (18:58):
And I'm glad I asked because now I
can tell you all these thingsthat I've learned from my
little, my little pocketdictionary of saints that I got
by Donald Atwater.
Great book.
Love this book.
So the word saint comes from theLatin word sanctus, meaning
hollowed, consecrated and madeholy to God.

(19:20):
The earliest writers referred tosaints only as the collective,
because way, way, way back when,before the Bible was like
properly compiled in the way itis now, like, everyone had that
divinity in them, and it wassort of like a goal to live as a
saint.
It wasn't like a special termthat only a few people could

(19:40):
have.
But then After a time, itespecially became applied to
martyrs and the first monksbecause they like really devoted
their life to God so much thatthey were willing to die
violently for it in the case ofmartyrs.
So a saint is somebody who givestheir life entirely over to God

(20:04):
in one way or another.
And it's really just a sign ofrespect and a title showing
their devotion and that theycommanded public veneration for
God.
And we got two types of saints.
We got martyrs, obviously.
And then we have confessors.
Martyrs, you know, historicallyobviously died violently because

(20:28):
of their conviction in theirfaith.
And after the grant oftoleration in 313 by
Constantine, Uh, the heavypersecution of Christianity was
a lot more lax.
They weren't actively beingkilled for it, so martyrs
weren't happening as frequently.

(20:49):
And confessors were those who,by confessing the Christian
faith in their lives, they werebearing witness to the same
degree as martyrs.
By their death.
So it was the same sentiment,but different ways of execution.
No pun intended.
That was good, right?
That was a funny little joke.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (21:09):
That was good.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (21:10):
You got a question?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (21:11):
So, obviously Christianity started,
like, with Jesus.
Jesus is not technically asaint, right?
Because he's

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (21:20):
No.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (21:22):
like acts are what saints are
emulating?
The martyrdom and the likedevotion to God is that?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (21:31):
Yeah, and I would say again, I'm not
an expert.
I am not like a capital CCatholic.
I'm a folk Catholicpractitioner.
So I am not, again, to go backto the first episode, I am not a
historian.
I'm not a theologian, etc, etc.
etc.
A doctor.
anything like that.

(21:52):
Oh god, I wish.
But, while Jesus is not a saint,he was, like, the closest a
human could become to theirconnection with God.
So he was, like, the perfectblend of human and divine in,

(22:14):
like, a living, breathing,tangible way.
And saints, while everybody doeshave that divinity within them,
and they can like, work towardsstrengthening that, it's like a
separate title from what I canreally understand and gather,
where like, they are fullyhuman, but they are like,
practicing and living the gospelin a way

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (22:38):
Mm

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (22:39):
they acknowledge that it's literally
impossible to be at the standardthat Jesus was, so therefore
saints are a step below?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (22:49):
Hmm.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (22:49):
the highest that you can get as a
human without being Jesus, so tospeak.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (22:54):
Maybe.
I'm really, I'm not sure likewhat the, the hierarchy is in
the capital

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (23:01):
hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (23:03):
but

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (23:03):
the whole miracles thing because
Jesus had miracles

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (23:06):
yeah, yeah.
And miracles are attributed tosaints, but it's that weird,
the, the recognition that likeJesus was the Father, Son, Holy
Spirit incarnated into onebeing.
And he's his own thing,separate, going on over there,
and we are people that have thatdivinity in us, and are able to

(23:29):
do wonderful, miraculous things,but we are not, like, Jesus.
And then it gets into a whole,like, well, aren't we all, if we
have that, like, divinity withinus, inherently,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (23:41):
Yeah,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (23:41):
it's a, it's a swirl of

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (23:42):
I feel like with Saints, it's like
a, because we are all human, butlike Saints make the choice to
live as close to God as theycan, so it's not that they're
like inherently more divine, butthat they have become more
divine.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (23:59):
is, there's a little quote from the
Pocket Dictionary of Saints byDonald Atwater that I just
showed you guys and I think hesaid it like really succinctly
he puts it better than Iprobably ever could.
If you give me.
a thousand years and a thousandtypewriters and a thousand
monkeys, I don't think I couldever say it as clearly as this.
But the quote from the PocketDictionary of Saints is The

(24:23):
saints are those who accept andcooperate with grace more
wholeheartedly and moreselflessly than do others, to a
superlative degree.
They become Christ like throughthe help Christ gives them.
So it's not about, like,BECOMING Christ, but Christ
like.
And living the gospel and doingthe best you can, in whatever
path that presents for you.

(24:44):
Now all this being said, Aperson is not magically a saint
by the process of canonization.
Canonization is a very intensivemulti step process by the
Catholic church, and it's onlybeen fully in effect since 1634,

(25:05):
which is kind of crazy.
But it's, it's got severallayers and levels of
investigation and like titles ofhonor before you fully reach
sainthood in the church.
Eastern Orthodox churches alsohave their own formal methods of
canonization, but they're a lotless rigorous and it's on a much

(25:29):
smaller scale than the RomanCatholic Church does.
And while some Anglican andProtestant churches do recognize
saints, they do not partake inthe practice of canonization.
So it's really just the RomanCatholic Church and Eastern
Orthodox Churches, but mostlythe Roman Catholic Church.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (25:47):
have a question.
Is there an average?
timeline of how longcanonization takes,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (25:57):
No, some saints were canonized very
quickly after their death.
Some take a very long time.
It kind of has to do with theinvestigation.
And the general, like, public,sort of, like, vying for the
person to become a saint.
Like, the public approval behind

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (26:17):
like what they stood for, what they
did in their life, how prominentthey were in their community,

river_1_12-22-2024_10 (26:22):
witnesses coming forward and, like,
vouching for them.
Um, Saint Francis was canonized,like, two years after he died,
which was very quick.
Some saints, it takes years andyears and years to become
canonized.
because a person is notmagically, they're not a saint
one day and then they are by theprocess of canonization.

(26:45):
There are folk saints, popculture saints, saints that we
don't know the names of.
they were lost to history.
We'll never know them.
And that doesn't make them anyless of a saint just because
they're not recognized.
So you can still honor allsaints on November 1st, which is
All Saints Day, And it'simportant to note that a saint

(27:10):
is not an immaculate or flawlessperson, they were simply real
people, just like you and I, ofvarious economic status,
education, temperament, andability.
They lived in Christ in whateverstate of life to which they were
called.
So anybody can be a saint, don'tmatter who you are, don't matter
where you come from, you got itin you, if you so choose.

skye_1_12-22-2024_1014 (27:32):
Question for you, is there anyone in your
life who to you, you would deemas saintly?
Do you know anyone who?
you would consider saintly.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (27:46):
I mean, I've said it.
I feel like I said it relativelyrecently.
Like, at work, we have a coworker.
I can probably bleep this outjust so I don't dox her real ass
name.
I feel like I said somewhatrecently, like, is the closest
person I have in my life to,like, being a saint.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (28:05):
she a Christian?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (28:06):
yes, but she, she's not, like, like
an evangelical, like, bornagain.
She's very compassionate, she isso kind, she is so thoughtful,
will give you, like, the shirtoff your back, literally.
The shirt off her back,literally.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (28:25):
She'll give you the shirt off your
back.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (28:27):
She'll take your shirt off your back.
She'll give it back.
to you.
And I said, Wow, what a saint.
But no, recently, it was like acouple weeks ago, she, we work
by a little cake place, and shehad like a little, a little
carrot cake.
And I was like, Oh my god, Ilove carrot cakes.
And she just handed it to me.
She said, Here you go.
And I was like, Oh my God, thankyou.

(28:47):
I love you.
And she was just great.
I'm so happy to have her in mylife.
Like I'll probably cut this partout, but when I didn't have a
car for like the three yearsthat I was working there, she
gave me a ride home like everyday.
Yeah.
Like she is just genuinely sucha good person,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (29:06):
And you can tell it doesn't bother
her at all.
Like, it just with ease, itcomes to her.
Like, it's literally nothing toher

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (29:13):
She doesn't even have to think about
it.
She's just like, here you go.
So that's who in my life, Iwould consider like, the closest
person I have to being a saint.
I don't know if Poppy has one.
I don't know if Sky has one.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (29:27):
I'm just now learning about what a
saint is, so no.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (29:30):
you know, sit on it retroactively.
Think about it.
Probably Michael.
I would say he's pretty, hewants to be a saint.
He's always talking about hiscanonization and his sainthood.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (29:43):
he wants to do things for the
community and be the best personfor He thinks outwardly a lot.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (29:52):
And that's kind of, that's a big
part of being a saint.
now that we know what a saint isin a very broad, nebulous,
umbrella sense.
Who is St.
Francis of Assisi?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (30:05):
that rascal?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (30:07):
is that guy?
Who is the man that wrote theCanticle of the Sun?
Who is the man that founded theLesser Brothers and the Poor
Clares?
Who is this man whose sole focuswas living in the quietest
simplicity and recognized God inall things?
Who is this guy?

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (30:28):
And where is Assisi?
What is Assisi?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (30:31):
It's in Italy.
again, I cannot state enough howmuch I am not a theologian or a
historian or a biographer thatcannot be overstated, but you
know, who is a theologian and abiographer?
Uh, one Mr.
Donald Spotto, who wrote thebook, reluctant Saint The Life

(30:53):
of Francis of

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12 (30:54):
Reluctant Saint, I love, love that title.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (30:59):
It's a great book.
I think after you listen to thisepisode, you should read this
book because I am going to likebriefly, barely skim the
surface.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (31:10):
The amount of post it notes that you
have in that thing

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (31:13):
and I took some of them out.
This is after I was like, allright, that can go.
That's not going to getmentioned.
I didn't even mention all thesepost it notes in here.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (31:20):
Can I borrow it, or is that like
your your copy?
Okay.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (31:25):
It's a great book.
It goes into the socio politicaleconomic status of medieval
Italy at the time, and like, allthe things that were influencing
Francis life, which are like soimportant to the context of who
he was as a person.
Incredible, fascinatinghistorical figure and character
and time.
So that's where a lot of myinformation is coming from.

(31:47):
And also, I found a very coolpodcast.
Podcast shout out to St.
Anthony's Tongue, hosted bysomebody named W.
They go in on like Catholicmysticism and saints.
They have an episode about St.
Francis that I listen to.
So I'm getting a lot of goodresources.

(32:07):
I'm learning, I'm eating it up,I'm living, I'm having a great
time.
So, we gotta go all the way backto medieval Italy in either 1181
or 1182.
It's, it's not super clear whatyear Francis was born, one of
those years.

(32:29):
in either 1181 or 1182, Awealthy Italian cloth merchant
by the name Peter Bernadone wasaway on a business trip while
his wife, a French noblewomannamed Pica de Berlimont, gave
birth to their son andchristened him with the
baptismal name Giovanni dePietro de Bernadone

skye_1_12-22-2024_101 (32:52):
Giovanni?

river_1_12-22-2024_101 (32:54):
Giovanni and Giovanni is the Italian
version of John and he was namedafter John the Baptist And when
Peter returns from his littlemerchant's trip, he's pissed
because he doesn't want his sonnamed after some hermit who
lived in the desert devoted toGod.

(33:16):
He was a rich merchant, earthlyman, and he said, My son needs a
strong Powerful name becausenames had a lot of significance
at the time and they were sortof like a prophecy of what your
life would be.
And Peter loved France.
He loved French culture.

(33:37):
A lot of his wealth came fromlike his French trades in the
merchant world.
Peter Bernardone loved France,and he said, I can't take away
your baptismal name, but We'regonna call you Francesco.
Hey, my boy Frankie?
we're gonna, cause he was like,you're gonna be the heir to my,

(34:01):
my business.
And in this house, we loveFrance.
And, uh, at the time it wasessentially, like, it wasn't an
unheard of name, but it wasessentially like calling
somebody Frenchie.
So, he looked at his son andsaid, you're gonna be named
Frenchie.

(34:22):
And by all accounts, and evenFrancis's own account, he spent
his youth living in sin.
He was a little rascal.
He was a, a child of wealth.
He was a rich kid.
He, he was a playboy.
He would.
go out with his littledelinquent rich kid friends and

(34:43):
they would go drinking and theywould imitate the troubadours
around them and they would likesing to the, the women in the
public squares and try to seducethem.
They were little, it was a bandof little rascals because he was
a rich kid.
That's all he knew.
And that's a very, it's animportant and stark contrast to

(35:04):
the life he would have later on.
He did not spend a whole lot oftime in formal education.
There were a few years he spentin, like, a primary school for
boys at the Church of St.
George.
And St.
George is most popularly wellknown for like slaying a dragon.

(35:25):
He was a knight and he didbattle.
And also at the time, you know,Francis loved the Arthurian
legends of brave knights doingnoble deeds, going into battle,
the romanticism of it all.
And Francis was like, I want tobe a knight.
I want to be a knight so badit's crazy.

(35:46):
And it left a really deepimpression on him for like the
rest of his life.
And also at the time Francis wasliving, the crusades were going
on.
So there was knights all aroundhim, an opportunity to like
prove yourself in like a bigglorious battle in a big way.
And Francis wanted to do that.
And he did have a couple notableopportunities to try to prove

(36:09):
himself in battle, butultimately they did not prove
fruitful.
They did not go well

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (36:15):
But he didn't die,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (36:16):
but he didn't die.
They didn't go well, but hedidn't die.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (36:19):
But he did become a knight?
Or was it like

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (36:22):
no,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (36:23):
he had an

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (36:24):
he, he wanted to go into battle.
He was never like a formalknight.
But he wanted, like, he wantedto live through that.
The first opportunity for him tobe a brave, noble knight, there
was a civil war going on at thetime in the area, and he went
off to battle because he wantedto prove himself.

(36:47):
And he got captured, and hespent about a year as a
prisoner, being held for ransombecause he was the son of a
wealthy merchant.
And he was locked in a cell.
Not given a lot of food, notclean, obviously, he got really
sick from it.

(37:07):
And that impacted his health forthe rest of his life.
He had recurring bouts ofmalarial fever for the rest of
his life.
after that, he never fully gotback to being well and healthy.
He was always, like, verycompromised in his constitution.
And the second battle, he nevereven made it to, his father

(37:29):
spent loads of money on armorand a fine horse.
Cause he also wanted to likemake up for what Francis has
already gone through and like,try to lift his spirits up

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (37:41):
do it

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (37:42):
this

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (37:42):
I'm gonna have the right

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (37:43):
time I'm gonna do it big.
So he's throwing all this moneyat the most fine armor.
And Francis is, he's going off,he's trotting along down the
way, heading to battle.
And on the way there, he saw andrecognized a soldier that he
knew.
And the soldier had lost hisarmor and his horse.

(38:05):
And Francis said, You know what,I'm gonna give you mine.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (38:09):
So you can go die instead of me.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (38:12):
Cause he was like, well, you are a
soldier, you know how to fight.
I don't so I feel like thiswould be better with you and
it's also maybe stated thatbecause of his compromised
health he just knew he wouldn'tbe able to really fight that
well.
Either way, lost his armor, losthis horse, and Peter Bernardone

(38:36):
again was so pissed off becausehe spent all this money on his
little spendthrift son who'sjust giving it away hand over
fist.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (38:46):
I wouldn't be happy to be
completely honest.
Garnet

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (38:51):
happy.
Not Francis, not his dad.
Pico was

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (38:53):
so

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (38:56):
to do?

skye_1_12-22-2024_10142 (38:56):
Peter's like, you're throwing away all
these silver spoons I keepgiving you.
This is

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (39:01):
Yeah.
And cause he didn't, he didn'treally have a concept of like
the struggle that other peoplehad to go through.
He was like, I'm wealthy.
I got money.
So after that, Francis returnedto his life.
He would go away with his fatheron business trips.
He would mine the shop.
He was doing general debaucherywith his friends.

(39:22):
But he wasn't satisfied.
He was like, there's somethingmissing.
My soul isn't at ease.
I'm like depressed and I'm boredand I'm restless.

skye_1_12-22-2024_1014 (39:35):
Probably because it was too easy for him,
you know what I mean?
Like, he, he didn't feelfulfilled,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (39:39):
Yeah.
He had these, like, big, grandambitions, that he wanted to,
like, go do these big, nobledeeds, but he was like, I
haven't done anything yet.
like, everyone just loves me,and I'm so charming, and I got
all this money.
And that's boring! And that'svery boring to the spirit.
So after all this, his earlylife, we can get into the

(40:04):
catalyst for his conversion.
She's snoozing, dude.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (40:13):
I do have another question.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (40:16):
is her bedtime story.
Yes.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (40:18):
So, he was baptized.
His family was religious.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (40:24):
Yes.
Well, his mother was morereligious.
His dad was more like, money ismy religion.
The

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (40:33):
Sure.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (40:34):
is my religion.
Yeah.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (40:35):
then you had to at least like, you
know, put on the religious facebecause that was just

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (40:39):
Yeah.
Not everybody was.
like truly to their corereligious, but everyone was more
or less Catholic.
Yeah.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (40:46):
So, are you implying that in his
early life, religion was notreally present or that impactful
to him until later in life.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (40:57):
Yes, he had a very different
relationship to religion in hisearly life than he did in his
adult life, much like myself.
It was around, like it wasreally inescapable in medieval
Italy.
He went to a primary school in achurch.
He learned about St.

(41:19):
George and St.
Martin and, cause they were likebrave noble knights.
And, like, at the time, God was,like, a threat, you know?
If you're not living the rightway, you're gonna suffer eternal
damnation.
It was used as a scare tactic,much like it still is today.

(41:39):
So that is sort of what he wasgrowing up in,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (41:43):
And the crusades were religious,
right?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (41:45):
Yeah, they were politically,
religiously motivated.
Yeah.
So where that all changed forhim.
He's later in his life.
He's, you know, early.
Well, late teens, perhaps, andtime would pass and Francis is
still feeling disappointed anddejected with the life around

(42:06):
him.
And one day he finds himself infront of the old abandoned
church of St.
Dominic's, about a mile outsideof the walls of Assisi.
And he went inside to rest, andhe sat down among this
crumbling, ruined old church.
It had cracked walls, brokenglass, but the altar and the

(42:28):
crucifix above the altar werestill intact.
So he's sitting down and he'sresting, and he's just thinking
about stuff.
You know how it goes.
And he hears a voice alone inthe church.
There's no one around him.
He thought the church had beenabandoned.
He wasn't sure anyone had beenin there for years.
And he hears the voice of Christcrucified on the cross above

(42:50):
him.
And he speaks to him in a tendervoice, and he says, Francis,
don't you see that my house isbeing destroyed?
Go then, and rebuild it for me.
And Francis is like, whoa, whoa,what the heck?

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (43:06):
just for me?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (43:07):
A divine quest for me, this is
what I've been waiting for.
This is what my soul has beencraving.
Finally, somebody's telling mewhat to do.
Finally, something I can feelgood about.
And he took it very literally.
Which is Francis motif.
He was a very, like, literal,practical man.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (43:28):
I gotta fix this church
specifically.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (43:31):
he said, Alright, this church in
front of me, this house of God,is in disrepair.
I gotta fix it up.
And you can zoom out to thebroader church around him at the
time, the Capital C Church wasin disrepair.
A lot of political sabotage andpolitical motivation was in the
church at the time.

(43:53):
Francis said, alright, I gottarebuild this church.
And how's he gonna do that?
how's he gonna find the money?
He's got money.
But because his father was notreally a godly man, he was like,
I I know how to get the money,but he's not gonna like it.
So he went to his father'sstorehouse, and he stole bolts

(44:18):
of cloth to sell to raise moneyfor the church.
And would you believe that PeterBernardone, once again by his
son's actions, was

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (44:31):
mean, I wouldn't be happy if I'm being

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (44:34):
Yeah, to be fair.
Yeah, that's, that's a pretty,that's a

squadcaster-6jg5_1_1 (44:38):
Especially like, imagine today you're,
you're not super religious andyour son is now, in your eyes,
like a fanatic taking your

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (44:48):
Yeah.
And that's how Peter felt.
He was like, you are having somesort of mental breakdown.
You are stealing from me.
What is going on with you?
And Peter, obviously,understandably, was pissed,
dragged Francis back home, andlocked him in a storeroom for
weeks.

(45:09):
So once again, he was aprisoner.

squadcaster-6 (45:11):
Disproportionate!

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (45:13):
Kinda sucks.
Kind of a shithead.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (45:16):
I would be upset not that upset.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (45:18):
Yeah, well, this is also after a life
of like Francis's like, not baddeeds, but he was like, oh my
god, my son again is doing someshit.
Oh my god.
And I'm not a parent, so Ireally can't speak to like the
limit of like parental grace,but this is extreme in my

(45:38):
opinion.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101 (45:39):
grounding for sure.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (45:41):
Yeah, big grounding.
I'm taking your Xbox away, getin the storeroom.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (45:46):
in the storeroom, no.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (45:47):
Get in the storeroom for a week.
So once again, he's imprisonedand that sucks for him.
Um, he did eventually get out.
There are varying accounts ofit.
Some say it was divineintervention of how he escaped.
More likely, it's that Francismother, who was always a little

(46:08):
bit more compassionate andgraceful towards Francis, just
let him out while Peter was awayon a business trip.
And then after Francis escapes,Uh, Peter drags Francis before
the bishop of Assisi, which iskind of like the court, you
know?
And he's demanding to be repaidthe money that was stolen from

(46:30):
him.
He's going on and on about whatFrancis has done to him and how
he needs to make it right.
And Francis is just standingthere listening, and the bishop
is just standing there listeningto him say his piece.
And Francis did something verytheatric after that.
He produced a bag of coins andhanded it to his father.

(46:51):
Strips fully naked of the fineclothes he was wearing.
In front of the bishop, handsthe clothes over to his father,
and turns to crowd andproclaims, Listen to me all of
you and understand.
Until now, I have called PeterBernardone my father.
But because I have proposed toserve God, I return him the

(47:13):
money on account of which he wasso upset, and also the clothing
which is his.
And I want only to say from nowon, Our father who art in
heaven, and not my father, PeterBernardone.

skye_1_12-22-2024_10142 (47:26):
Period.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (47:26):
he's publicly renouncing his

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (47:29):
hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_1 (47:30):
renouncing his wealth, and only

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (47:33):
father

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (47:33):
God.
My father?
Heavenly father.
I know that's fucking right.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (47:39):
not my president.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (47:41):
Talk about daddy issues though.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (47:44):
Yeah,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (47:45):
relate to St.
Francis

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (47:47):
in a lot of ways to St.
Francis.
I relate to his love oftheatrics.
I relate to the stripping inpublic.
Never done that, but that soundskind of badass.
Yeah, I got a whole life aheadof me.
I just think he's a fascinating,compelling, just really gracious

(48:08):
and kind character.
And he had a sense of humor thatnever left him, and he was so
charming, and he like reallyloved everyone.
Like, he didn't turn away anyonewho wanted to join his
brotherhood.
I just think he's a very coolperson to try to be like.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (48:27):
love someone who commits to the bit,
which I feel like is probablyall saints, but I love, I love
a, if you're gonna do it do it.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (48:35):
He did it big.
Yeah.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (48:38):
least when I think about Saints, I
don't think of, like, funny,like, big personality people.
I think of, like, very subdued,devout,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (48:49):
And that is an aspect of it.
But there were saints that had,like, anger issues.
There were saints that weremessy.
Just like all of us.
And I think that's wonderful.
They're just human And I thinkthat's really beautiful.
So that's the first key point ofhis conversion, was the
experience he had at St.

(49:10):
Dominic's Church and the voicehe heard.
I'll go through a few otherpoints of his conversion.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (49:17):
Wait, real quick, do you know what the
bishop felt about that?
Was the bishop like, hell yeah?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (49:22):
Yes, that's in the book Reluctant
Saint.
bishop, Guido was his name.
Bishop Guido at the time, he hadlike such a fondness for
Francis.
Cause he was like, I respectthat.
I respect who you are and whatyou're trying to do.
And they had like a pretty goodrelationship for the rest of his
life.

(49:43):
He was a very important ally forFrancis later in his life.
So another big point in Franciswork and his conversion was his
work with people with leprosy.
Growing up, Francis, he wasaware of lepers.
It was kind of impossible to notsee them in medieval Italy.

(50:03):
They were often, like,outskirted and not in the town
because they were pariahs,essentially, but he would see
them in the travels with hisfather.
And he was, you know, a prettyspoiled kid.
He didn't really have to thinkabout it or care about it.
And he, you know, like mostchildren of the time, he thought

(50:26):
they were kind of yucky, and hedidn't want to Be near them and
talk about them.
And ever since the experience hehad at St.
Dominic's church and theprofound change he felt within
himself.
He was no longer able to ignorethose suffering and the sick and

(50:47):
the dying he saw all around him.
In one notable experience,Francis was traveling down a
country road after he hasrenounced his worldly
possessions, after he hasrenounced his father's wealth.
I think at the time he literallyhad like, the clothes on his
back and a walking stick.
Like he lived in extreme povertyfor the rest of his life after

(51:10):
that.
And he's, he's traveling downthe road, and he comes across a
leper, and he has no money andno food to offer the leper.
All he can offer the leper is anembrace and human compassion,
which at the time, was radicalas hell because healthy people

(51:34):
were not touching lepers, theywere throwing money and food
from what they considered a safedistance and then like scuttling
away.
And here's Francis, who has alsopretty much done that his entire
life, and he recognizes, thedying and suffering and lonely
Christ in these lepers, thisChrist that spoke to him alone

(51:55):
in the church.
And he goes, I, I need toembrace you, I need to be with
you as you are lonely and dyingand suffering.
And that was like the key pointwhere he, he really felt that
change in him.
And he would continue to workwith people with leprosy, with

(52:17):
the dying, with the ill for therest of his life.
He would feed them, he wouldtake care of them, he would wash
them, he would make sure they'resafe and they weren't alone.
And he, one of the reasons thathe founded his brotherhood was
at the time, traditionalreligious orders, you were
basically cloistered away in amonastery or a nunnery, and you

(52:42):
were not able to work in theworld the way Francis wanted to.
He wanted to help people and bein the world in a very, like,
tangible, concrete way.
So that's pretty revolutionaryat the time, because nobody,
literally nobody was doing ituntil Francis was doing it.

(53:02):
So he was a real groundbreakingkind of guy.
And then much later in his life,another big, uh, point.
Maybe not of conversion, but alittle bit of conversion.
he traveled to Egypt.
There was another crusade thatwas called for by the Pope.
And Francis Francis, againwanting to do big noble deeds,

(53:26):
he wanted to go to Egypt topromote peace and try to convert
the Muslim sultan al Malik alKamil, which was a punishable by
death offense in Muslimterritories, preaching
Christianity publicly like that.
And Francis said, no, you knowwhat?

(53:47):
going to try it.
I'm going to do it.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (53:50):
It's giving Chosen One.
It's giving, maybe if he hearsit from me,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (53:54):
Yeah, if I say it, he's going to
listen.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (53:58):
was he not afraid to die then?
He was,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (54:01):
No, at the time, especially
martyrdom was still consideredlike the highest form of
devotion you could do.
So he sort of transferred hisdesire to be a knight a little
bit to the desire to become amartyr because he wanted like
big grand sweeping gestures tolike prove that he was making a

(54:24):
difference, you know?
So he's going to Egypt.
We're traveling, we're going toEgypt.
Vacation! It was not a vacation.
it fucking sucked.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12- (54:35):
journey.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (54:37):
It was terrible.
There was so much foreignillness.
The people on this crusade werejust, again, politically
motivated.
And all around him he saw peoplethat were like, not living the
gospel truthfully, and thatsucked.
And so Francis was going, causehe also, he just wanted the war

(54:59):
to be over.
He was trying to promote peace,and he was like, why are so many
people on both sides dying forwhat?
I don't see the point in this.
And it does get into it reallynicely in Reluctant Saint,
again, shout out to ReluctantSaint,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (55:16):
What's the guy's name?
The author?

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (55:18):
Donald Spoto, shout out.
I don't know if you're stillalive or not.
Didn't check.
he's going into, in the book,the political motivations behind
the Crusades, and It's SoFrancis is in Egypt, he has an
audience with the Sultan.
The Sultan agrees to hear himout.

(55:40):
And the Sultan, a very, a funlittle story that showcases
Francis humor and charm that Ilike a lot.
Before they get there, Francisand his companion brother from
the lesser brothers, the friarsthat he's collected over the
years.

(56:00):
The Sultan lays down a flag witha cross before his throne trying
to trick Francis and hiscompanion because he says Well,
if they don't step forwardthey're actively disrespecting
me and that's punishable and ifthey do step forward and they
step on the flag Then I knowthey're not real Christians
because they're disrespectingGod I'm putting them in a gotcha

(56:22):
situation no matter what andFrancis sees that and his
companion brother sees that andthe companion brother is like I
don't know.
This is a real rock and hardplace situation.
I don't know, I don't know whatto do about this, chief.
And Francis goes, no, no, no,no, this is fine.
And he steps forward and hesteps on the flag.

(56:42):
And the sultan goes, bro, whatthe hell?
You're stepping on the crucifix.
How could you do, you say you'rea man of God, how could you do
that?
And Francis goes, there werethree crosses on that hill.
How do I know whose that is?
Got him.
so the sultan sees all that andhe goes, you know what?

(57:04):
I like you.
You're all right.
You're pretty funny.
You're pretty charming.
And he, he opens his home for anentire week to Francis and his
brother companion as a guest.
And there was a deep mutualrespect between the Sultan and
Francis.
talked about theology.
They talked about God.
God, Francis did try to convertthe sultan because the sultan

(57:27):
was also the same age asFrancis, and he was also like a
deeply devout man.
And he recognized another devoutman in Francis and his
authenticity to his god.
And he said, while I don'tagree, I do respect you.
And he gave him protection andfreedom to travel throughout the
land to holy sites, because hewas, he was just a fun, he was a

(57:50):
funny little guy.
He was a charming

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (57:52):
you just gotta have Riz and then
then you're fine.
Mm

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (57:59):
you.
Why would the sultan giveaudience to Francis?
Was Francis and his people wellknown?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (58:08):
He was well known enough at the
time, this was after theestablishment of the lesser
brothers that Francis formed,and they were well known.
throughout Europe enough thatword had traveled and I think
like some of the Sultan'scouncil knew who Francis was and

(58:30):
they were like honestly youshould kill him because he's
Christian and he's trying topreach Christianity in our land
which is a capital punishmentoffense

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (58:40):
going on little mission trips and it's
kind of cringe.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (58:43):
is he's going on little mission
trips trying to like preach hisTruth of the gospel and the
Sultan was like, no, I like thisguy.
I really like this guy There'ssomething to him.
but he was like a very he was areasonable level headed man the
Sultan and he was like I'm notgonna kill this guy for what?

(59:05):
He's just a religious man likeyou and I

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (59:07):
hmm.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (59:08):
both Abrahamic religions I'm sure
that they had a lot of things incommon to discuss because it's
essentially the same God

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (59:16):
And Islam recognizes Jesus just as a
prophet, not as necessarily theson of God.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (59:23):
yeah.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (59:23):
So.
Right.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (59:26):
So, the Sultan Kamil and Saint
Francis of Assisi, homies forlife.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (59:33):
The friends we made along the way.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (59:35):
Yeah, truly.
But again, Francis was like, Ifailed to convert the Sultan.
I didn't do what I wanted to do.
It's just another littledisappointment he could put in
his pocket.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (59:46):
Well, wait, did it have any impact on
the war?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (59:50):
not really, not directly, because it
was like by the pope and hiscouncil that the crusades were
going on to like regain the holyland or whatever,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (59:59):
it didn't affect him politically at
all.
I believe, like, the Sultan'spolitical beliefs were probably
still firmly set.
He just now had a friend who hecould, like, debate with.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:00:09):
Yeah, and he was doing it more as, um,
like the sultan was trying toend the war, but the, the war
commander, for lack of a betterterm, of the pope was like, we
gotta, we gotta keep going.
Like, we're so close.
We're almost there.
They're getting their shitrocked at every step and turn,
but he's like, we're so close.
We gotta keep going.

(01:00:29):
Like, we can win this.
And the sultan was like sendingout messages of being like, Hey,
yeah.
This can end right now.
Like, I don't want to keepfighting.
I don't want you to keep killingyour people.
I don't want my people to keepdying.
Like, he didn't want to fighteither.
kindred spirits between the twoof them for peace.
Ba And now we can get into aword Poppy loves,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:00:52):
Ah! canticle.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:00:54):
of the sun.
What do you what's a canticle?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:00:57):
I just think Canterbury Tales is
what I think of.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:01:01):
Okay, yeah.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_1 (01:01:02):
cantaloupe ankle.
Real swole.
Close!

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:01:09):
No, that was a joke.
A canticle is a song of praise.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:01:15):
okay.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:01:16):
and Francis wrote the Canticle of
the Sun.
Throughout his life he wouldlike fine tune it and add things
as he went along and he lived.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:01:28):
Sun with an O?
Or with a

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:01:30):
Sun with a U, Canticle of the Sun in
the Sky,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:01:33):
Not the sun as in Jesus.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:01:36):
No, but he saw, he saw God in all
things.
He saw God in the sun.
He saw God in the moon.
He saw God in the water.
He saw God in the birds.
So the Canticle of the Sun witha U is very much the Canticle of
the sun with an O, you know, Hewould preach to birds and

(01:01:57):
animals because he believed thatthey were as much of a part of
creation as people were, andthey deserved to hear the
gospel.
He said, hey, we're notseparate.
He would refer to the son asbrother's son, and he would
refer to the moon is sister moonand he would even refer to
sister death because it's all apart of creation.

(01:02:19):
It all has God within it.
And he composed what isconsidered the first poem in
vernacular Italian in 1225groundbreaking trailblazing
again.
And he wrote The Canticle of theSun, and I have it here if you

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:02:37):
Yes, I

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:02:38):
it.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:02:38):
it.
I was going to, ask.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:02:40):
I'm waiting with bated breath.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (01:02:42):
You're going to read it in original
Italian?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:02:45):
I can't even speak Spanish,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (01:02:47):
We've,

river_1_12-22-2024_10 (01:02:48):
medieval,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:02:49):
this.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:02:49):
think I can speak Umbrian Italian?
Get real, dude.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (01:02:53):
you're a man of mysteries.
Every time we

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:02:55):
Yeah.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12 (01:02:56):
something new.
I wouldn't be

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:02:57):
Yeah.
No, I don't speak UmbrianItalian, but I can read the
English translation for you heretoday.
It's not long, but it's notshort.
So just be prepared for that.
Most high, all powerful, goodlord.
You are the praises, the glory,the honor, and all blessings.

(01:03:19):
To you alone, most high, do theybelong.
And no man is worthy to mentionyour name.
Praise be you, my lord, with allyour creatures, especially
brother sun, who is the day andthrough whom you give us light.
He is beautiful and radiant withgreat splendor and bears a
likeness to you, Most High One.

(01:03:40):
Praise be you, my Lord, throughsister moon and the stars.
In heaven you formed them clearand precious and beautiful.
Praise be you, my Lord, throughbrother wind and through the
air, cloudy and serene, andevery kind of weather through
which you give sustenance toyour creatures.
Praise be you, my Lord, throughSister Water, which is very

(01:04:01):
useful and humble and preciousand chaste.
Praise be you, my Lord, throughBrother Fire.
Through whom you light thenight, and he is beautiful and
playful and robust and strong.
Praise be you my lord throughsister mother earth who sustains
us and governs us and producesvaried fruits with colorful

(01:04:21):
flowers and herbs.
Praised be you, my Lord, throughthose you give pardon for your
love, and bear infirmity andtribulation.
Blessed are those who endure inpeace, for by you, most high,
they shall be crowned.
Praised be you, my Lord, throughour sister, bodily death, from
whom no living man can escape.

(01:04:43):
Woe to those who die in mortalsin.
Blessed are those whom deathwill find in your most holy
will, for the second death shalldo them no harm.
Praise and bless my lord andgive him thanks and serve him
with great humility.
Amen.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:04:58):
Amen.
beautiful.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (01:05:00):
That's Francis, baby.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:05:02):
is this intended to be sung?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:05:06):
Uh, song rhymed.
Francis loved to sing, so he wassinging

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:05:11):
heard that like in church before, like
sung by the priest

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:05:17):
still going.
It's

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:05:18):
and I can, I can kind

river_1_12-22-2024_101 (01:05:20):
perhaps.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:05:24):
you know, one, one of those

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:05:27):
I don't remember it, but I also
don't remember much of my churchexperience growing up because I
was very young.
So if I did hear it, I don'tremember it, but it is
beautiful.
Mm

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:05:37):
been in like more.
recently into church and I, Idefinitely do remember that and
it has that kind of liketelltale repetitive cadence that
a

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:05:48):
hmm.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12- (01:05:49):
Catholic like kind of call and responses
have.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:05:53):
So that's the Canticle of the Sun.
Beautiful little piece ofpoetry.
And we hear Francis, in the end,talking of the second death,
which is bodily death.
Which no living man can escape,obviously.
So what's the first death?

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:06:10):
I was just about to ask.
If I had to guess I would sayit's like the renouncing, like
when you become and accept Godor whatever that's your first,
like you, the old you dies andthen you become

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:06:24):
Yeah.
It's the death of the ego.
It's the death of the old lifeyou need to give up.
It's the death of Giovanni DiPiccio de Bernardone, you know?
the death he had to go throughto become Francis.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:06:39):
is interesting that he ended up not
identifying with his baptismalname

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:06:46):
Mhm,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:06:46):
and he went with the name that his
father, who he renounced, gavehim.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:06:51):
and there's definitely still like a
through line and the flavors ofthe themes of the baptismal
name, but yeah, he was Francis.
Not Francis Bernardone, but justFrancis of Assisi.
He dropped his father's lastname and he just became Francis
of Assisi.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:07:09):
he like Francesco de Assisi or?

river_1_12-22-2024_10 (01:07:13):
Probably.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:07:14):
I didn't know.
if it was like, was likeAnglicized, however

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:07:18):
yeah.
That is the English

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:07:21):
Okay.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:07:21):
of it, but it was Francesco.
Francesco de Assisi.
Or something like that.
and now we get to talk about thestigmata.
What y'all know about thestigmata?

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:07:33):
Little paw paws.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:07:34):
up for the stigmata!

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:07:35):
what about feet?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:07:37):
feet?
and hands in the

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:07:38):
that stigmata are a common, well not
common, but it's like, One ofthose things, what is it called
when you, like, see religiousiconography in something and
then it's blessed as, like, uh,something that can create
miracles?
Like, you know, seeing theVirgin Mary in, like, a mold

(01:07:58):
stain or in your toast orwhatever, like, when you see the
stigmata, then it's, like, asign God

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:08:06):
I know it primarily from watching
horror movies.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:08:09):
Also that.
Yeah.

skye_1_12-22-2024 (01:08:11):
Catholicism's kinda scary.

river_1_12-22-2024_ (01:08:13):
Catholicism is kind of scary and kind of

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:08:15):
It's very corporeal, I think.
It's because Catholicism is veryfocused on

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:08:22):
the blood

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:08:22):
body, yeah.
And so there's so manyopportunities for, to just warp
it a little bit and make ithorror.
Because by doing that, then youalso have a solution built in
through recognition from God,you know, then you, you have the
exorcism route.
it's beautiful storytelling.
It's perfect for storytelling.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:08:43):
It's a very, it's very thematic, it's
very theatrical, which is veryon brand for Francis.
So, speaking of iconography andwarping, um, often in
iconography, Francis is seenbearing the stigmata.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:09:01):
just his palms.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (01:09:02):
Palms, feet, and wound on his side.
there are some stories where hereceived a vision of an angel,
of a seraph, giving him thestigmata as a sign of his
worthiness in the way that helived the gospel for his life as
a sign from God of approval andbut in a more mundane and

(01:09:27):
historical telling, Francis didsuffer a lot of illnesses and
ailments from his life ofextreme poverty, from his life
spent caring for the sick.
He already had compromisedhealth from being in prison for
a year when he was younger.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:09:49):
I could see how leprosy sores
could be mistaken

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:09:53):
And it, and again, not to bring up
Reluctant Saint by Donald'sphoto, but he goes into it.
And he did, he was very sick atthe end of his life, he lost his
eyesight, he was constantly inpoor health, he had like,
internal organ damage from theextreme poverty and You know, he

(01:10:16):
never really ate a whole lot.
So it's hard on the body.
It's really hard on the body.
And that shows physically andoutwardly.
So there is a lot of evidencethat he had physically expressed
ailments and illnesses and soreson his body.
And the best way that medievalartists and commenters could

(01:10:39):
really get across the symbolismof Francis connection with the
Christ he identified with, whichis like the crucified, dying,
lonely, suffering Christ, andthe patience that takes to live
that out to its fruition, to itsvery end, was by giving him the

(01:11:01):
stigmata in artwork.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:11:03):
Oh, so you're saying that this stigmata
is not necessarily true.
Absolutely.
literal, but it's arepresentation

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:11:09):
more metaphorical, depending on what
school of thought

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:11:13):
hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:11:13):
want to follow.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:11:15):
800 years ago, who knows?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:11:17):
who knows?
I wasn't there.
I can't tell you.

skye_1_12-22-2024_10142 (01:11:20):
They're like, the stigmata's a bit more
aesthetically pleasing to put

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:11:23):
It

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:11:24):
It's easier to get across.
It's easier to just, you can seethat and understand it.
Yeah.
You see that immediately andyou're like, oh, suffering,
Christ like.
Got it.
Locked in.
It's not 20 years of, oh, here'sall the work he was doing.
Here's everything he was doingto care for other people.

(01:11:45):
But the stigmata in the biblicalGreek included not just the
wounds, Great endurance inafflictions, hardships,
calamities, beatings,imprisonments, riots, labors,
sleepless nights, and hunger,which were all the hallmark of
Francis life.

(01:12:06):
So whether or not it was theliteral five wounds of Christ,
or just the hardship thatFrancis joyfully endured, and
patiently endured, His exampleof living the gospel was greatly
recognized by everybody, nomatter if you took it literally
or more metaphorically.
He's just a real swell fella.

(01:12:28):
So now that we know about St.
Francis of Assisi and the man hewas and the life he lived, what
can he do for you in your lifeand your practice?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:12:38):
I have two questions before we get
into that.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (01:12:41):
please do.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:12:42):
First of all, he was never married,
right?
Or did he

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:12:45):
No, he was never married.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:12:48):
He, I mean, we probably didn't have
kids maybe when he was like ayoung playboy.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (01:12:52):
Maybe, there could maybe, but there's
no recorded.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:12:57):
And then second, so can you talk
about his death?
Is it known

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:13:01):
Mm.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:13:02):
he died or like how old

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:13:03):
Oh yeah.
I left it out for like ease ofjust everything, you know, cause
there's so, again,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:13:11):
this out if it's like too much.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:13:13):
I don't know.
We'll see how it goes.
But again, in The ReluctantSaint, you go through all of his
life up until his death.
he was still in good spirits, ingood humor, he was still
charming and funny up until hisdeath.
especially when he was likereally suffering and really ill,
that's when he felt closest toGod.

(01:13:36):
That's when he felt like themost comforted by his face.
died when he was 44, I want tosay.
He was like early to mid 40s.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:13:48):
Which was still then

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:13:49):
Um,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-2 (01:13:50):
normal.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:13:51):
yeah, by today's standards.
Cut down on his prime by thosestandards, like, he was, he was
pretty old.
He got pretty far.
He went through, like,experimental surgeries at the
time for his eyesight.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:14:04):
Oh no.
Oh

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:14:07):
it involving like a hot iron rod,
like being like scraped and likecut over his temple and like
cauterizing the wounds becausethey're medieval doctors.
They don't know jack shit aboutanything.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (01:14:21):
That's horrible.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:14:22):
it's, it goes into it in the book.
I think you're going to love itbecause you're nasty like that.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:14:27):
what was the cause of death then?
Was it just a

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:14:31):
It just various.
Yeah, he was just, he was reallysick for a really long time for
like various different things,and he still was like, not
eating a whole lot, he didn'tlike to eat.
One of the things he talkedabout before he died, his
biggest regret, was how hetreated quote unquote brother

(01:14:54):
body, and he

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:14:55):
yeah,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:14:56):
how poorly he had treated himself
and his body as a vesselthroughout his entire life.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:15:01):
a reflection of creation cause
it's so easy to, especially whenmartyrdom is

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:15:07):
it's romanticized on

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:15:09):
yeah,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:15:10):
yeah,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (01:15:11):
sought after and you're like, well,
suffering is.
a reflection of my faith whenreally it's like, yes, but
taking care of yourself is also

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:15:21):
is sleeping, so is eating, so is
resting.
Yeah, you don't just have

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:15:25):
God has given you this life to
enjoy.
I, so also I was asking aboutdeath because I feel like a big
part of what makes to me saintsso interesting is the after
death aspect and like howthey're treated because after
they die saints often at leastin history are treated as

(01:15:47):
commodities because theirremains are thought to be able
to bring about miracles and likecure disease and whatnot

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:15:55):
heal people

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:15:56):
so people would fight over their
essentially, and like steal fromtheir graves and whatnot.
I was just curious to if you hadany like details about that.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:16:07):
Not particularly.
It really doesn't get intoanything that happens, like,
post death in the book.
he did say that before he died,he wanted to be, like, stripped
bare and lain directly on theearth as, like, a last, like,
embrace of creation because hecouldn't see.

(01:16:30):
He couldn't really walk.
I mean, he could hear thingsstill really well and really
clearly, but he was like veryfrail and very sick and blind.
So he just, up until the end, hejust wanted to be with God.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:16:43):
Okay.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:16:44):
I don't really

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:16:45):
And that's what really matters.
It's, It's, really just mymorbid curiosity and I vaguely
remember from Sunday school, uh,ironically, them talking about
how St.
Francis in particular, remainswere moved several times in
order to Prevent grave robbersfrom, like, stealing

river_1_12-22-2024_101 (01:17:04):
probably if I had to guess before they
were placed under the Basilicain Assisi.
Yeah, I would have to assume.
From which Garnet has a littlebit of dirt from.
Yeah, we're using graveyarddirt.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:17:19):
So what is the Basilica?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:17:21):
Uh, Basilica is um, Essentially like
a church, also a headquarters,where like you can go there to
worship.
Also the, the lesser brotherfraternity, which is now called
the Franciscan Fraternity,operates out of.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:17:39):
So It's his Basilica.
It's not like Okay, I didn't

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:17:44):
Yeah, by name and by intention.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:17:46):
place that like a bunch of saints or
whatever were

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:17:49):
Nope, it's just his basilica in
Assisi.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:17:52):
Okay.

river_1_12-22-2024_10 (01:17:53):
gorgeous.
I looked up images on Google.
Gorgeous

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:17:55):
Yeah.
Sorry for so many questions.
This is just, I love it.
I, I wanted to

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:17:59):
is what I want.
Yeah, of

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:18:04):
yeah.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:18:04):
our practice and our podcast, but
yeah.
you guys ready to learn aboutwhat St.
Francis can do for you and howyou can ask him for help and
support in your practice andyour life?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:18:15):
I'm excited to hear about, um, the
pet aspect

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:18:18):
Yeah, I have a personal story from
working with St.
Francis of Assisi.
So his feast day is on October4th, so we did miss it this
year, but mark your calendarsfor next year.
he is regarded as one of themost approachable saints to
start working with.
He was to a fault accepting ofeverybody, no matter what,

skye_1_12-22-202 (01:18:42):
unapproachable saints?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:18:45):
Not unapproachable, but some are
more intense

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:18:49):
Okay.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:18:50):
hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:18:50):
the energy of St.
Francis of Assisi is verydifferent from the energy of St.
Benedict.
like I said, very approachable,very cool, chill guy.
Doesn't need anything fancy.
If you want to give an offering,it can be very simple, a glass
of water, brown candle, an actof service to another person,

(01:19:13):
picking up litter.
It doesn't have to be anythingfancy.
gave him, when I asked for hisassistance in intercession, I
gave him a piece of Italianbread, because I thought that
would be very nice.
He is the patron saint of allanimals and the environment.
That's sort of the um, andHermes just sneezed as I said
that.
pretty much like when you googleSt.

(01:19:34):
Francis.
AI overview is like, ah, patronsaint of animals and the
environment.
So that's what he is most knownfor.
So you can certainly ask him forprotection and assistance with
pets to keep them healthy, tokeep them safe.
I did ask for his assistance.

(01:19:57):
And I found it in my little, mylittle journal from the year.
It was April of this very yearthat we're recording at 2024.
And as you have heard from thelast episode about our little
kitty cats, my cats were goingthrough a hard time integrating

(01:20:18):
and living together.
And it was really stressing me

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:20:21):
Mm hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:20:22):
it was really, it was causing a lot
of stress on me, a lot of stresson the house.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:20:27):
Yeah, Garnet was having, like,
physical, ailments

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (01:20:30):
teeth.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:20:31):
her, teeth are unrelated.
Her teeth, she just has badteeth, but she was having like
stress colitis and she had likea Harpy's flare up in her eye
from the stress.
She had a gooey eyeball.
Yeah.
Thankfully hers went away prettyquickly.
I'm sorry to Harvey for him, himstill having a goopy eye only

(01:20:53):
six months, but.
There was a lot of strife in thehousehold, it was stressing me
out, and I hadn't even workedwith saints before this.
This was before, like, mysaints.
pathway opened up, my saint'sarc, yeah.
And I'm doing some Googling andI'm like, well I'm a folk

(01:21:13):
Catholic, let's see, and alsoI'm a witch, I forgot I'm a
witch, let's see if I can do aspell about this.
I had a brain blast one day, Iremembered I was a witch.
And I'm Googling, and I'm like,okay, patron saint of animals.
lo and behold, St.
Francis of Assisi pops up on theGoogle AI overview, and I was
like, sick, this is exactly whatI needed.

(01:21:35):
So I'm like, I'm learning alittle bit.
I did not know, obviously, nowthat I've read a biography about
him, I did not know nearly asmuch about him at the time as I
do now.
I just knew he was the patronsaint of Pretz, and I was like,
this is great.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:21:52):
Do you know why that is

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:21:54):
Uh, it goes back to the Canticle of
the Sun and how he, yeah, he sawGod in everything and he treated
animals as equal to him as aperson through that, like,
divine thread.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22 (01:22:07):
vegan?
Like, did he still eat animals.
Mm

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:22:11):
he because of the poverty, he like
foraged a lot and like ate breadand stuff.
sure maybe if it was likeoffered to him as alms, he would
probably eat meat, but he

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:22:25):
hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:22:25):
not like actively going out and
searching for it.
so I gather, I go online and Imake my little purchases.
I bought a seven day St.
Francis candle that I showed atthe beginning of this episode.
I had a little prayer on theback.
burnt that thing

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:22:41):
hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:22:42):
all the way down.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2 (01:22:43):
many of those have you been through?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:22:46):
Um, of St.
Francis, just the one, generallyspeaking, several.
So I go online, I buy mysupplies, I buy my little
candle, I bought a collar forGarnet.
Cause my spell was mostlyfocused on Garnet, cause at the
time she was not doing well.
She was very angry, she wasgetting sick.
I got the little medal that hashis basilica dirt in it.

(01:23:09):
I'm putting, uh, basil andcatnip in a little satchet and
I'm putting the metal in thesatchet to like soak in just
like the calming, peacefulenergy of it all.
And I'm, I'm saying my prayer,I'm asking for intercession, I'm
asking for his help.

(01:23:30):
And I will say every time, causeI, I didn't do a traditional
novena where you have the candleburning every single day for
nine days, and you're saying theprayer for nine days, I would
just light it when it feltnecessary.
I will say after I lit thatcandle every single time, shit,
calm down in my house.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:23:50):
did, you feel his presence?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:23:51):
it was very sweet, and very
approachable, and very peaceful,which is really like who he was
as a person.
So he's, he's a very, he's avery friendly swell guy.
Very kind man.
And I do, I need to do the spellagain and I need to make some

(01:24:12):
updates and new additions to itand revise it a little bit.
A little refresh because it'sbeen a while and again.
ties back into what we weretalking about for mental health.
I am not only solely relying onmagical works for the health of
my pets.
I did also get Hermes on an antianxiety medication that's

(01:24:35):
supposed to help him calm downand help him not be so
aggressive and too rough withGarnet.
So I'm gonna be doing thatagain.
I got him his own little collarand his own little medal and I
bought a whole bunch of brownchime candles that I'm gonna be
burning and I'm gonna make a newpetition for St.
Francis.
that's one of the ways you canask for help for um, St.

(01:24:57):
Francis.
And that's how I personallyasked for help um, many months
ago.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:25:03):
Do you think that someone could do this
just if their pet was, like, inbad health?
If it's not stress related, ifit's like some other ailment.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:25:12):
I don't think it would hurt.
It's not, again, it's not, youknow, the equivalent of taking
them to the vet and getting themchecked out, but if you want to
throw a little spiritual juicetheir way,

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:25:21):
they can to,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:25:23):
yeah, Just the care of and the
protection and the safety ofanimals in like a broad,
Umbrellascope.
yeah.
you can also pray to him if yourpet's lost.
You can ask him for help findingyour pet.
You can also throw St.
Anthony in there.
So that's one way.
Pets and the environment is abig one.
And looking at the whole scopeof his life, which is a very

(01:25:47):
cool thing with learning aboutsaints.
They're not just this one thingthat they are the patron of.
They have a full, rich, deeplife of other things.
So, in my opinion, and everyonemay feel differently and relate
to different things about hisstory, you can ask for St.

(01:26:07):
Francis for help in matterswhere you desire peace and
reconciliation.
in your life, you can ask him tohelp you find comfort if you are
in poverty and especially inlate stage capitalism of 2024.
Poverty is just a really bigthing,

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:26:27):
Mm

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:26:27):
you can, you can look to him for
some peace and solace if youfind yourself in that situation
because that's how he lived hislife in extreme poverty I think
you can also ask him for help inmatters of self assurance and
self worth because he Throughouthis entire life was constantly

(01:26:49):
feeling like he failed.
He wasn't doing the things hehad set out to do.
He was constantly referring tohimself as the useless servant,
even though he did likebeautiful grand things that are
still impactful today, he justcouldn't see that at the time.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:27:07):
It seems like he's very good with
like shifting perspectivebecause I think that, I imagine
that after he died, He then canlook upon his life and realize
the good that he did do, eventhough it's not what he
initially set out to do.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:27:24):
And I think you can also, because he
was very sick throughout hislife, and especially in the end
of his life, just riddled withpain and illness, I think you
can turn to him for comfort intimes of chronic illness and
pain.
And you can, you can throw yourown interpretations in.
Truly the only limit is yourimagination.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:27:47):
Love him.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:27:48):
So That's St.
Francis.
That's St.
Francis.
of Assisi.
Yeah.
Questions, thoughts?

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:27:56):
as they came up.
Thank you for answering them.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:27:59):
Happy to do it.
Answered them to the best of myabilities.
I know I've said it so manytimes throughout this episode,
cannot recommend enoughReluctant Saint, The Life of
Francis of Assisi by DonaldSpoto.
Great book.
I learned so much.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:28:16):
Did you like the way that he wrote
it, too?
Like, would you say it's

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:28:19):
I did.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:28:19):
read in general?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:28:22):
There were some parts, because I'm not
an academic, I'm not an educatedman, I'm a very simple man like
Francis.
There were some words I had tolook up, because Donald Spoto is
a theologian and a biographer,But, I did, I felt like it was
very accessible at its core.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:28:40):
Mm hmm.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:28:42):
you guys want to hear the little
prayer that's on the littleprayer card at the end.
We can really round it out.
Yeah, the short little pet, uh,short little pet prayer.
All right, so all my pets outthere, put your headphones on
your pets or put it on yourspeaker.
Let your pets hear this becausethis is for them.
In your infinite wisdom, LordGod, when you created the

(01:29:02):
universe, you blessed us withliving creatures.
We especially thank you forgiving us our pets, who are our
friends and who bring us muchjoy in life.
Their presence very often helpsus get through trying times.
Please bless my pet.
May my pet continue giving mejoy and remind me of your power.

(01:29:23):
May we realize that as our petstrust us to take care of them,
so we should trust you to takecare of us.
And in taking care of them, weshare in your love for all your
creatures.
Enlighten our minds to preserveall endangered species, so that
we may continue to appreciateall of your creation.
Grant this through Christ ourLord.

(01:29:43):
Amen.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22- (01:29:44):
Amen.

river_1_12-22-2024_10143 (01:29:45):
That's for all my pets out there.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:29:47):
that to be, Garnet's name instead

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:29:50):
Nope.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:29:50):
pet?

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:29:51):
Oh, during the, when I was asking
for help.
It was personalized.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-2024 (01:29:56):
I feel like that's, that's the
case with like most magicalworkings.
As much as you can personalizeit,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:30:02):
And there's more, I've, again, I
only barely scratched the littletip of the iceberg surface.
There's so much I had to leaveout just for time, but that's
our, that's our first Saintsowed.
hope to do more of them, we'llsee.
Maybe it'll be saints I activelyhave worked with, there's only a

(01:30:22):
handful of them.
Maybe it'll just be saints thatI'm interested in and want to
learn about.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:30:27):
at some point,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:30:29):
We do have to do archangels at some
point.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:30:31):
Can we get a little teaser?
What other saints have youworked with?
What, uh, what

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:30:35):
I have worked with, well speaking
of archangels, I've worked withSt.
Raphael, the archangel.
I have a little medal of himthat I wear every day.
I have asked for help from St.
Michael, the archangel, as hasSkye.
I have worked with St.
Dymphna and I have recentlystarted asking St.

(01:30:59):
Jude for help.
So that's my, that's my rotationthat I've been rocking with.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:31:05):
Was that the time where you were
looking for a St.
Michael candle, but all youcould find was St.
Jude, and you were like,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:31:10):
Yeah.
Yeah, I was, um, this might getcut.
This is very candid, but thiswas post 2024 election.
And I said, I need to get a St.
Michael candle quickly because Ijust used mine up.
And they sell them at the localgrocery store and they were all
out and there was St.

(01:31:30):
Jude.
And I was like, you know what?
Not what I was looking for, butyou're, you'll, you'll do pretty

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:31:35):
mm hmm,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:31:35):
this case.
So you're coming home with me.
Well, thanks for listeningeverybody.
Thanks for tuning in.
If you made it this far, I hopeyou liked it.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-202 (01:31:45):
If you have, uh, ever worked with
saints, if you have any otherinsights to share, please let us
know.
Um,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:31:52):
would love to talk about it.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:31:54):
Uh, you can send your thoughts, your
prayers, whatever you'd like todeath.
Coven pod@gmail.com.
That's death as in death, covenas in coven, pod as in
podcast@gmail.com.
And we also have an Instagram.
Uh, we mentioned River's gonnapost some pictures of their sink

(01:32:16):
candles and some other acc, mom.
and you can find that at deathCoven Pod.
on Instagram.
Other than that, I have nothingfor you.
So, by the power of three,

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:32:31):
And so it is.

skye_1_12-22-2024_101422 (01:32:32):
And so it is.

squadcaster-6jg5_1_12-22-20 (01:32:34):
and so it is.

river_1_12-22-2024_101434 (01:32:38):
Bye! goodbye, goodbye everyone, bye
bye, ta ta.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 15: Saint Spotlight: St Francis of Assisi

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Cold Case Files: Miami

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Episode 15: Saint Spotlight: St Francis of Assisi

Cold Case Files: Miami