St. Francis of America: How a Thirteenth-Century Friar Became America's Most Popular Saint - Hardcover

Appelbaum, Patricia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1469623749 ISBN 13: 9781469623740

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015

Synopsis

How did a thirteenth-century Italian friar become one of the best-loved saints in America? Around the nation today, St. Francis of Assisi is embraced as the patron saint of animals, beneficently presiding over hundreds of Blessing of the Animals services on October 4, St. Francis's Catholic feast day. Not only Catholics, however, but Protestants and other Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and nonreligious Americans commonly name him as one of their favorite spiritual figures. Drawing on a dazzling array of art, music, drama, film, hymns, and prayers, Patricia Appelbaum explains what happened to make St. Francis so familiar and meaningful to so many Americans.

Appelbaum traces popular depictions and interpretations of St. Francis from the time when non-Catholic Americans "discovered" him in the nineteenth century to the present. From poet to activist, 1960s hippie to twenty-first-century messenger to Islam, St. Francis has been envisioned in ways that might have surprised the saint himself. Exploring how each vision of St. Francis has been shaped by its own era, Appelbaum reveals how St. Francis has played a sometimes countercultural but always aspirational role in American culture. St. Francis's American story also displays the zest with which Americans borrow, lend, and share elements of their religious lives in everyday practice.

About this title

About the Author:

Patricia Appelbaum, an independent scholar of religion and American culture, is author of Kingdom to Commune: Protestant Pacifist Culture between World War I and the Vietnam Era.

Review:

In this outstanding book, Patricia Appelbaum explores the paradox of American devotion to Saint Francis: each generation has adapted Francis to its own cultural context, yet he has never lost the power to challenge prevailing norms of violence and consumerism. Everyone deserves to know the story of how the Catholic Francis became an American saint.--Dan McKanan, author of Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition

A fascinating trip through American cultural history.  St. Francis is a wonderful way to see how popular and elite are deftly interwoven into the life-worlds of actual people. A welcome scrutiny of the literary and material culture surrounding a figure who is able to inspire reformers, moralists, and consumers alike. There is no other study of Francis like this one.--David Morgan, author of The Embodied Eye: Religious Visual Culture and the Social Life of Feeling

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1469623749
• ISBN 13: 9781469623740
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288