St. Francis with animals c.jpeg

St. Francis of Assisi attained the heights of contemplation through his penetrating vision of creation. The idea of transcending the world to contemplate true reality would have been foreign to his thinking. Rather, he regarded earthly life as possessing ideal, positive potential as God's creation. Image: detail of tempera and gold on parchment "Manuscript Leaf with Scenes from the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi," circa 1320-42, made in Bologna, Italy, for Hungarian use (Metropolitan Museum of Art/Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin L. Weisl Jr., 1994)