Finding Saint Francis in Medieval Literature and Art (The New Middle Ages)

Finding Saint Francis in Literature and Art demonstrates that remembering Saint Francis of Assisi should take place on many levels. The authors in this collection of essays use the tools of various intellectual disciplines to examine what we now know about Saint Francis in his own era and how the story of Il Poverello has been appropriated in our own times. This critical re-discovery of the artistic and textual narratives of Francis of Assisi contributes to our cultural memory by reflecting on the continuities and changes in the way Francis is understood. Contents......Page 10 Editors' Preface......Page 12 Finding Francis: An Invitation......Page 16 Part I: Francis in Medieval Text and Painting......Page 36 1 Standing on the Threshold: Beholder and Vision in the Assisi Crib at Greccio......Page 38 2 Bearing Witness: The Physical Expression of the Spiritual in the Narrative Cycle at Assisi......Page 50 3 Francis Preaching to the Sultan: Art and Literature in the Hagiography of the Saint......Page 62 4 The Wolf in the Forest: St. Francis and the Italian Eremitical Tradition......Page 78 5 What Has Paris to do with Assisi? The Theological Creation of a Saint......Page 94 Part II: Francis Remembered in New Contexts......Page 110 6 Franciscans in the New World......Page 112 7 The Visual Piety of the Sacro Monte di Orta......Page 124 Plate Sections......Page 144 8 A Christian Modernist and the Awe of Nature as Presented in Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise......Page 158 9 Constructing Saint Francis for the Twenty-First Century......Page 168 10 Capturing the Gravity and Grace of St. Francis of Assisi on Stage: A Meditation on Word and Image......Page 178 11 St. Francis in the Twenty-First Century......Page 192 12 Canticle of Memory: Political Theology and Francis of Assisi......Page 212 Contributors......Page 232 C......Page 236 P......Page 237 W......Page 238 Contributors demonstrate how the tools of various intellectual disciplines can be used to examine what we now know about the story of Saint Francis in his own era and how that story has been appropriated in our period. Edited By Cynthia Ho, Beth A. Mulvaney, And John K. Downey. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.