Reading Notes: Saints and Animals, Part B

Illustration of Saint Francis of Assisi. Source: Monastery Icons.

1. The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall by Abbie Farwell Brown (Link)

• Setting is the Welsh coast, where Saint Gudwall was born and moved to one summer
• In the summer it is nice and beautiful, but in the winter there are dangerous storms
• He decided to move to an island with caves near the ocean where pirates and smugglers hid with their treasures, so he and his pupil moved his stuff into a deep, dark cave
• In that time, it was virtuous for saints to accept certain death
• The waves would lap up near their cave and retreat the whole summer, but in the winter it got freezing cold and seemed to threaten to eat them until one day it swept in and destroyed their cave home
• Saint Gudwall and his pupil escaped by climbing up a cliff where he prayed for a way to stop the waves from entering their cave since there was nowhere else to go
• At that moment, all the fish living in the caves below the surface came out with sand in their mouths to build a pseudo-wall for their cave and they protected Saint Gudwall and his pupil's cave from the winter storms

2. The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe by Abbie Farwell Brown (Part 1, Part 2)

• Introduces an Irish baby, Ailbe, whose parents didn't care for him, so they tried to "lose" him by placing him high on a hill in a bush
• That evening, a mother wolf passed by the baby and heard it crying, so she picked it up and brought it to her cave home to raise him
• A year or two later, a hunter was riding near their cave and spotted Ailbe so he chased him, caught him, and brought him home to his wife
• Ailbe called out to his wolf family and they tried to get him back, but they could not catch up to the hunter's horse
• Ailbe's new mother was a princess and the hunter was her prince who lived in a grand palace
• Their new son grew up happy and into a "wise and great man", but he did still miss the forest and his wolf mother
• Many years later, there was a huge hunt in their town which all the lords were involved in (including the prince, Ailbe's father)
• Ailbe did not participate for he had no want to kill any beings
• Ailbe's wolf mother was one of the beasts caught, and he immediately recognized her howls as she, the other beasts, and the hunters entered back into town
• She ran up to him and sat her head in his lap, so he proclaimed her safety so that she would not be harmed at any time in the future and she and her sons could join him for dinner every day, so they did

3. The Ballad of Saint Athracta's Stags by Abbie Farwell Brown (Link)

• Athracta introduced as a prince's daughter with long, golden hair that went to her feet
• She enjoyed the wilderness and had a friend who braided her hair to keep her company
• They built a fort in the woods to serve as their house and they had two old horses who tilled soil and allowed water to flow to them
• There were great deer in the forest, but the two maids did not fear them and lived peacefully in the forest, away from other worldly issues
• Suddenly war was falling upon their land, so the king declared that every citizen must help build a castle for his protection
• The two maids asked that they be pardons since they felt they could not provide enough to the building, but he refused and forced them to work
• The two maids went back to the forest and attempted to chop down trees for wood, but it was very hard for them, and when they finally finished, the old horses pulling the wagon of logs were also struggling
• To save her horses the pain of pulling the logs, she decided to call upon the large, strong forest stags to pull the wagon instead
• Not long after they took off, the chain connecting the wagon and carriage broke, so Athracta used pieces of her long hair to replace it
• When they arrived at the castle, the king was ashamed of himself to ask her for her work on his castle since she lead wild stags to him with the wood
• He recognized her power and declared that she be her own queen of her land in the forest, where her hut became a place of refuge and prayer

4. The Ballad of Saint Felix by Abbie Farwell Brown (Link)

• Setting of the story begins in a beautiful Italy where a cruel ruler is killing those of Christian faith
• It was here that the soldier Nola of Campania set out to kill Saint Felix
• Saint Felix, a Bishop, is described as old, wise, and famous, but he did not want to die so he hid from the soldiers by dressing as a Pilgrim
• One day while walking through the street, Felix accidentally ran into a group of armymen who questioned him about where Saint Felix might be and threatened to kill him if he lied, but he told them he had not seen him so they let him go
• He got away from them quickly thereafter, sure that they would figure out his lie
• Surely a while later, he got a mile away as quickly as he could, but he starting hearing shouts from the armymen running towards him angrily
• He noticed a torn down wall with a crack good for hiding, said a prayer, and hopped in a corner behind the wall to hide
• Before the armymen could catch up to where he was hiding, a spider noticed him and spun a thick web in the cracks so that the men would not be able to see him
• There happened to be a well within Felix's hiding place and a Christian woman also looking for him (knowing that he was hiding) brought him food every day, so he just stayed there for a few months hiding out while the army looked for him
• When peace finally fell upon the land, he escaped and was welcomed by his people

5. The Ballad of Saint Giles and the Deer by Abbie Farwell Brown (Link)

• Saint Giles introduced as an old hermit who lives deep in the forest in a rocky cave alongside his friend, a deer
• One morning in April, human voices were heard and passing by his cave home with horses and dogs, seemingly on a hunt
• This made him sad since he did not like men who killed, which at that time was mostly the Pagans from nearby
• The hunters turned on him when he left his cave and attacked his deer friend, so he ran beside her and guarded her from the pack of hounds ready to eat her
• At that time a hunter jumped out of the bushes and tried to hit the deer with his arrow, but Giles threw his arm in front of it and took the brunt of the attack, causing him to nearly bleed out
• The king got word of the occurrence and went to the woods to see Giles, telling the hunters that he shouldn't die for being so kind and protecting the deer, so he brought him back to his cave and tended to his wound until he was better
• During his visits, the king would talk to Giles about Christianity and soon converted from Paganism
• Once Giles was healed, the king swore to never bother him or hurt his deer friend again

6. Saint Francis of Assisi by Abbie Farwell Brown (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

• Saint Francis introduced as having a beaming smile, which "opened the hearts of men" and "drew the beasts to his side", who was also poor and homeless
• He wanted to be poor because the Lord was poor and he strove to be like him
• He had two lambs who he traded his only cloak for as they were being carried to slaughter, and all the animals and plants around him knew his smile, trusting and loving him
• Of all the saints, "Francis was the gentlest and most loving"
• Founded the Society of Little Brothers, which provided helpers in works of charity and holiness
• His church was just outside, wherever he happened to be at the time
• It was common that he would be traveling or giving a talk or something and a large flock of birds would begin singing so he would join them or asked them politely to stop until he could as that
• He preached about peace and refused cruelty or bloodshed, but did have to teach a lesson to a wolf one time who was causing trouble in a city nearby by stealing cows, sheep, and even people to eat
• Francis went to the woods to tame the wolf and it worked, so he told him he wanted peace between him and the rest of the people in town so that he would not be killed for his crimes/sins
• For the next two years, the wolf went door to door, humbly begging for food just like Saint Francis did, until he died of old age
• Saint Francis never hurt or desired to kill a living being, even for food
• Example: a bunny was given to him as breakfast food, but he let it go into the wild so that it could continue living
• Towards the end of his life, Francis settled on a mountain top where wild beasts and birds lived
• Once he arrived there, all the birds in the area flew to him to sing their chorus
• He was just extremely well-known for his smile and happiness through all times and through all situations