You only have tomorrow (January 14) left to catch the exhibit of manuscripts relating to St Francis on display at Borough Hall in Brooklyn, New York. The exhibit had been originally on display at the UN for just November 17-28 last year(but not open to the public?). It had opened there with great fanfare, the addresses by secular and religious figures and the accompanying media reports celebrated Francis as a man of peace, a friend of the poor, a lover of animals etc. – just not as a Christian saint. Several speakers saw the current Francis in Rome as his legitimate successor; indeed, the exhibit seemed at times to be laying the foundation for a visit by the bishop of Rome to the UN or the City. A self-congratulatory plaque lists dozens of patrons, advisors and consultants. It was a typical Vatican publicity stunt: a lot of talk about the poor and the environment surrounding a private celebration among secular and ecclesiastical bureaucrats with the news media as the hoped-for audience.
Things then took a somewhat bizarre turn. For, almost as a kind of afterthought, a public exhibit of the same manuscripts was arranged at the last minute in the rather out-of-the way venue of Borough Hall, Brooklyn. The facilitator is a Brooklyn restaurant owner with strong political connections with the borough leadership as well as good contacts in Italy. Indeed, it is reported that he had been convicted of money laundering in 2008. 1) Nevertheless, he succeeded in bringing this exhibit to Brooklyn and to the public. Two brothers running a local shop that builds furniture out of discarded lumber were able, working right up to the opening day of the exhibit, to craft the necessary cases and display boards. And so the show did open in the grandiose, gilt courtroom of Borough Hall, surrounded by the portraits of the mayors of the former city of Brooklyn.2)
It’s an adventure finding the way to the exhibit (it’s not the usual entrance to Borough Hall on Joralemon Street but at the top of the grandiose stairs of the front façade) and then getting past the guards (who keep repeating “no photography!”). Yet, certainly for the connoisseur of the life of St. Francis, this well-displayed exhibition is worth the effort. For here are historic, extraordinary, original documents relating to Francis. There is a papal decree of 1220 addressed directly to Francis (during his lifetime) and his first followers. Several different early biographies of Francis are displayed. We encounter the earliest manuscripts (I think) of the Canticle of the Sun and of the Fioretti. An illuminated manuscript of the bible from the first half of the 13th century contains one of the first depictions of St. Francis. And then we have a copy of the Arbor Vitae, a later work developing the social and eschatological aspects of the Franciscan Movement; it is mentioned in the Name of the Rose.
These works – mostly without illustrations, in often faded ink – are not at all “relics” – but they take us so close to Francis himself. The real Francis, that is, not the nebulous “friend of all mankind” of the UN but one who rejected the World in the most radical way, chose to imitate Christ as directly as possible and, as a literal sign of this, received the stigmata. And it was only through this uncompromising asceticism and commitment to the life of the poor and to Christ that Francis was able to gain that new experience of nature that was to inspire so much subsequent art and devotion. For those who have not seen this exhibit but have the time tomorrow, try to get there. The exhibit is free; the 4 and 5 subway lines stop directly at Borough Hall.
See HERE for more information.
- Murphy, Doyle, ”Tainted Restaurateur helps bring Historic Catholic Texts to Brooklyn,” New York Daily News (12/12/2014)
- Dwyer, Jim, “St. Francis’ Papers, in Brooklyn, a Borough He’d Appreciate,” The New york Times (11/11/2014)
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