| "Prayer of Saint Francis" | |
|---|---|
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| Original title | Belle prière à faire pendant la Messe |
| First published in | La Clochette |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (ed.Fr. Esther Bouquerel) |
| Publication date | December 1912 (1912-12) |
The anonymous text that is usually called thePrayer of Saint Francis (orPeace Prayer, orSimple Prayer for Peace, orMake us an Instrument of Your Peace) is a widely knownChristian prayer for peace. Often associated with the ItalianSaintFrancis of Assisi (c. 1182 – 1226), but entirely absent from his writings, the prayer in its present form has not been traced back further than 1912.[1] Its first known occurrence was in French, in a small spiritual magazine calledLa Clochette (The Little Bell), published by aCatholic organization inParis namedLa Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The League of the Holy Mass). The author's name was not given, although it may have been the founder ofLa Ligue, Father Esther Bouquerel. The prayer was heavily publicized during bothWorld War I andWorld War II.[2] It has been frequently set to music by notable songwriters and quoted by prominent leaders, and its broadly inclusive language has found appeal with many faiths encouraging service to others.[1][3][4]
In most published versions of the prayer, the text is abridged, paraphrased or copyrighted. Below is the complete original text from its earliest known publication (1912, in French, copyright expired), alongside a line-by-line English translation:
French original:[5] | English translation: |
The second half of the prayer bears a strong resemblance to this famous saying ofGiles of Assisi (c. 1190 – 1262), one of Francis's closest companions:
Beatus ille qui amat, et non desiderat amari:
beatus ille qui timet, et non desiderat timeri:
beatus ille qui servit, et non desiderat sibi serviri:
beatus ille bene se gerit erga alios, et non ut alii se bene gerant erga ipsum:
et quia haec magna sunt, ideo stulti ad ea non attingunt.[6]
Blessed is he who loves and does not therefore desire to be loved;
Blessed is he who fears and does not therefore desire to be feared;
Blessed is he who serves and does not therefore desire to be served;
Blessed is he who behaves well toward others and does not desire that others behave well toward him;
And because these are great things, the foolish do not rise to them.[7]
This text appears in the last chapters of the famousLittle Flowers of St. Francis, a text that was undergoing numerous translations at the time the modern prayer was composed.[8] At face value Giles's verses appear to be heavily inspired by an earlier text themselves, both in structure and content, namelyThe Beatitudes ofJesus inMatthew 5:3-12 andLuke 6:20-26.
The first half of the prayer also bears some similarities toVeni Sancte Spiritus in both structure and content.
TheFranciscan Order does not include the prayer in its official "Prayers of St. Francis",[9] and a church historian has noted that the phrasing of the first half of the text ("let me...") is atypically self-oriented for Francis:
The most painful moment usually comes when [students] discover that Saint Francis did not write the "Peace Prayer of Saint Francis"... Noble as its sentiments are, Francis would not have written such a piece, focused as it is on the self, with its constant repetition of the pronouns "I" and "me", the words "God" and "Jesus" never appearing once.[10]
However, the prayer has been recommended by members of the Order, while not attributing it to Saint Francis.[11]
The most-prominent hymn version of the prayer is "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace", or simply "Prayer of St. Francis", adapted and set to a chant-like melody in 1967 bySouth African songwriter Sebastian Temple (born Johann Sebastian von Tempelhoff, 1928–1997), who had become aThird Order Franciscan. The hymn is an anthem of theRoyal British Legion and is usually sung at its annualFestival of Remembrance. In 1997, it was part of theFuneral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was performed by the Irish singerSinéad O'Connor on thePrincess Diana tribute album.[13][14] The hymn was also sung for thereligious wedding ceremony ofPrince Albert II of Monaco to South AfricanCharlene Wittstock in 2011.[15]
Additional settings of the prayer by notable musicians include those by:
Christian Renoux, a history professor at theUniversity of Orléans, published in French in 2001 a book-length study of the prayer and its origins, clearing up much of the confusion that had accumulated previously.[35] The Franciscan journalFrate Francesco and the Vatican newspaperL'Osservatore Romano published articles in Italian summarizing the book's findings,[4][36] and Renoux published an online abstract in English atThe Franciscan Archive.[1]
The earliest known record of the prayer[37] is its appearance, as a "beautiful prayer to say during Mass", in the December 1912 issue of the small devotional French Catholic publicationLa Clochette, "the bulletin of the League of the Holy Mass".[5] Although the prayer was published anonymously, Renoux concluded that, with few exceptions, the texts inLa Clochette were generally written by its founding editor, Father Esther Bouquerel (1855–1923).[38]
In 1915, Marquis Stanislas de La Rochethulon (1862–1945), founding president of the Anglo-French associationSouvenir Normand (Norman Remembrance), which called itself "a work of peace and justice inspired by the testament ofWilliam the Conqueror, who is considered to be the ancestor of all the royal families of Europe", sent this prayer toPope Benedict XV in the midst ofWorld War I.[1] The Pope had an Italian translation published on the front page ofL'Osservatore Romano on 20 January 1916. It appeared under the heading, "The prayers of 'Souvenir Normand' for peace", with a jumbled explanation: "'Souvenir Normand' has sent the Holy Father the text of some prayers for peace. We have pleasure in presenting in particular the prayer addressed to theSacred Heart, inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror."[39] On 28 January 1916, the newspaperLa Croix reprinted, in French, the article fromL'Osservatore Romano, with exactly the same heading and explanation.[40] La Rochethulon wrote toLa Croix to clarify that it was not a prayer ofSouvenir Normand; but he failed to mentionLa Clochette, the first publication in which it had appeared.[4] Because of its appearance inL'Osservatore Romano andLa Croix as a simple prayer for peace during World War I, the prayer became widely known.[1]
Around 1918, Franciscan Father Étienne Benoît reprinted the "Prayer for Peace" in French, without attribution, on the back of a mass-producedholy card depicting his Order's founder, the inspirational peacemaker from theCrusades era,Saint Francis of Assisi.[1] The prayer was circulating in the United States by January 1927, when its first known English version (slightly abridged from the 1912 French original) appeared in theQuaker magazineFriends' Intelligencer, under the misattributed and misspelled title "A prayer of St. Francis of Assissi".[41][42] The saint's namesake Americanarchbishop andmilitary vicarFrancis Spellman distributed millions of copies of the "Prayer of St. Francis" duringWorld War II, and the next year it was read into theCongressional Record by SenatorAlbert W. Hawkes. As a friar later summarized the relationship between the prayer and St. Francis: "One can safely say that although he is not the author, it resembles him and would not have displeased him."[43]
The Prayer of St. Francis has often been cited with national or international significance, in the spirit of service to others.
In 1986,Pope John Paul II recited the prayer as a means of bidding farewell to the global religious leaders he hosted for the first "World Day of Prayer for Peace", inAssisi at theBasilica of St. Francis.[44] Indeed, the prayer "over the years has gained a worldwide popularity with people of all faiths".[1]
Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata, India) made it part of the morning prayers of theRoman Catholicreligious institute she founded, theMissionaries of Charity. She attributed importance to the prayer when receiving theNobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1979 and asked that it be recited. It became the anthem of many Christian schools in Kolkata.[4][45] South Africa'sAnglican archbishopDesmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent leadership againstapartheid, declared that the prayer was "an integral part" of his devotions.[4]
Margaret Thatcher, after winning the1979 general election, paraphrased the prayer on the doorstep of10 Downing Street, surrounded by a throng of reporters, having"kissed hands" with QueenElizabeth II and becomePrime Minister.[46][47]
In 1995, US PresidentBill Clinton quoted it in his welcoming remarks to John Paul II, starting the papal visit to address the United Nations in New York City.[4]Nancy Pelosi quoted the prayer when she becameSpeaker of the US House of Representatives in 2007,[48] as did her successorJohn Boehner when he resigned in 2015.[49] Pelosi invoked it again at the opening of the evening House session following the 6 January 2021, riot and storming of the Capitol. At the 2012 Democratic Convention,Jena Nardella invoked the prayer during the closing Benediction.[50] President-electJoe Biden quoted the prayer during his speech following his victory in the Electoral College on 14 December 2020.[51]
The prayer is referenced in theAlcoholics Anonymous bookTwelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1953), and is often known to AA members as the "Step Eleven Prayer".[52] An abbreviated version of the prayer was sung inFranco Zeffirelli's 1972 film about St. Francis,Brother Sun, Sister Moon.[22] InBand of Brothers (2001), episode six "Bastogne", Eugene 'Doc' Roe recites "Lord, grant that I shall never seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, or to be loved as to love with all my heart. With all my heart." while praying in a foxhole in theBois Jacques. A modified segment of the prayer is recited in one of the early trailers for theSylvester Stallone 2008 filmRambo.[53] A modified version of the prayer appears in the song "Prayer" in the musicalCome From Away.[54]Beanie Feldstein sings the prayer in the 2017 movieLady Bird, set at a Catholic girls' school.[55] A shortened version appears in theHBO showDeadwood, episode 11, season one, and in theShowtime seriesThe Affair, episode 8, season one. And also appears in theCBC TV seriesAnne with an E, episode 3, season three.[56]
Sinéad O'Connor recorded a version for the 1997Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute album.[57]
According to singer and guitarist Trey Anastasio from the American rock band Phish, recital of the Saint Francis prayer is an integral part of his pre-concert ritual.[58]
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