Back in l985, the Pope said that St. Francis should be the patron saint of ecologists. This brings to mind the famous story about St. Francis preaching to the birds. According to Wikipedia, that story is probably folklore, but it is a story with roots in fact (St. Francis had no interest in money, and loved hiking in the hills and mountains of Umbria).
Just a week and a half ago I was hiking in the hills of Big Sur with a friend and came across a lovely little St. Francis in an altar by the trail. So the legend, in its Catholic way, has become a fact. And, as they said in a famous Western, "When legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Here’s a tribute to that sentiment encountered a week ago in the Morris Arboretum on the outskirts of Philadelphia, one of the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever had the good fortune to see. St. Francis is with us still…
Kit Stolz 