A fairy tale or reality?

Editorial Staff

Last summer I spent some days in Umbria (Italy) with my parents and we also visited the small town of Gubbio. I was charmed by the story of St Francis who tamed a wolf and by his extraordinary capacity to speak with birds and different animals. My dad kept on saying that it is only a legend while my mum affirmed that there are also historical records. Is it just a fictional tale to arouse our curiosity or did this beloved saint really have something special? John Actually both of your parents are right! These are historical facts with a touch of added fantasy. Certainly something took place between Saint Francis and the wolf that caused havoc with the inhabitants of the small town. There are also testimonies in other cases and in other religious traditions of men and women who, for their goodness, have managed to have peaceful relationships with dangerous animals. St. Seraphim used to feed a bear from his hands and Yogananda, a famous Indian guru (a master), always had a leopard with him which became vegetarian like him. A father of the church, Isaac of Nineveh explained that animals can smell the scent of man in…