Commissioner Francis of Assisi?
- deansimpson7
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
BY BARRY GITTINS
If a writer chooses to ‘retcon’ a story, they do so to alter the nature of the yarn for their particular purposes; to ‘retcon’ is to introduce ‘retroactive continuity’ – to reinterpret and spin a tale, adding additional information and emphases.
A good example is when a Salvationist writer named Staff-Captain Douglas chose to use that narrative technique to tell the life story of Francis of Assisi (as Protestants, the Salvos weren’t big on the individual honorific ‘Saint’).
This was done in the debut ‘Red Hot’ library series title, named Brother Francis, or Less than the Least (you could pick up a copy for sixpence). The ‘borrowing’ of the saint seemed to serve the purpose of presenting him as a prototypical Salvationist, and a forerunner of William Booth, no less!
A disinterested, impartial observer might suggest that the decision would have required a certain amount of chutzpah, or audacity; self-belief and assurance of a divinely mandated destiny were certainly qualities that Salvationists had in abundance.
Revising and redescribing the life of Saint Francis in Salvationist terms – claiming him as one of our own – was promoted 131 years ago in the November 1895 issue of The Officer magazine.
Army values It has to be said that Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (1181-1226), as the saint started out his life, was already a pretty well-known fellow. His considerable reputation in and beyond the Catholic Church centred around his adherence to poverty, chastity and obedience – very Salvation Army values indeed.
Moreover, the saint was universally known and lauded for his theological reform, his mystical connections to Creator, his fellow creatures, and to Creation on the whole. There was also his courageous dabbling in international diplomacy, the chats with angels, exorcisms, miraculous healings, his ability to levitate, his development of stigmata, etc.
Douglas started in on her subject, The Officer tells us, by presenting only “those traits in his wonderful character and recorded incidents in his wonderful career [that she] calculated to be helpful to those whose first desire is ‘To seek first the kingdom of God’,” thus rendering “a concise and most interesting record of a truly remarkable and apostolic life”.
For starters, Francis had a conversion from an idle life of wealth and luxury that read as if he’d knelt at a mercy seat in glorious blood-and-fire fashion.
“Brought up to a life of self-indulgence, ease and pleasure,” we are told, he was “handsome and gay, very musical, the possessor of a fine voice … the recognised leader of the gay youth of that era”.
Skipping over the youth’s military service and various adventures, such as imprisonment as a POW, The Salvation Army narrative describes Francis’ painful illness, lying “at death’s door”, before “he received pardon and a change of heart through Christ, and immediately renounced the world, its companionships, and pleasures … [He] followed the leadings of his conscience implicitly, utterly regardless of his health and life.”
Francis was perceived “by his friends and acquaintances to be a religious maniac, and was often chased and pelted with mud and stones in the streets” (surely, we can infer, a forerunner of the Army’s persecution with their open-air meetings and the like).
“Anyone reading this,” continued the narrator, “cannot but be struck with the similarity of the divine call of our beloved leader, and his first efforts and ingathering.” This seemed crystal clear to the tellers of the tale, “especially as we look today upon the gigantic and glorious results of his [William Booth’s] having fearlessly and devotedly followed God’s direction.”
Further twinning of the saint and the Army’s founder was found with the observation that others “were also led to follow Francis [whose] force continued to swell in numbers until he found himself at the head of one of the greatest religious orders of the day [and the] leader of thousands of devoted followers, whose uniform was the same … as he wore.”
Furthermore, Francis seemed to share the qualities that the general public of the day associated with Booth: taking “joy in suffering”, being “cheerful and agreeable [?]”, working to “help and bless individuals”, living a life of “actual purity”, and benefiting from “his experiences of apparent failure”.
All things, for both Francis and William, doubtless worked together for good (Romans 8:28).
As for the ultimate purpose of enlisting Francis to the Army’s cause? No less an authority than the then Chief of the Staff, Bramwell Booth, declared that Francis was a fitting subject for Salvationists and worth a read. This was actually something of a loosening of the reins.
The article’s anti-intellectual leanings had noted that – generally speaking – “officers with a true sense of their responsibilities have no time, and should have no inclination to read … In the midst of their multitudinous duties, the time at the disposal of officers will necessarily be very limited.”
The exception was perhaps if the book was biblical or a Salvation Army book, which would keep Salvos focused and keen: “It must be advisable to read only those books that have proved helpful and an inspiration to others who they know to be actuated by the same high purpose.”
The life of the fellow from Assisi, the claimed forbear who was seen as similar in like and calling to the Salvation Army’s first General, was judged worthy of study, and to be “actuated by the same high purpose”.
*Footnote on the painting and the artist (as told by former Salvation Army Museum Manager Lindsay Cox: “Anita Ivancic (the artist) had suffered a serious illness that left her bedridden for months and during this time she had picked up a book and started to read about William Booth. As she read about the founder of The Salvation Army she became almost obsessed by his character and his work. She endeavoured to find every publication she could on the life and work of William Booth and of The Salvation Army. Anita came to the conclusion (and I quote her here), ‘This man was almost God himself in the work he was doing for people.’ This inspired her to do the painting she later donated to the (Adelaide) Centre, and which came to the (Salvation Army) Museum today (Feb 2024).”
