As we move into the eighth chapter of the life of St. Francis, we continue to dive deeper into the great virtues which St. Francis possessed through his unity with Christ. The virtue that St. Bonaventure focuses on in this chapter is “Piety,” a virtue that is exceedingly important for our lives of faith, but one that very often gets little focus.
Generally, and sadly, it seems that “piety” is used almost in an insulting or mocking way to ascribe to some people an overly “pious” way of living their faith. This critique, however, comes from an impoverished view of piety – a view that sees the virtue of piety as something to do only with the external actions of faith. If I see someone who kneels in a church, prays the rosary, lights candles, practices devotions, I might call them pious, and rightly so. The virtue of piety, however, encompasses much more than these outward expressions of the faith. It is something deeply interior to a person, and it may or may not be expressed in these outward ways.
This chapter begins with some beautiful lines by St. Bonaventure:
“True piety, which according to the Apostle, is helpful for all things, had so filled Francis’ heart and penetrated its depths that it seemed to have appropriated the man of God completely into its dominion. This is what drew him up to God through devotion, transformed him into Christ through compassion, attracted him to his neighbor through condescension, and symbolically showed a return to the state of original innocence through universal reconciliation with each and every thing” (The Life of St. Francis by Bonaventure 8.1).
That is quite a quote! And immediately, we see that St. Francis’ piety had very little to do with his outward devotional practices. This is not to say that he lacked those! No, rather, he practiced his faith, but what we call “Piety” in him was something deeper than the outward practices. It was what undergirded the practices. In a footnote to this section, the editor writes, “The Latin term is pietas which has a much broader scope than the English “piety”; in the context of this chapter it includes love, devotion, affection, reverence, kindness, fidelity, and compassion” (8.1, footnote). A “pious” action filled with these characteristics is one that is full of a holy goodness, but a “pious” action without these characteristics is empty and meaningless.
St. Francis’ piety was truly the great gift of the Holy Spirit that led him to do the will of the Father in remarkable ways. It led him to love his brothers and sisters here on earth with an intense devotion. It led him to draw near to sinners and to lead them to God. It led him to care for the poor with a special love, kindness, and reverence. It led him to seek to remain poor and in that poverty to remain faithful to Christ his Lord and King. It taught him to look upon all those who were poor – whether from a lack of physical means or a lack of moral and spiritual uprightness – as his own brothers and sisters. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Piety answers, “Yes, he is Christ to me and I serve him as I serve the Lord.”
In this way, we see that a truly pious person is someone not to be mocked but to be praised and revered! If I see a person practicing devotions, lighting candles, giving to the poor, etc., and I consider that they do it out of love, devotion, affection, etc., what a great joy it is to see the Holy Spirit at work in their life! God-willing, these exterior actions speak of a deeper interior life and lead to greater actions of love and charity in the world.
May St. Francis pray for us all that we may be filled with a greater spirit of Piety!